Date: Thursday, November 5th 2009
Time: 7:00-8:30pm
Location: Ripcurl Canada Office (1525 West 3rd Avenue)

The Surfrider Foundation Vancouver Chapter will be hosting our next general meeting on Thursday, November 5th from 7:00-8:30pm at the Ripcurl Canada Office.

At this meeting we will be recapping past events and discussing upcoming events including the veryREALLY premiere, The Drifter premiere, and our very own Snowrider Project sponsored snowboard competition in December! Our Rise Above Plastics campaign, along with our Snowrider Project and Respect the Beach programs will also be discussed. There will be beer available for purchase at the special Surfirder price of $2, so please remember to BYOC!

Date: Monday, November 16th
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Fifth Avenue Cinemas (2110 Burrard Street Map)
Price: Tickets are $8 and are available online, from the theatre and at the door (if available)

Hurley Canada in partnership with Surfrider Foundation Vancouver Chapter present international surf champion Rob Machado's autobiographical film THE DRIFTER!

The Vancouver premiere will be on Monday, November 16th 2009 at 7:00pm at Fifth Avenue Cinemas (2110 Burrard Street). Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online, from the theater and at the door (if available). The proceeds from this event will help support the Surfrider Foundation in our mission to help protect our oceans, waves and beaches!

Directed by Taylor Steele, The Drifter is a beautifully shot, emotionally resonant film that documents Machado's trip to Indonesia to experience a different kind of surf trip ‐ a journey that would take him way beyond his comfort zone to a place where he could finally be alone with his thoughts. In the film, Machado wanders into the outskirts of the South East Asian surf paradise and winds up discovering that you can’t escape yourself. Coming full circle, Machado returns home ready to take on the next phase in a career in where he's blazed a path and sealed his legacy as not only one of the world's most stylish surfing ambassadors, but as a true humanitarian.

For more about The Drifter and Rob Machado please visit www.robmachado.com.

Since 2000, the Surfrider Foundation has published an annual State of the Beach report, which is available online at www.surfrider.org/stateofthebeach. The report evaluates coastal management policies, the availability of data and information, and the status of nine key indicators of beach health in 25 coastal states. These indicators include beach access, surf zone water quality, beach erosion, erosion response, beach fill, shoreline structures, beach ecology, surfing areas and websites. As a first step towards potentially expanding the geographic scale of this report, research was conducted in 2008 to evaluate the same beach health indicators in British Columbia, Canada. Information was gathered through Internet searches, literature reviews and phone conversations with coastal managers, scientists, environmental organizations, and activists, as well as onsite assessments of coastal areas. From this information, a report was prepared using the same general format as that used in the State of the Beach report. In general, coastal management policies in British Columbia were found to be convoluted between the various levels of government and restricted by a lack of funding, which has resulted in an overall lack of regulations and protection for coastal communities throughout the province. For more information on the BC State of the Beach Report go to Surfrider Foundation global website.

The best way to get involved is to become a member. An annual membership is only $5 if you buy it from your local chapter. This membership gets you on our mailing list so you can stay in the loop about upcoming meetings, campaigns and events as well as discounts at a growing number of retailers throughout the world. For a complete list of our corporate sponsors please see www.surfrider.org/retailers/. Memberships are available for purchase from Pacific Boarder (1793 West 4th Avenue).

Memberships can also be purchased online for a slightly higher price of $25, which gets you a subscription to Making Waves our award winning publication, which keeps you informed about Surfrider Foundation campaigns and victories around the world. To buy online go to Surfrider Foundation global website.