Sign the online petition click here
Stop the privatization of Swamis for an elite few
There is a proposed professional womens longboard contest slated to be held at Swamis, Encinitas California October 2010. It is my strong opinion that this and any contest at Swamis is a bad idea. This is a segregated contest that excludes the local surfing community. Swamis services several hundred surfers a day. Cutting off public access to Swamis will put pressure on other surf spots, creating frustration with overcrowding and dangerous situations.
The Rob Machado and Switchfoot Bro-Am contest have been very successful in the past because those events includes the local community. These contest have not been held at Swamis because the organizers know that Swamis is traditionally a no contest zone and they respect that. Even the Swamis Surfing Association has written in their by-laws not to have contest at Swamis.
The new CEO of the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce Marshall Weinreb, a non-surfer, has declared this contest "The biggest thing to ever come to Encinitas." Mr. Weinreb has been misinformed. This contest does not carry the prestige that the organizers claim it has. The major surf media outlets don't even bother to cover it.
This contest will set a troubling precedent. The local surf community losing access to Swamis for 4 days is just the beginning. We are opening Pandora's Box. Imagine 3 or 4 contest a year at Swamis. The public could lose access to Swamis for 20 days a year. This has happened to many important surf spots worldwide.
Sign the online petition, click here
View the official website of the proposed contest, thewwlc.com
Follow the discussion about the contest controversy on the Leucadia Blog.
Swamis is no place for any kind of event. The logistics are just plain poor.
ReplyDeleteThe surfers of Cape Hatteras have had the ESA's championships forced on them for over 40 years. There are no local surfers involved. Now they bring 3 story scaffolds with acres of banners for mega surf corporations, on National Park land of all things. Over 1000 surfers come for this, which the powers that run the island want because of the coin.
ReplyDeleteSurfers of Swamis fight this war. The surfers of Cape Hatteras know the pain. Not all surfers are into contests.
Surfin Dad said,
ReplyDeleteThis will ruin this world famous surf break. Once one contest is allowed, many others will follow and all local access will be denied. Look what corporate surfing has done to Lowers!