Surfrider would like to encourage everyone to come out and support extreme stand-up paddle boarder and world record holder Tom Jones on his quest to raise awareness and funds for the Plastic Free Ocean Campaign. Tom is on a voyage from Key West to New York City to raise awareness to what is probably the biggest threat to our oceans. This organization does everything, from:

• Raise public awareness about the great risks to human health, and threats to wildlife and the environment from improper and excessive use of plastics, and the breakdown of plastic in the world’s oceans.
• Educates consumers and businesses about safe and economically practical alternatives to plastics for products, packaging and everyday living.
• Funds research to develop methods to recover, process and reuse or safely dispose of the millions of tons of plastic waste that already pollutes the world’s oceans.

Tom will be at the Wyndham Vacation Resorts Towers on the Grove in North Myrtle Beach (2100 N. Ocean Blvd) on Saturday, July 10 at 3:30 as he surfs in to the beach to meet reporters and supporters. Everyone is encourage to stay for a fundraiser cocktail reception afterwards from 5-7.  There is an invitation and RSVP if you want to attend.  Call Angie Ranck at 407-626-6916 or email her at Angie.ranck@wyndhamvo.com.

For more information on Tom or the Plastic Free Ocean campaign, check out the following web sites:

http://www.plasticfreeocean.org/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Plastic-Free-Ocean/110805885624301

Surfrider Foundation Grand Strand Chapter

Monday, February 1, 2010

Location:  Sharky’s at 6th Ave. N. and Ocean Blvd., Myrtle Beach, SC

Members Present:

• Introductions; intro to 2010
• Elections and nominations
  • Elections could not be held as planned; no nominations
  • Vice-chair and volunteer coordinator positions (description of position)
  • Nominations for vice-chair:  Brad Odom, Shannon Sommers
  • Steven Pierce nominated for volunteer coordinator
• Projects
  • Magnet Project
    • Refresh basics on project, as led by Zach and Bruxanne
    • Bruxanne:  Surfside Beach sending out $1200 check, Guy Daniels contrib $500
    • Scholars Academy Biology Club will distribute
    • Potential of start in March?  Distribution, promotion
  • Green Boating Program
    • CCU involved (2 students) and Surfrider
    • Sign placing at county’s boat landings
    • Work w/ local agencies (DHEC) to inject local education
    • Jenny, Meg interested in committee for signs
  • Surfrider Water Bottles
    • National “Rise Above Plastics” campaign (against single-use plastics)
    • SFGS bringing campaign locally with Surfrider metal water bottles (incl. logo)
    • Popular at Myrtle Beach Primary School, Scholars Academy
    • CCU interested on ordering through Surfrider
      • Issue raised:  advertise through website; e-shopping on site?  Can be done; discussion raised on inventory, taxed items, shipping
      • Dealing w/ schools:  selling bulk in advance to schools at profit (currently sold at cost to SF), schools sell
  • Worries
    • KFC & Withers Swash:  request/demand city req. for locks on dumpsters?
    • Potential MB boardwalk trash problem
    • Springmaid Resort wants to implement recycling project, looking for advice
  • Garden City “Shower Tower”
    • Brad spoke to Grand Strand Water & Sewer; needs engineering, site plans
    • Adam reviews concept, partnership with Village Surf; worries about fees (Surfrider currently donating tower, Village donating initial water cost; who left with ongoing water cost Surfrider can’t commit)
    • Cost: 1850 for 2-head tower plan, time needed for construction
    • Maintenance:  damage?  shut down for winter?
• Events/2010 Calendar
  • FAME Festival:  T-Bone Terry and Global Awareness Project, food/art/music/entertainment “street festival” in former-Pavilion-area MB on Apr 24/25, 2010 for Withers Swash Benefit, will give money to Surfrider, wants involvement (booth)
    • Weekend after Earth Day; limited ability for involvement from Surfrider
    • Surfrider 20% beneficiary
  • April 17:  annual Earth Day Music Festival at Market common; Surfrider & Wellness Council, Compassion Music
    • Volunteers requested for setup, day of, breakdown, booths
    • Lori Avant, Matt Wright volunteer for 1st shift
    • Will have artists, vendors, beer garden, kids zone
  • Two Surf Clinics
    • Saturday June 19 (International Surfing Day) at 65th in Myrtle Beach
    • August 14/15:  Guy Daniels Surf-Off (Surfrider w/ booth, Surf Clinic)
    • Cindy Goode will handle booth at both events
  • Chili Cook-Off:  Sun. Oct. 17 at Spud’s
    • Future committee, volunteers need
  • Beach sweeps
    • Morning of June 19 (Int’l Surf Day)
    • Saturday, September 18 (Nat’l Beech and River Sweep)
  • Makai Luau in Limbo
    • Committee to meet in future
• Open discussion, additions, etc.
  • Withers Swash:  city, businesses (nearby) need to get involved, need to put locks on trash bins (Leslie:  Surfrider could give locks)
  • Springmaid Resort:  going green in future; wants Surfrider advice
  • 29th Ave. S. to 15th Ave. S. in Myrtle Beach:  Surfrider’s Adopt-A-Beach, needs volunteers
  • New volunteering policy
    • Suggesters of projects, etc., must help come up with volunteers, management to balance, complete Surfrider support behind stuff

Two recent articles from the Myrtle Beach Sun News tell of new plans for helping to give oysters a new home in the Withers Swash.

Community group making a home for oysters

The Myrtle Beach Downtown Redevelopment Corportation gots its first inside look at The Withers Estuary Community Collaborative this afternoon as the nonprofits leaders presented their plans for new oyster homes in Withers Swash.

Collaborative director Neil Chambers, Keith Walters, a marine science professor at Coastal Carolina University, and Janet Wood, with Myrtle Beach Public Works Department, accepted the redevelopment agency’s invitation to appear, hoping to generate some excitement for their project.

Chambers, an architect who works with InFORM Studios here in Myrtle Beach, has been working on designs for the 4.8-mile Withers Estuary for about a year now, thinking about how to improve water quality, the ecosystem and the surrounding park space and neighborhoods to make the area into an amenity for the city.

“We saw it as a potential place for a park, but when I saw what was going on down there, I really thought we could make a difference,” Chambers told the redevelopment board.

It starts with oysters.

They are filter-feeders that can each clean four gallons of water an hour, making them are a critical first step to restoring the pond’s habitat.

Chambers, Walters and others will lay down smashed concrete underwater near the Kings Highway-side banks of the tidal pond behind the KFC just south of Third Avenue South, then cover the concrete with dried, cleaned oyster shells.

Then they’ll wait for the baby oysters to come swimming in to the pond in May and June, and find their suitable new habitat. The baby oysters, they hope, will latch on and begin building their own shells.

Chambers hopes to start more reefs, then work on the natural pollution filters healthy shoreline ecosystems provide for stormwater, begin to restructure how stormwater flows into the swash and out into the ocean, expand and remodel Withers Swash Park and — someday — work on redeveloping the neighborhood around the park and swash.

But to get people to buy in, he said, the group has to begin to show results.

That’s part of why Chambers and others decided to start with the oysters. They will be able to show residents how something as simple as oyster-bed restoration can start to restore the whole area, and will help when the nonprofit group applies for grants.

Redevelopment board President Bert Anderson wanted to know how his group could help.

Chambers said he hoped his group and the redevelopment agency could help each other by partnering up and redeveloping downtown using green and sustainable principles.

“Green isn’t the future, it’s more the now,” Chambers said. “We want to show the community there are ways to do this that don’t have to be really expensive or involve a lot of engineering and can improve the community.”

To get involved with the Withers Estuary Community Collaborative, call Neil Chambers at (917) 592-8242.

[ Lorena Anderson, Myrtle Beach Sun News ]

Oysters get move-in aid in Myrtle Beach

Some people look at the tidal pond commonly thought of as Withers Swash and see a polluted mess.

Others see the pond as a home – for oysters, that is.

It’s almost oyster-spawning season, and before May rolls around, the Withers Estuary Community Collaborative hopes to have the foundations laid for some new oyster homes.

“They’ll attach to about anything,” said Keith Walters, a marine science professor from Coastal Carolina University.

He and collaborative director Neil Chambers and fellow member Janet Wood presented the group’s intentions to Myrtle Beach’s Downtown Redevelopment Corp. at the redevelopment group’s Wednesday board meeting, hoping to generate some excitement for their project.

Chambers, a green – as in ecologically focused – architect who works with Inform Studios in Myrtle Beach has been working on designs for the 4.8-mile Withers Estuary for about a year, thinking about how to improve water quality, the ecosystem and the surrounding park space and neighborhoods to make the area into an amenity for the city rather than a place many shy away from.

“We saw it as a potential place for a park, but when I saw what was going on down there, I really thought we could make a difference,” Chambers told the redevelopment board.

The collaborative has joined with the city of Myrtle Beach, Coastal Carolina University, Street Reach, Inform, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Horry County, the Surfrider Foundation and others, including local businesses, to start cleaning up the water and improving the area.

It starts with oysters.

The city and several other groups have donated most of what the collaborative needs to start an oyster reef, and because oysters are filter-feeders that can each clean 4 gallons of water an hour, they are a critical first step to restoring the pond’s habitat.

Chambers, Walters and others will lay down smashed concrete underwater near the Kings Highway-side banks of the tidal pond behind the KFC south of Third Avenue South, then cover the concrete with dried, cleaned oyster shells.

Then they’ll wait for the baby oysters to come swimming in to the pond during May and June and find their suitable new habitat. The baby oysters, they hope, will latch on and begin building their own shells.

It takes about two years for an oyster reef to become noticeable, but Chambers, Walters and Wood, with the city’s public works department, said they are confident the reef will take hold. They’ve tested the water and found oyster larvae there, and this week found small reefs near the tidal pond’s banks.

Now they need to get more oyster shells – from a recycling program they’re working on with local restaurants, they hope – and get them in the water in late April.

They hope the effects will ripple from there.

“I hope that people along the waterways that feed into the swash will begin to request reefs or at least give us access to their property so we can start them,” Chambers said. “I hope the community will get involved.”

He wants to start more reefs, then work on the natural pollution filters that healthy shoreline ecosystems provide for stormwater, begin to restructure how stormwater flows into the swash and out into the ocean, expand and remodel Withers Swash Park and – someday – work on redeveloping the neighborhood around the park and swash.

But to get people to buy in, he said, the group has to begin to show results. That’s part of why Chambers and others decided to start with the oysters. They will be able to show residents how something as simple as oyster-bed restoration can start to restore the whole area, and will help when the nonprofit group applies for grants.

“I grew up swimming, fishing and crabbing in the swash before it got so polluted,” redevelopment board member Jay Bultz told Chambers during his presentation Wednesday. “Now it’s the first place in town to get the [S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control] warnings, where they tell people not to swim 100 or 200 yards from the swash.”

Redevelopment board President Bert Anderson wanted to know how his group could help.

Chambers said he hoped his group and the redevelopment agency could help each other by partnering and redeveloping downtown using green and sustainable principles.

“Green isn’t the future, it’s more the now,” Chambers said. “We want to show the community there are ways to do this that don’t have to be really expensive or involve a lot of engineering and can improve the community.”

[ Lorena Anderson, Myrtle Beach Sun News ]

The Surfrider Foundation attended the Beach Advisory Committee today at the MB City Hall regarding proposed changes to the surfing regulations, dogs on the beach and jet skis. In all, it was a mostly successful meeting, with few changes being made.

The Surfrider Foundation attended the Beach Advisory Committee today at the MB City Hall regarding proposed changes to the surfing regulations, dogs on the beach and jet skis. In all, it was a mostly successful meeting, with few changes being made.

The current ordinance (ORDINANCES 5-5: Surfboards and Kayaks) prohibits these activities inside specified zones from April 30- Sept. 15 from 10am to 5pm. The proposal in front of the committee was to change the hours and dates to April 15 – Sept. 30 from 9am to 5pm. The committee did pass a motion to change the times from 9am to 5pm. The committee did not recommend changes to the dates.

Also at issue was the northern most surfing zone ( runs from 82nd Ave. N. to northern city limits (Dunes). The proposed change would ban surfing in front of Marriott and Grand Dunes property, but add a new surfing zone from 82nd Ave. N. south to 77th Ave. N. The motion was passed to ban surfing in front of this area, but was not recommended to replace this area w/ a new surfing zone from 77th Ave. to 82nd Ave. However, the committee did pass a motion to add to four blocks to the 37th Ave. North – 47th Ave. North surfing zone (new zone would extend down to 33rd Ave. North).

The recommendations will now go to the City Council.

A LITTLE HISTORY…….
In 2001, the Beach Advisory Committee asked Surfrider to form a committee to review all of the surfing regulations in the city limits, and discuss w/ the city manager, beach patrol, and beach services. As a result of that meeting, the times were changed from 9am to 10 am (which was endorsed by Sgt. Phillip Caine, and w/ everyone understanding this would be a “trial period”). We also got the surfing zones extended.

FIVE YEARS LATER…..
Sgt. Caine said safety is the issue for the recommended changes in the time. He said there have been a few instances w/ surfers endangering swimmers in the 9-10 time period (in these prohibited areas; ie, in front of the hotels). He also said there have been some confrontations w/ surfers and lifeguards, and even w/ beach patrol as a result.

As far as the surfing zone in R-15 (82nd Ave N. to the beach access just north of the Grand Dunes condo towers), losing this particular surfing zone isn’t much of a loss. Historically, no one has really surfed there much (for some reason?!), and it’s never had much of a break. Sgt. Caine was against the recommendation of replacing this area w/ a new zone from 82nd to 77th because he said that area is already extremely crowded, and is anticipated to only get more crowded w/ new condo developments going up in that area.

Not wanting to give something for nothing, Surfrider asked that the surfing zone from 37th to 47th be extended. The council agreed to add four blocks to the north end of this zone (from 33rd to 37th). Yes, we know it really doesn’t help the 82nd Ave. area, but Surfrider doesn’t believe the surfing community will be affected by that loss.

AS FAR AS DOGS……
The committee passed a motion to change the dates (which dogs are prohibited on the beach from 9 to 5), from May 15 – Sept. 15, to April 30 – Sept. 15 (lose 15 days).

AS FAR AS JET SKIS……
(who cares!)

The Grand Strand Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation does and will continue to fight for the local’s rights to beach access, which includes recreational activities such as surfing and walking our dogs. While most of the problems are caused by out-of-towners, there are some “citizens” who make our job tougher. Help us make our job easier. Try to be respectful of the surfing laws, and try to stay away from swimmers (and swimmers, try to stay away from surfers). If approached by lifeguards or beach patrol, try to be respectful and don’t smart off at them; they’re just doing their job. And if your dog poops on the beach, pick it up (b/c your dog isn’t going to).

The Surfrider Foundation is looking for feedback on proposed changes to the surfing and dog regulations for the CITY of Myrtle Beach (city limits).   The Beach Advisory Committee was recently approached about changing the current laws.

Below are the current regulations and the changes proposed. Please email us back (ASAP) and let us know how or if these changes may affect you, or your kids.

ORDINANCES 4-8 (Dogs on Beach)
- Dogs currently prohibited on beach from May 15 – Sept. 15 from 9am – 5pm.
- Proposed dates: April 15 – Sept. 30 (to be consistent w/ dates that the beaches are guarded).

ORDINANCES 5-5 (Surfboards and Kayaks)
- Currently prohibited outside specified zones from April 30- Sept. 15 from 10am to 5pm.
- Proposed April 15 – Sept. 30 from 9am to 5pm.

- Currently northnmost Surf zone runs from 82nd Ave. N. to northern city limits (Dunes).
- Proposed change would ban surfing in front of Marriott and Grand Dunes property, but add a new surfing zone from 82nd Ave. N. south to 77th Ave. N.

ORDINANCES 5-18 AND 5-19 (Jet Skis and launching)
- Prohibited outside surf zone from April 15 to Sept. 15.
- Proposed April 15 to Sept. 30.

Myrtle Beach City Council Candidates Clay Nance, Nissen Osterneck and Cynthia Powell all payed a visit to the Surfrider Foundation at October’s meeting at the “Playground” Cabana. These three candidates were not there vying for votes or making speeches, but rather learning what our organization does and listening to the issues we were addressing. Myrtle Beach City Council Candidates Clay Nance, Nissen Osterneck and Cynthia Powell all payed a visit to the Surfrider Foundation at October’s meeting at the “Playground” Cabana. Members, new members and guests crammed into the cabana for the meeting (usually held outside), to discuss upcoming events and issues.

Nissen Osterneck, a Surfrider member who visited the Surfrider Foundation last month, payed his second visit to the Cabana. Nissen has made preserving the city’s beaches and getting more young people involved in politics, his agenda. Cynthia Powell, who is a new Surfrider member and also the chairperson for the local chapter of the Sierra Club, made her first vist to a Surfrider meeting. Clay Nance, who has expressed his concerns about the downtown crime problems as well as coastal development issues, made his first visit to a Surfrider meeting. Nance attended the meeting with friend, and new Surfrider member, Jonathan Kresken, who is President of the Waccamaw Community Foundation, along with his son John.
These three candidates were not there vying for votes or making speeches, but rather learning what our organization does and listening to the issues we were addressing.
Surfrider would like to thank these candidates for their interests in our organization, but even more so for their interest in the our beaches, coastal water and coast line.

(to learn more about these candidates, visit….)
www.Vote4Nance.com
www.nissenosterneck.com

Nissen Osterneck attended the September Surfrider meeting at the “Playground” Cabana in Myrtle Beach.  Growing up in Hawaii, Nissen has a strong understanding and passion for the ocean. He informed us that the the issues concerning the beaches and ocean were his top priority. And that’s not political talk. We have seen him repeat this platform in every other interview and article.

As we are already starting to see, election time is upon us again. And one candidate for the M.B. City Council has taken the time to attend a Surfrider meeting and listen to the issues concerning our beaches and waters, as well as our recommendations.
Nissen Osterneck attended the September Surfrider meeting at the “Playground” Cabana in Myrtle Beach. Nissen was raised in Hawaii but moved to Myrtle Beach to attend Coastal Carolina University. He now works with H.B. Springs Realty in Myrtle Beach.
Growing up in Hawaii, Nissen has a strong understanding and passion for the ocean. He informed us that the the issues concerning the beaches and ocean were his top priority. And that’s not political talk. We have seen him repeat this platform in every other interview and article.
Nissen is young and new to the political arena, and that’s why we need to give him our support. Remember this on election day. If you are not registered, go by the DMV TODAY!!!
Apathy among our citizens is one of the reasons our beaches have developed at an uncontrollable rate. So remember, if your not part of the solution, your part of the problem. Get involved. If you don’t, don’t complain.