First Coast Chapter
Surfrider Foundation
May 12th, 2009 Meeting Minutes• Marty Healey from DEP spoke about water quality, desalinization plants and the Matazas Inlet access issue.
o There may be a possible field trip in the works for Surfrider to the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTM Research Reserve). Details are still to be worked out.
• The JaxPride Award was displayed and passed around to the membership.
• A $290 donation was made by Paulie Gregg to Surfrider. He has worked on numerous events for us and we thank Paulie for the check.
• International Surf Day was discussed. The membership was once again reminded that it is going to be held on Saturday June 20th. The event is led by Stephanie Russo and Paul Hayden will be assisting. Please contact Stephanie (
stephanie_rousso@yahoo.com ) for more information or to volunteer for this event.
o Sisters of the Sea will be working at the life guard station.
o We still need volunteers! A signup sheet was passed around and it’s still possibly to sign up. Water, gloves and bags will be provided and Michael Poolt from MySurfari will host a party at The LandShark which be the HQ for this event.
• Black Tie and Baggies final report was given. We asked that if anyone has any pictures, please send them in to us at
firstcoast@surfrider.org and we will have them posted.
o The Chapter netted over $3,500 and the proceeds to be spent on the following:
• Upkeep of equipment
• Educational materials
• Feather banners
• T-shirts - Three designs will be tried out on a small batch basis
• Business Cards - Which are easier to carry and pass out than pamphlets
• Shelving for storage
o Pictures from the event are now on-line for your viewing pleasure. They are at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/firstcoast ... 114726130/ Thanks to George Arco for processing and posting them and Stephanie Rousso for providing the camera.
o Again, if anyone has pictures of the event, please forward them to us and we will post them.
• Surfrider camping trip is still alive. We are thinking about a September time frame
• Surfrider longboard contest scheduled for this fall. We are still looking for sponsors and volunteers. The Committee will start their meetings after ISD
• First Coast Surfrider held their April beach cleanup last Saturday April 25th. Because if the opening of the beaches there had already been two groups cleaning up the beach. However, the beach isn't only sand. After the cleanup we went surfing and Amanda and David had their first surf lessons. Congrats guys on starting the best bad habit you will ever have. We are planning on either surfing or some other kind of get together after all of our beach cleanups so if you have a surfboard, by all means bring it with you.
• Next beach cleanup is May 23rd at 9am just north of the Pier in Jax Beach. If conditions allow, we will be surfing after the cleanup. Bring your boards.
• Paul Hayden and I were on First Coast Forum a Public Access show for the Cox Radio network. We were interviewed by a really nice guy named Orphan Andrew regarding the environment. It aired last Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately, we were unable to get the times from them by air time.
• A White Trash Bash is planned for July 3rd at the American Legion in Jax Beach, Contact Evangeline Zamm (
chulazamm@aol.com) for more info
• Tonya Beaver, one of the sponsors of the BT&B Gala was introduced. She has some pictures on her web site (
http://www.tonyabeaverphotography.com ).
• Damon Williams, a member and someone who has always given Surfrider incredible support by donating his art works was also introduced (but had already left for the evening).
Please support our sponsors as they have supported every one of us in Surfrider. We’ve been incredibly lucky in that these folks have been very generous to us in a bad economy.Sorry about the formatting, outlines don't work well on the messageboard.
Thanks folks, see you next time!
Ed Cronin
Chairman, First Coast Chapter
Surfrider Foundation
