North County Fair! Coastal Cleanup! Surf4Peace! Volunteers needed!

North Country Fair!
Saturday, Sept. 17 and Sunday, Sept. 18

Join Humboldt Surfrider at the fair this weekend! We need volunteers to help table, share info and sell our awesome T-shirts and hoodies! Email merisurfriderhumboldt@gmail.com to sign up.

Coastal Cleanup!
Saturday, Sept. 17

Make our beaches cleaner together this Saturday, when Humboldt Surfrider joins Humboldt Baykeeper at the North Jetty from 9 a.m. to noon for Coastal Cleanup Day! Email Debbie Topping for more info at debeachcomber@gmail.com.

Surf4Peace!
Sunday, Sept. 18

The 8th annual Surf4Peace takes place Sunday at the North Jetty from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. It’s all ages, longboard and shortboard.

Join the Neighborhood Surf Shop Saturday night at the new Beachcomber, across from Jacoby Creek School in Bayside, for a pre-party featuring Globe’s Year 0000, then volunteer, compete and just have fun at Surf4Peace the next day. Admission is free, with a suggested $2 donation at the door.

The Absynth Quintet (finally) plays for Humboldt Surfrider

Who's excited to play Ocean Night?

Those banjo players are quick, but the stand-up bass and Tofu’s drum kit weighed down the Absynth Quintet boys just long enough for us to catch up to them, grab’em by an ear and say, “Play for us, darn you!” Knowing what was good for them, they put on their smilingest faces and promised to show up at Arcata Theatre Lounge for our August 5 Ocean Night. Now that we’ve corralled them, please make it worth everyone’s while by coming out to support great music and important causes.

As always, Ocean Night is sponsored by Humboldt Surfrider, Humboldt Baykeeper and Ocean Conservancy. It’s all ages and we’re asking a $3-$10 donation – a bit more than usual, but it’s an extra-special and slightly more expensive night – clearly, a total bargain! (Also seeking business sponsorships – email humboldt@surfrider.org.)

Films for the Thursday, Aug. 5 event are:

Can you break the habit?

Bag It – Is Your Life Too Plastic?

Shelter, from the Moonshine Conspiracy:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlt6fWP7AXc]

We’re also featuring a video from Team Marine and some cool underwater freediving footage from locals Andrew Weltz and Kirby Morejohn.

Shindig success!

logo designed by Matt Beard

On Nov. 14, Surfrider Foundation’s Humboldt Chapter celebrated our first year of “reconstitution” with a few hundred of our friends in the Arcata Theatre Lounge.

While the chapter has been around for nearly 20 years, a drop in activity necessitated a concerted effort to get things going again in 2008. And get going they did! We’ve doubled our memberships, increased our funds tenfold, rebuilt the Jetty shower, cleaned beaches and a piece of U.S. Hwy. 101, promoted reusable bags and water bottles, and generally reached out on behalf of the North Coast’s ocean, waves and beaches.

In the works are improvements at Moonstone Beach and Camel Rock, as well as the establishment of a water quality lab dedicated to ocean testing. None of this would have happened or be happening without the phenomenal support of the local community members and businesses who’ve offered money, venues, raffle and auction prizes, and volunteer labor.

So, from Surfrider Humboldt, THANK YOU for your contribution. With your help, our chapter raised over $3,500 in a single evening. Not only was the event financially lucrative, but the joy of so many families – surfing and other – having fun at our event helps ensure future generations will continue the work of protecting the North Coast. Thanks again for helping make it all happen!

And an extra big huge thank you to the folks at GREENHOUSE BOARDSHOP and Humboldt Baykeeper. Both have been absolutely key to our success. Please express your appreciation if you’re around Baykeeper’s Old Town office and please do your holiday shopping at Greenhouse!

October Meeting Minutes

View October’s Minutes here.

Poop plumes taint Trinidad? (corrected date)

A must-hear: Wednesday, March 18 on KHUM 104.3 FM, Humboldt Baykeeper’s Pete Nichols and radio personality Mike Dronkers discuss water quality near Westhaven. Trinidad’s septic systems, upstream cows, and road runoff all lead to questionable conditions for area surfers.

You can also listen via khum.com and, if you miss it, grab the podcast from that same source or through iTunes.

Coastal Currents courtesy KHUM 104.3/104.7 FM

Surfrider Humboldt Chair Jennifer Savage filled in this week for Humboldt Baykeeper Exec Director Pete Nichols on KHUM‘s weekly feature Coastal Currents. (Thanks, Pete!)

Coastal Currents, KHUM, Jan. 14, 2009

Thank you to Mike Dronkers for providing the audio.

Notes from Monday’s meeting

December 2008 Meeting

Thanks to Bill Chino and the folks at Plaza Grill for hosting us! Between 35-and-40 people showed up for our first official meeting as the new chapter.
More Details

Humboldt Baykeeper dinner

We have room at our table. Wanna go? Email humboldt@surfrider.org or call Jen at 267-8458.