This is another in the blog series on  California. Ch 3.

Today is a movement generated day called World Oceans Day. You can read about it’s History here.

More years ago then I care to admit to, I had a couple custom board shaping appointments with two men. One board was for Tom Pratte. The other was for  Reed Wolpert. As we chatted together in two separate shaping sessions, both men told me about a concern that they had.

They each saw California as being engaged in a very dangerous trend. It was the walling off of the Coastline by development, and closing of historic access ways to the beach and Ocean to surfers, and ultimately loss of those grandfathered access ways to the public at large. They, along with a few other men, committed lives and assets to stopping this. I remember our conversations well, as they took place in my shaping room in Santa Barbara California. This was in the birth period of the Surfrider Foundation when they, along with Glen Henning, founded the group. SR was later lead to prominence by Rob Caughlan.

The organization has changed dramatically over ensuing generations. Suffering as many well intentioned valiant organizations do, from a process called Mission Creep.  Both men are gone now.  The same problems persist with Ocean and Coastal Access.  It shrinks. Even more so as that Organization foundered in it’s original intent, in process of becoming a sort of PAC, as many NGO’s are want to do.

For Surfers, and the rest of the Ocean Tribe, EVERY day is Ocean Day. But I sure appreciate the concept and well meaning intentions, none the less, of the people who founded it.

Lets keep the access to our Oceans open. Lets regulate the ones whose words and deeds destroy it. Seek sustainable solutions to utilizing it’s rich resources, and while we are there, if you happen to see a bit of trash, simply pick it up.

This piece is called Walk On The Ocean. It is timeless, and a message from my Community on this Golden Coast. The group was a Santa Barbara Icon. Toad The Wet Sprocket.

The Ocean is our lifeline. We should all cherish and rejoice in it. A pretty simple, yet equally vital, avocation for some, but a way of life for many of my friends. It joins us all together in a baptism which imbues life.

We ARE the change. I think both Tom And Reed would appreciate that. Thanks to all of the rest of you who do as well.