Anyone who has been on a surf trip is aware of the proliferation of surf brands in far-flung coastal regions of the globe. We leave “breadcrumbs.” We tend not to “tread lightly” or have “zero impact,” let’s be honest… we leave our mark.
We leave a trail of where we, as a global tribe of surfers, have been… similar to what Hansel and Gretel supposedly did… or what cookies do in your web browser, or how people are now starting to use GPS systems. Surfer’s breadcrumbs are t-shirts, stickers, sunglasses, used boards and surf trunks. As the stop sign in Kauai below shows.
It’s nothing to be far away… immersed in a totally different culture and then seeing some familiar surf sticker that reminds you of yet another sign of coastal development. So perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised a month ago when I was walking around the beaches of El Salvador, decompressing and starting to transition onto local time when I look up and see this guy.
I shouldn’t have been surprised but I was.
The thing is that I felt a sense of pride, so did he. He works at a local surf camp whose owner understands the very reasons Surfrider Foundation exists. It’s really quite simple, the camp is situated on a beautiful piece of coastal property with a nice, consistent 6’ – 8’ right breaking out the front door. They have managed to control development, but just like most regions in the world, there are problems keeping pollution under control. In some sessions I’d find my surf trunk pockets filled with trash.
Perhaps the silver lining in this story of “surfer’s breadcrumbs” is that in addition to our need to tag and leave or mark on any given location we’re sometimes also making a difference in a community. Most of the boards used by locals in locations like this one were left behind by traveling surfers. At K59 there was a kid absolutely ripping on a board that had been left behind and been broken and fixed three times. The local crew also understands that they need to address the pollution problem and are starting to work with communities “upstream” (most of the garbage flows down a nearby river and into the ocean). This comes back to a core tenant of Surfrider Foundation, the need for communication and education.
For a great success related to this story, check out what the locals did in Tres Palmas, Puerto Rico. The story there is much deeper than saving a break, it’s about community transformation and coastal preservation. It’s why Surfrider Foundation exists.
Jim Moriarty
Executive Director, Surfrider Foundation
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