SAS Makes Beaches Barefoot Friendly  

SAS’s Nationwide Beach Cleaning Tour, Coming To A Beach Near You!

Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) have teamed up with Barefoot wine to launch a nationwide beach clean-up tour this summer. The week-long anti beach litter tour will encourage people to get down to their local beach and do their bit to make it clean and safe for all to enjoy.

The SAS Makes Beaches Barefoot Friendly tour stops at:

Porthtowan, Cornwall                                     28th July

Porthcawl, Wales                                            29th July

Bournemouth                                                  30th July

Brighton                                                           31st July

Cromer                                                            1st August

Tynemouth                                                      2nd August

Andy Cummins, campaign officer, SAS, said “Marine litter is a huge problem on beaches all over the country and by the very definition, we, (humans), are responsible for this marine litter in the marine environment.  So this tour gives beach lovers a great opportunity to make a real and very positive difference on your local beach!  It’s really important that people take an interest, but it’s also really important that people have fun doing it. The beach cleans we organise are really enjoyable, educational and are a great way to bring local people from all walks of life together.”

Each beach clean will start at 2pm.  The afternoon will kick off with a full introduction and briefing from the SAS campaigners. All volunteers will then be furnished with gloves and a rubbish bag and the beach clean will commence. All volunteers need bring is suitable clothing for the weather.   (Under 16s must be accompanied by a responsible adult.)

The beach clean will be followed by a delicious, free beach BBQ for all volunteers!  For those who want to stay on afterwards, volunteers, friends and family can enjoy an evening of fun surf quizzes and free Barefoot wine at a near by local watering hole.  Everyone is welcome to join in the fun!

Tynemouth – Turk’s Head

Emily Smith, marketing manager, Barefoot wine, said “It is a real honour for Barefoot wine to work in partnership with SAS on the ‘Making Beaches Barefoot Friendly’ campaign. Beaches are such an important part of our environment and it’s vital that we treat them with respect so that they remain fun, clean and safe places for us to enjoy.”

A limited number of spaces are available for each clean-up so get in quick! For more information about the campaign and to sign up, please contact Andy Cummins at SAS on 01872 555950 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Alternatively, visit www.sas.org.uk/campaign/littertour or write to Andy Cummins, SAS Unit 2, St Agnes, Cornwall, TR5 0RD.

It’s World Environment Day and Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) investigators have released a film that exposes poor industry practice from ‘plastic injection moulding factories’, which is leading to a pollution epidemic of the nation’s waterways and coastline.

SAS campaigners have focused their attention on plastic and polystyrene pellets. These are the very raw materials that many of today’s plastic products are moulded from, yet millions of them are being deposited around the UK’s coastline.

Little more than a few millimetres in diameter, the pellets, which have been nicknamed ‘mermaids tears’ by campaigners, are the second most common litter item found on UK beaches (Marine Conservation Society’s 2007 Beachwatch data). By their very nature they do not biodegrade, absorb harmful polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in concentrations up to a million times greater than the surrounding seawater and they can also be a deadly threat to sea life, which mistake them for food.

Over the past few months, SAS investigators have filmed at several plastic injection-moulding factories in Cornwall, documenting poor housekeeping practice, which is responsible for spilled pellets making their way into local waters and eventually the ocean.

In particular, we documented spilled pellets routinely left outside the factory premises, clusters of plastic and polystyrene pellets inside storm drain grills, pellets floating in their masses inside drains outside factories and wind-blown pellets strewn around other industrial premises nearby to the factories.  

The film can be viewed here www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFfbhhIVt3I

We also filmed on Porthtowan beach, local to SAS campaigning headquarters in St Agnes, which is a magnet for this type of plastic litter. Here we documented rock pools full of plastic pellets and a tide line dominated by this micro litter.

In October 2007, SAS campaigners delivered a 500ml-sized bottle full to the cap with plastic pellets to British Plastic Federation (BPF) bosses in London. Inside the bottle were 10,000 pellets collected exclusively from Porthtowan beach. SAS were heartened by the industry’s response to this and plans were made for a code of conduct to be developed in the UK to achieve zero pellet loss as a priority for the plastics industry. This would be a great step forward, though it has not yet been established in the UK (though has in the USA under the banner Operation Clean Sweep).

However, SAS fears that many of the smaller factories that operate outside the BPF will continue to operate with poor housekeeping unless an industry wide solution is developed. None of the factories SAS filmed at are members of the BPF for instance.

SAS believes there is now an urgent need for plastic and polystyrene pellets to be contained and reclaimed and a culture of behavioural change adopted by the plastics industry for zero pellet loss, so they can play their part in preventing this escape route for their product. This should also be extended to ensure that the shipping of plastic pellets is carried out with the same ethos, to help in prevention of plastic pellet loss via shipping containers, another route believed to be responsible for their escape into the water environment.

Richard Hardy, SAS Campaigns Director says, “Our investigation has confirmed plastic factories are guilty of poor housekeeping practices and so contribute to plastic pellets escaping into the water environment, sadly helping them become established as one of the worst offending beach litter items in the UK. With a committed effort from the plastics industry to improve housekeeping we could see a marked improvement. Surfers take great pride in protecting and preserving the beaches they and others use for recreation and this is a problem we want the plastic industry to prevent with immediate effect”.

Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) campaigners are today delighted that Northumbrian Water's application to turn off Ultra-Violet disinfection sewage treatment from October to April at Marske-by-the-Sea has been rejected by the Environment Agency (EA). This is great news for recreational water users at Saltburn beach who won't face the prospect of surfing waves next winter that are compromised by poorer water quality.

We're also pleased that the EA has partially rejected the Northumbrian Water application to turn off Ultra-Violet disinfection at Howdon over the same period, instead only allowing a turn off from December to March. This is relatively good news for the north-east premier surfing spot, Tynemouth a key surfing competition venue. In fact the sewage effluent plume from Howdon tends to generally affect South Shields, used much less by recreational water users, so Tynemouth should maintain its top-notch water quality all year round regardless.

The EA did however grant UV turn offs from October to April at Hendon, Billingham, Seaton Carew and Bran Sands as these were shown to discharge in bathing areas where there is little or no bathing or immersion watersports taking place in the areas that would be affected by turning off the UV treatment.

With the EA making use of SAS methodology in determining recreational water use in these areas, SAS can understand the justification for UV turn offs in this instance.

However, SAS would warn other water companies across the country who may now seek to apply for winter UV sewage turn off's against an easy ride. Northumbrian Water's blanket applications and poor recreational water user survey methodology were shown to be inappropriate and poorly considered. With recreational water sports such as surfing, booming in the UK and participants using the water all year round it will prove difficult for them to seek seasonal UV turn offs at popular beaches.

Richard Hardy, SAS Campaigns Director says: "SAS are satisfied that the outcome of these applications will maintain clean, safe recreational water for the majority of water users in the North East. However, we believe that water companies could become much more energy efficient in other areas of their business first, before they apply to turn off UV disinfection. This is the laziest option for saving energy as you're just flicking a switch from 'on to off' but reducing water quality, potentially compromising it for the health of those individuals using the sea. We're stoked that the key beaches of Saltburn and Tynemouth won't be affected from next year and will strive hard to protect other well used beaches around the country from similar moves by water companies".

Nick Noble, a Saltburn surfer and regional representative for SAS says: "The local surfers will delight in this decision after a hard hitting campaign launched by SAS in October 2006. We look forward to running our 2008 Autumn Open Surfing Competition in the safe knowledge we'll have retained the highest standards of water quality to compete in without fear of falling sick!"

TAVARUA, Fiji (Tuesday, June 3, 2008) - Eight-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA) has won his third event on the 2008 ASP World Tour after eliminating C.J. Hobgood in the final of the Globe Pro Fiji held in six foot (two metre) waves at Cloudbreak. Slater remains the only member of the ASP Top 45 to win an event this year – the last ASP World Tour event held in Tahiti was won by a wildcard.

“I don’t think I’ve ever won three out of the first four events on tour,” Slater said. “I’ve won the first two a couple times but I think this is the first time I’ve ever done this. Being the only guy on tour to win an event is pretty odd – I don’t think there has ever been that situation on tour. I know [Tom] Curren and Potts [Martin Potter] both won the first three, but I don’t think a wildcard filled in that fourth one.”

Slater has now extended his ASP ratings lead with Joel Parkinson (AUS) and Bede Durbidge (AUS) maintaining their World No. 2 and 3 spots behind him.

“This feels good – three wins this year, as Damien said to me, I’m sitting on dubs,” Slater said. “That’s as many points as you can get out of three contests, that fourth one, Tahiti, is obviously just a throw away and, lucky for me in that situation, Joel was only the only guy to actually do anything there. C.J. got a result there too – up to that point he hadn’t really done anything, so he’s sitting on a second and a third, he’s looking pretty good now.”

Today’s final match-up was a repeat of the 2005 edition of the event. Much to C.J. Hobgood’s chagrin, their leaderboard in Fiji finals now reads 2:0 in Slater’s favor.

“The waves in that last final we had was quite a bit bigger and more intense at Restaurants,” Slater said. “There were much bigger scores which was to be expected. Today if you had two eights you could probably make it through. Cloudbreak a much bigger arena and there were some good waves in the final that I don’t think we caught – there were some nines out there, probably a 10.00 or two – but we weren’t quite in the spot for them.”

Hobgood, the 2001 ASP World Champion, jumps from 12th to 6th on the ratings with the result, but the second-place finish was bittersweet for him after finishing third in Tahiti. Both he and his twin brother Damien are known for posting big results during the South Pacific leg. Slater eliminated them both in the Globe Pro Fiji.

“It’s hard to swallow when it’s another missed opportunity for me in back to back contests,” Hobgood said. “I had a missed opportunity at the beginning of the heat and that was the difference. Kelly did his thing and going up against him you know you need to catch better waves and I didn’t catch better waves. There were two waves that came through that no one was on and if I would have been on them it would have been the difference. Like I was telling Kelly, the only good thing to come from this is that at least I didn’t decide to have a crackerjack year when the guy in front of me is the only guy to win on tour.”

Hobgood knows that his loss today was not just his own. Slater’s third win this year puts him in an excellent position to campaign for an astounding ninth ASP World Title.

“No one on tour right now has beat him this year,” Hobgood said. “I am stoked for him and I’m stoked I was able to do some good surfing but I know everyone rated 2nd to 45th wanted me to win that final so I let them down. I need three wins now and so does everyone else. That is a huge hole to be in but it can be done. I’m just looking forward to my first win, maybe these seconds and thirds will make me hungrier and hopefully Kelly can get on his heels for awhile and not be as hungry and then we’ll see what happens.”

Hobgood had better luck in his semifinal against Adriano de Souza (BRA). De Souza only posted 13.87 to Hobgood’s 17.64, but was elated nonetheless.

“I can’t believe I got third in this event, I’m really happy,” de Souza said. “For me this result is the best I have ever had in my whole life. Everybody comes here to prove themselves, everybody looks for this result. It is a big surprise for me to bring this result home to my country, so I am really stoked.”

De Souza’s only other semifinal berth came in his first event on the ASP World Tour on the Gold Coast of Australia in 2006. His equal third result then put him in the Top 5 on the ASP ratings for a couple of weeks – a place he’s worked his way back to with this result. He moved to World No. 4 today.

“I’m really happy to be in the Top 5 for the first time in two years,” de Souza said. “It feels really good to put my name there, but it is still early days. It’s not hard for the other guys –Taj and Andy– to come through behind me they are really strong in the next event. For me, I have to go home to train and get focused for JBay. I have to take it event by event.”

Slater defeated Burrow in the semifinals when he scored two nine-point rides – the second of which he earned under Burrow’s priority – to beat the Australian 18.70 to 12.84.

“I’m not stoked,” Burrow said. “Kelly did what he is famous for and pulled two good scores out of waves that didn’t look that amazing. There is not much more I could have done. I felt like I surfed well on the waves I got, but I just didn’t get those ones. I can’t be too angry… but I am. I’m devastated I’m not in the final but a third is a keeper so I’ll work from there.”

Burrow’s equal third finish saw him move from seventh to fifth on the ASP ratings, but last year’s world No. 2 had been envisioning a scenario more like the one in which he beat Slater in the final of last year’s ASP World Tour event in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa.

“I was thinking about how much I smoked Kelly in the JBay final last year during that heat,” Burrow said. “I wanted to do that again but I knew it was going to be hard. He got me at Bells [Beach] this year too so I was pretty hungry for the win but it just didn’t come together. I’m just thinking about JBay now and defending my title there.”

The world’s best surfers will reconvene in Jeffreys Bay July 10-20, 2008.

Visit www.aspworldtour.com and www.globeprofiji.com for more information.

Globe Pro Fiji Final Results:
Final: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.67 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 13.27

Globe Pro Fiji Semifinal Results:
Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.70 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.84
Heat 2: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 17.64 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.87

Globe Pro Fiji Quarterfinal Results:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.60 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.73
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 14.27 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 13.67
Heat 3: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 17.50 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 6.84
Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.00 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.66

Top 10 ASP World Tour Rated Surfers after the Globe Pro Fiji:
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 4010 points
2. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 3072 points
3. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 3050 points
4. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 2808 points
5. Taj Burrow (AUS) 2762 points
6. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 2728 points
7. Mick Fanning (AUS) 2721 points
8. Andy Irons (HAW 2606 points
9. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 2474 points
10. Bobby Martinez (USA) 2428 points