Thursday, July 30th 2009
7:00-9:00pm
Location: Ripcurl Canada Office (1525 West 3rd Avenue)

We will be discussing upcoming events including the Spirit of the Sea Festival in White Rock, Crankworks in Whistler, the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, the Surfrider Foundation International Conference and the O'Neill WQS Surf Competition next fall. Rise Above Plastics, Snowrider Project and Respect the Beach will also be discussed. There are tons of ways to get involved so come on out and have your voice heard. Our oceans, waves and beaches need your help!

Saturday, August 1st and Sunday, August 2nd 2009
Semiahmoo Park in White Rock (along the waterfront)

The Spirit of the Sea Festival is an annual weekend-long celebration in the proud community of White Rock, British Columbia. A variety of events span more than 2 kilometers along the waterfront overlooking the silver beaches of Semiahmoo Bay. It will be a weekend full of free fun for the whole family, including a children's carnival and parade, beach games and races, fireworks and continuous live entertainment. An estimated 100,000 spectators and participants are expected to visit the 60th annual summer festival on in the beach in White Rock. For more information check out www.spiritofthesea.ca.

The Event Coordinator is responsible for all events and fundraisers, as delegated by the Executive Committee. This person will be responsible for managing and overseeing any sub-committees established to aid in the planning, fundraising and promotional aspects of events. The Event Coordinator will work with the Secretary/Treasurer to ensure all expenses incurred for theses events are paid in a timely fashion and that all monies raised are deposited in the chapter’s account. The Event Coordinator will also be responsible for ensuring that any information pertaining to publicity of the event is made available for newsletters, emails, the website and Facebook group. If you are interested in the position of Event Coordinator please contact Haley Haggerstone at hhaggerstone@hotmail.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.