Researchers are beginning to conclude that there may be a link between bad weather and sharks behaviour. Sharks have a very acute sensory system, and now its been put forward that they can detect pressure changes in the atmosphere.
Newsletter join now Keep in touch with all the latest surf news, green scene and partner info by joining the Drift weekly update. SIGN UP NOW
Video watch now Our selection of video from around the globe, with our partners at Hi Shredability, VBS.tv.
What are we made of? Drift Magazine is made from ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free) FSC Certified pulp and low VOC vegetable inks. Studio power by Ecotricity and delivery made using Biopower V100 waste oil.
No one will deny that over the last five years surfing has witnessed an explosion of numbers. The BSA estimate two million surfers now reside in the UK, and many more people are surfing all year round instead of the traditional summer-only troop. So where does that leave surfing in terms of environmental impact?
My local break is now busy all year round, with the car park full and the cafe's and tea shops all managing to turn over a profit in the coldest, shortest days now.
I've always longed for the winter, clean swells and space to surf without hundreds dropping in. Sure there are less crowded breaks if you want to travel a little further, but it all means that there are more of us, covering more miles to find the right conditions and best breaks.
A few weeks back, I was sitting in a small cafe overlooking the beach, after a dawn session, and watched as the day surfers arrived. I noticed that many of the people arriving were driving four wheel drive jeeps, with one board and one driver. In fact when I drove out of the car park, every vehicle that came past me was a jeep, with just one occupant.
This got me thinking. Where have they driven from? If they have driven a long way, say from a city like Bristol or Exeter, then they will have probably driven maybe two hundred miles on a round trip. Imagine the mileage they must cover, just to surf, in say twelve months. Well I couldn’t imagine it, so I did my own survey, and asked a city surf club to tell me how many miles individuals covered each month.
The results were pretty staggering. Most reported clocking up to one thousand miles per month. While some were running on about four hundred miles per month, the average was much higher.
In a nutshell, going surfing looks like it contributes at least half of the annual mileage of any surfer. That’s a lot of carbon emissions per vehicle, and of course if you own a gas guzzler, and don’t share a lift, then the impact of just made worse.
So what can you do about it? Well there are plenty of solutions.
Firstly, find someone who surfs around your location, and lift share as much as you can. I always try to keep the fuel costs to a minimum, and taking four in my car will quarter the £25 fuel bill each time I go.
If you don’t know anyone locally, try to locate a surf club nearby and join. Most have a forum or regular meeting, so you can find some like-minded souls to dilute your footprint. Check the BSA web site for a list of clubs or try Google.
Secondly, if you want to do something slightly more dramatic, think about what you are driving. You can change your vehicle to a diesel to get better mpg, or investigate bio fuels. Most modern diesels will accept either Rape Seed oil, Waste Vegetable Oil or Straight Vegetable Oil. Check the links at the end of this blog for more information about this. Usually food oils will return improved performance and economy, so why not give it a try? And of course you render your motoring less vulnerable to Mr. Browns fuels tax changes.
Thirdly, if you can, take the roof bars off and put the board in the car. You will save pounds on fuel bills from the increased mpg.
Lastly, if you do drive petrol or mineral diesel vehicles, you can offset your carbon emissions, just as you do when you take a flight. This will really help to neutralise your carbon dioxide emissions. To offset your carbon emissions for a medium size engine, covering twelve thousand miles per year, will only set you back about £30, less than it costs to fill up. Try CO2balance.com to calculate your car emissions.
Far from wishing to evangelise, these changes are very simple and will really help us reduce the impact of the charge to the beach each time there is a pulse.
:// My T4 Van http://vorticity.org/ric/van/ which some of you have seen, runs on Bio-power V100. Locally produced 100% bio-fuel, from pre-used vegetable oil, aka: recycled chipfat. Goes great!
Biofuel can often be mixed directly with diesel in the tank, so running a mix is no problem, and if you need to top up away from home then adding Derv is easy. The T4 is pretty good as it already has a heated fuel filter, but I have added an extra filter and heat exchanger as this warms and thins the fuel before it hits the filters or the pump. The main go/no-go is the quality of the fuel pump, Bosh=good, Lucas=poor. There are other factors that Oz will talk you though before supplying you.
Posted by Ric on 21:06:35 07/01/2007
:// For those travelling from away but going to a regular spot, why not try and leave your board down there with someone local to save the extra fuel of putting it on the roof. Also, investigate leaving an old car bear the railway station perhaps if it's allowed and affordable.
:// the title of this blog did make me smile. "surfers clock up huge mileage on wave hunts" ......remove the last word of the title and it cold have been a severn bore blog ! but yep, my peugeot goes like a dream on veg oil. of course i always bung the chancellor the extra road tax for the fuel ;-)
Posted by woody on 20:30:19 26/02/2007
:// Hi guys, ran my diesel toyota hiace all summer on straight veg oil (rape seeds best), 55p a litre from morisons. Started clogging the injectors below 10 degress when the oil became thicker in october. Works fine now back on diesel, mechanic didn't pick up anything unusual on the service. Even used it this winter, put a fivers worth of diesel in an put the veg oil bottles in the footwell of the car with the heater on. Pulled over and stuck the veg oil in. Got to Braunton almost ran out and filled it back up with diesel, so it would start after surfing. Worked fine, although bit of a pain in the arse. Of course I've informed her majesties customs of this oil useage and paid them the 27p a litre as the law requires.
Posted by Steve on 21:07:01 07/01/2007
:// I've was using straight veg oil, but it coked up, and switched to a waste veg oil with anti-coking agents in.
It all works fine now, and I'm not wrapped around the governments little finger now! Love it.
Good mag by the way...
Posted by Ian on 16:53:05 08/04/2007
:// Good blog, have had the same thoughts many a time and have been wanting to change the fuel I use in my van from diesel to bio/chip fuel for ages. However, I can't find a regular source in Bristol. I'm sure it's out there, does anyone know where i can get my battered fish and fuel at the same time? Or does anyone know how to mix your own? ta.e
[Arthurian legends back in Tintagel to campaign for proper sewage treatment]
Pro-surfers endorse Brush Boarding, a combination of Surfing and Snowboarding, in Devon, the home of its Aussie inventor
Cornishman Sam Bleakley has failed to join his British team-mate Ben Skinner in the third round of the Oxbow World Longboard Tour event in France
Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) campaigners have today welcomed Hilary Benn, Secretary Of State for the Environment decision to refuse South West Water permission to carry on dumping raw sewage at Tintagel and Bossiney
[Brazil will host the 2008 ASP World Masters Championships]
[Colin McPhillips in action in France]
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)
For the first time in five years, the ASP World Masters Championships will assemble some of the most legendary names in professional surfing to Rio de Janeiro’s Barra de Tijuca
Sennen's Sam Bleakley faces a must-win second round heat at the Oxbow World Longboard Tour event in France
Skype us
.jpg)
.jpg)
Surf art 
Surf environment