Photo: Unsplash / César Couto
Editor’s Note: The following survey is being coordinated by Dr. Dan Reineman of California State University Channel Islands’ Coastography Lab.
For surfers, beach closures for public safety have been a tough pill to swallow. The community’s response has been fast and varied, ranging from hashtags encouraging us to stay home all the way to active civil disobedience, with a lot of empty waves in between. But outside of the conversations, what are the actual effects of beach and ocean closures on surfers? Have you been personally impacted? Which counties are surfers actually being kept out of the water? How much less are surfers riding waves than this same time last year, or even in the months leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic? These are just a few questions we want to find answers to, so the Coastography Lab of California State University Channel Islands has launched a nationwide survey to find out. And if you haven’t been impacted, we want to know why not. Anyone can participate and the survey is anonymous.
The information we collect in this survey will be used to develop coastal management and policy recommendations to help guide communities through future crises, including future losses due to global climate change and ill-considered coastal management. Such losses will have profound impacts on the surfing world and on each of us, personally.
As we all continue to cross our (well-washed) fingers in the hope that the world returns to normal soon and our waves are re-opened, please help us record the present moment by sharing your experiences as a surfer in the time of Coronavirus.
