Thursday, July 30, 2009

PUT LAST WEEK’S SESSIONS TO WORK FOR TOMORROW: You surfed your favorite spots for days on end – make sure you surf them the rest of your life


Arms finally rested-up? Good. You’re gonna need ‘em to to fill out our survey.

Last week was big for US surfers. Four days of fun waves from Miami to Montauk. Twice that in size and duration for most of the West Coast. Do the math and you get tens of thousands of surfers scoring even more sessions across tons of surf spots. Now the time’s come to convert those numbers into hard data to make sure every break stays safe in terms of access and water quality down the road.

If you don’t think those are important issues -- if you think your spot’s automatically protected -- consider the fact that miles of beach still remain closed around Hatteras due to questionable environmental science. That Santa Barbara is in danger of juggling more tar balls. Or look at the latest water quality report which shows just how dirty some of our favorite beaches are. The only way to protect surfers’ interests in such issues is to show them who we are and how we impact these various spots and their surrounding beach towns and economies. It’s also the first step in a battle against existing injustices like board charges and beach badges.

So, while your arms and memories are fresh, please fill out the Surf-First Survey. (Assuming you haven’t already.) We only have until the end of summer before we’ll crunch numbers – and we can only crunch the numbers we have. So if you want to make sure your break’s protected, you better stand-up for it yourself.

Thanks To Mickey McCarthy for this Outer Banks lineup, where last week's crowd alone should add at least a few hundred surveys.

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