Surfrider Foundation, MAKING WAVES, February 2004

MAKING WAVES, February 2004 issue: Table of Contents

Respecting the Beach
after all these years...

Fourteen years ago the Surfrider Foundation launched this great idea; let's see what happens when we put citizen "scientists" and surfers, in classrooms to share what they know and love about the ocean. It started small, "Beach in a Box", a slide carousel, a chat about tides. As our chapters grew and as our staff improved methods, it caught on until our activists were in over 1000 U.S. classrooms and the program generated professional curriculum and award winning films. It became a popular entry portal activity for our activists and a staple of our grassroots activity. So when we got the call that international media sensation and new California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to join outgoing Governor Gray Davis in presenting an award to the Surfrider Foundation for the program, I had to think back to the brilliance of the initial idea.

As chapter activist Mark Cousineau and I sat in our State Capitol one evening waiting to receive the award on behalf of everyone at Surfrider Foundation, I thought back over the thousands of presentations made by our volunteers from Florida to O'ahu. I thought of the time these sainted volunteers chipped away from their lives and families to give something back for our future. I thought about how inconvenient that effort is at times. I thought about my own small but harrowing Respect the Beach story.

photo of Pipeline

A few years back, I tagged along with Pacific Northwest Surfrider activist Kevin Ranker to a small presentation on Waldron Island, Washington. Kevin had a skiff he used to travel to surf a few spots in the Straits of Juan de Fuca (of course he still refuses to disclose exact locations). That morning it was a one-room schoolhouse, a tiny island population, and a small boat with no radar. Naturally, it was also very foggy on some rapid currents with rocky dead reckoning navigation. I still sweat a bit when I think of how happy I was to set foot on that island that morning. As I sat there watching the ritual of this award ceremony years later, my gratitude for all of those volunteer hours was embodied in my memory of the island children I saw on Waldron.

Our eager future is, of course, always in their promising faces. It was that morning anyway. They were excited to hear about our poor seamanship, local and distant surfing, and how the beach they love really is a living place in a direct chain all the way up to us. They were in agreement that we have to protect what we love.

That scene is repeated over and over again among our 60 chapters across this Country every week. California's two Governors were really honoring the many activists and teachers across the U.S. who comprise our network for this important and compelling work. I'm not sure that they knew it, but Mark and I did. After all these years, Respect the Beach turned out to be a pretty good idea.

If you want to get more involved in the Respect the Beach Program in your area, contact your nearest chapter on the back of this newsletter or call our National Office at 800-743-7873. Thank you for your enduring support.

For the oceans, waves and beaches,

Christopher J. Evans, Esq.,
Executive Director

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