WiLDCOAST/Surfers to Battle Sewage

WiLDCOAST TO BATTLE SEWAGE AT CALIFORNIA’S MOST POLLUTED BEACH
MORE THAN 100 SURFERS TO COMPETE FOR CLEAN WATER IN IMPERIAL BEACH THIS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9TH

October 6, Imperial Beach. Imperial Beach is California’s most polluted beach and WiLDCOAST and south San Diego surfers are fighting back to stop the epidemic of beach closures. More than 100 surfers—mostly kids--will gather at the Imperial Beach Pier on Sunday, October 9th (7am-1pm) to surf for Clean Water in the 2nd Annual Dempsey Holder Expression Session and Ocean Festival. Billabong, Op, TNT Surfboard Glassing Company and Spirit Realty have signed on as Kahuna Sponsors of the event.

Imperial Beach suffered its worst every pollution season last year with the beaches closed more than 90% of the time. Last year the Festival was postponed due to a sewage spill, and organizers aren’t taking any chances this year. WiLDCOAST has been monitoring ocean conditions with the local officials and are hoping for a clean event. However, Imperial Beach and Coronado were repeatedly closed this past summer due to a mysterious sewage source that repeatedly stunk up the ocean for more than ten miles.

“Any time you enter the water in Imperial Beach it is a game of Russian Roulette,” said Serge Dedina, WiLDCOAST Executive Director who had to cancel his own participation in the contest this year due to a sewage related ear infection.

At the event, participants will receive “Surf Drops” to combat sewage related illnesses, and rally for clean water in a special Menehune Division. Wildcoast team members will survey contestants for pollution related illnesses and educate the public on how to detect dirty water.

A grassroots community event, the Dempsey will include a Retro division that has longtime IB locals such as Kelly Krause of Emerald City Boarding Source bringing out his single-fin to surf in waves that are forecast to be in the 3’-5’ range.

In addition to the surf contest, WiLDCOAST will bestow its Environmental Awards on the Coronado Middle School Surf Team, Poseidon Academy teachers Mario Olmos and John Ashley, and the IB Art Kids for their efforts to keep our coast clean and pristine.

The WiLDCOAST event is named after Alan “Dempsey” Holder, one of California’s big-wave pioneers and the Dean of the Tijuana Sloughs, Imperial Beach’s epic offshore reef. From the 1930s-1960s, Dempsey and his friends who included surfers such as John Elwell, Bob Simmons, the Hoffman brothers, Peter Cole, Kit Horn, Burrhead Drever and Ron “Canoe” Drummond, surfed 15-20’ waves on redwood boards over a mile from shore. Dempsey was the inspiration for “Hoddy” in Kem Nunn’s epic novel Tijuana Straits, which documents the travails of the Sloughs crew and the pollution problem in Imperial Beach.

Watermen sponsors include: Aaron Chang, Surf Diva, Pacific Realty, Rizzio, Surf Drops, and FCS. Menehune sponsors include: Cow-a-Bunga, Emerald City Boarding Source, Sector Nine, Natural Selection Surfboards, Novak Surfboards, Saltwater Magic, Surf Hut, Seacoast Giant Pizza, Oakley, San Diego-Tijuana Border Initiative, Karl Strauss Brewery, Surfline, Poorboy USA, Chris Behar Consulting, Next Day Printed Tees, Hobie, City of Coronado, The Surfer’s Path, Bruegger’s, Sharkbait Surfwax, XM Surfmore, Jide Design+Printing, and Boz.

WILDCOAST is an international conservation team dedicated to protecting the health of coastal communities, wildlands and wildlife. The WiLDCOAST Clean Water Campaign is supported by grants from the Alliance Health Care Foundation, California Endowment and the Surf Industry Manufacturer’s Association Environmental Fund.