Surfrider Foundation, MAKING WAVES, August 2004

MAKING WAVES, August 2004 issue: Table of Contents

The Surfrider Foundation is happy to welcome aboard our newest chapters!

The Texas Coastal Bend Chapter (Corpus Christi area) and the Central Long Island Chapter were officially chartered, and have begun doing outreach in their respective communities. Thank you to our newly-elected chapter officers; Joe Moses, Timothy Cominos, Robert Cullen, Michael Weber and Zoe Chiam (CLI), and Chris Burnett, John Adams, Jackson Baugh, Jessica Davila-Burnett, and David Stith (TCB).

West Coast

The San Luis Bay Chapter, along with several partner organizations, convinced the Joint Power Authority in the Morro Bay area to study an upgrade to their sewage treatment facility and discontinue their application for a 301(h) waiver. The deal isn't signed yetbut the chapter considers this a major step in the right direction.

Watershed model at the EcoStation. Photo: Geever

The South Bay Chapter has finished their watershed model at the EcoStation in Culver City. This model and short lecture are fashioned after our "Sea to Summit" campaign and will be seen by thousands of school children and families who tour the EcoStation.

The Newport Beach Chapter's billboard at the freeway's end.

In the December 2003 issue of Making Waves, we reported on our Newport Beach Chapter's 20-foot billboard that raises the awareness of water quality issues at local beaches. The chapter recently changed the sign to elevate the public's awareness of not only coastal issues, but the Surfrider Foundation as well. This is especially relevant during the busy tourism season for the Newport Beach/Costa Mesa area.

East Coast

With over 300 Surfrider members in attendance, the New York City Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation welcomed the movie Riding Giants to the east coast with a members-only Q&A and after-party to benefit the Chapter's Rockaway Public Access Campaign.

Fresh off the plane from Hawaii, Laird Hamilton, Da Bull -- Greg Noll, Director Stacy Peralta, Jeff Clark and Darrick Doerner answered questions from the near-capacity crowd at the Coral Room for more than an hour. The biggest ovations of the evening repeatedly went to Da Bull, in a definite show of respect to the innovator of big wave surfing.

(L to R): Stacy Peralta, Jeff Clark, Greg Noll, Laird Hamilton at the NYC Riding Giants event.

"The event was a gigantic success," said Joel Banslaben, Chair of the NYC Chapterof the Surfrider Foundation. "The Riding Giants' support for our organization was amazing and the crowd and Giants crew really enjoyed a great evening."

Laird Hamilton and Stacy Peralta take questions from the audience.

Questions asked by Surfrider Foundation members ranged in topic from the content of the movie, the history of riding big waves, to the issue of public access for the ocean. When informed of a lack of any legal surfing beaches in the entire City of New York, Laird Hamilton emphatically responded saying "Everyone has a right to access the ocean!"

The event raised funds for the Rockaway Public Access Campaign of the NYC Chapter. In Rockaway, Queens, Surfrider Foundation has been working with local community organizations, government agencies and elected officials to create the first legal surfing beach in NYC.

Recent changes in the State Health Code were the first step in gaining legal access for all waveridersbut to date surfing still remains illegal. The NYC Chapter will continue to work to assure that everyone has a right to access the ocean.

Long-time chapter activist, Peter Slovinsky, was recently elected chapter chair of our Northern New England Chapter. We would like to thank former chapter chair John Faherty for his years of commitment to helping establish the chapter. The chapter didn't miss a beat during this transition, and successfully changed an existing surf ordinance at Higgins Beach in Scarborough that now allows surfing through June 15 and until 11 AM daily. The previous ordinance banned surfing starting in May and forced surfers out of the water by 10 AM. Complementing this expanded access, they worked with the town on the development of a "Code of Ethics" beach sign related to surfing etiquette.

Surfrider Foundation chapter activists are also working in coordination with Maine's "Healthy Beaches" program, collecting water quality samples and dropping them off for analysis at state-certified labs. The chapter also developed a Storm Drain Stenciling Program for use in York, Maine that was implemented after the July 4th weekend.

This past February, student volunteers turned out to help Surfrider Foundation's Ocean City Chapter with their beach clean-up. The chapter, along with students from Salisbury University, Stephen Decatur Middle School, and Stephen Decatur High School combed the dunes between 130th and 135th Streets. According to Chapter Chair Shelly Dawson, although beach use was low, activists still managed to collect a couple hundred pounds of trash and debris.

Stephen Decatur area students help the Ocean City Chapter clean Maryland beaches. Photo: Dawson

Florida Chapter Earth Day Activities (Continued from last issue)

For the remainder of the day we worked with each individual class. Wyatt made a power point presentation on the Coastal Habitats of South Florida and Tom made a presentation on the endangered Florida Aquifer. Wyatt's presentation was a collaboration between chapter members; Tom Cook, a physical oceanographer at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) at University of Miami; and Dr. Ken Linderman, also of RSMAS and Environmental Defense. They created a presentation with a South Florida perspective, supporting the Beachology module of SF's Respect the Beach educational program. It focuses on coastal habitats of mangroves, coral reefs and the beach. It showed the construction of each, the contributions each made to the natural environment as well as the quality of life for the residents of South Florida.

Tom then explained how Florida's unique geology formed one of the most productive drinking water aquifers in the United States. He then showed how the porous limestone strata connected to the ocean at the edges of the Florida peninsula. This interaction between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico with the Florida underground aquifer illustrates the delicate balance that has existed for a millennium and has kept the growing population in drinking water. However, by polluting

the ground water with injection wells, polluted water makes its way to the ocean and into the lineup. No wonder Florida East Coast beach users have experienced more intense and wide spread outbreaks of sea lice. These organisms, when not stinging the bejeezes out of us ocean-users, are feeding on algae, which feeds on nitrogenthe type of nitrogen found in POOP! We finished each class with a couple of experiments to illustrate the way water travels through the aquifer and illustrate the mechanics of water intrusion when our aquifer is over-mined for drinking water and how waste water from injection wells migrates laterally to the ocean.

Just as we were finishing, Charlotte Coyle-Zajo, a 9th grade science teacher, asked if we could do one more video presentation to the freshman class. We gladly did. We had a great day interacting with students and seeing them respond positively to a couple of surfers' environmental message on Earth Day. The next day brought more reward with comments from school officials, "Wyatt, you and Tom are getting rave reviews from teachers, students and administration. Thanks so much for such cutting edge information and a most valuable presentation to all of us. Let's do the program again next year." Now that makes skipping a day of work worth it even if it wasn't for epic waves.