Leaders from Surfrider's five Texas chapters converged in Port Aransas, Texas for a weekend of connecting, visioning, training, and camaraderie. It turned out to be a lovely weekend with warm, sunny days and good waves, and despite the temptation to ditch the plans and go surf, this small but mighty group of dedicated leaders spent a whole Saturday and part of Sunday indoors to discuss items of importance to advancing the Surfrider mission in Texas.
During the meeting, chapter leaders presented status updates and key projects from each of their chapters, identified statewide policy priorities for 2019, and discussed capacity-building opportunities. Surfrider's headquarters staff presented as well on topics designed to help unify efforts at the national and local level.
In the evening, attendees were able to relax and connect, and rounded out Saturday with attending a lighted boat parade, breaking bread together, and a ping pong and shuffleboard tournament, complete with trophies.
That's not to say that no surfing was had! To the contrary, attendees made the most of the time outside of our meetings to get in some quality time in the Gulf. Some were lucky enough to be able to stick around after the meeting on Sunday to really capitalize on the conditions and enjoy time in the water with friends.