Save the Waves fought its first battle early in 2001 on the island of Madeira, when the government proposed building a large marina in the village of Lugar de Baixo, directly on top of a perfect right point break. Photographer and journalist Will Henry, a surfer from California and frequent visitor to the island, learned of the marina project from his Madeiran friends during his annual trip to the island. During his visit that year he witnessed the first stages of the project, as tractors and cranes hastily built a seawall along the shoreline at the point. Within days a perfect wave was damaged by backwash and reverberation from the newly altered shore. Local surfers believed there was no hope of saving their home break. The entire island had only 30 to 40 surfers at that time, most of whom were under the age of twenty, and despite the growing fame of the island’s spectacular surf, they stood little chance of winning a fight against a government that was often perceived as having too much power.

Hence Save the Waves Coalition was formed. Henry returned to the US and formed an organization that brought numerous environmental groups together, forming an alliance and igniting a campaign that brought forth a huge outcry from surfers around the world. In the end, the government of Madeira relented, and moved the marina to another bay. The wave at Lugar de Baixo was spared from ultimate destruction. (for more information on the Lugar de Baixo campaign, click here).

Since then, Save the Waves has taken on similar battles in many other places in the world. The organization quickly learned that the problems that threatened the surf spots in Madeira were not unique, but in fact were happening in many other countries where no entities existed to represent the rights of its surfers. The fledgling organization formed a Board of Directors and, led by Henry, grappled with developers and governments that refused to recognize the value of a quality surf break. They identified the root cause of the problem: that surf spots are commonly not seen as valuable assets, and surfers continue to suffer from an outdated reputation of being frugal travelers.

This pervasive misunderstanding of the sport and its global economic strength has become the organization’s biggest challenge: to prove that waves are often more valuable than the projects that threaten to replace them, and that they are a unique and irreplaceable resource that should be preserved at all costs.

For a complete list of currently endangered waves, visit our home page.
 

Dean’s passion for both the ocean and the environment began at an early age, surfing the waters around Santa Cruz. His first taste of surf travel was a three-month road trip down to Central America at age 20, and he’s never looked back since. These days he lives and surfs at Ocean Beach, San Francisco, splitting time between battle walls of white-water at "The Beach" and the Save The Waves offices in Davenport.

Her even-tempered demeanor and strong work ethic has made her a leader in the field. Oh yeah, and she surfs, too.

Josh returned home in 2005, content to pursue a career in his home state of California, until the evil warlords of Celco began to pollute the rivers of Southern Chile with pulp mill effluent. After a joint mission with Save the Waves to Chile in May 2006, Josh was hired to head our effort to clean up the pulp industry in Chile. For more information on the Chile campaign, click here.

As a Madeiran, he did not sit still watching the works of massive construction trashing the coastline of his homeland. He followed and supported Save the Waves' events in 2001, and helped to raise awareness about the endangered waves and the consequences of their loss. The events in the beginning of the new millennium helped to propel the formation of Save the Waves Coalition by Will Henry. "That is why Madeira and Jardim do Mar will always be highly symbolic in Save the Waves Coalition history," he underlines. Nelio thinks that the preservation of surf spots is a means to protect the exotic and authentic landscapes around the world, including Madeira’s shoreline, for sport, leisure, adventure, tourism, eco-tourism and simple contemplation purposes. "I am watching the brother(s)." Read Nelio’s weblog: Olho de Fogo (Eye of Fire).

Today, João lives in San Francisco, California and is currently sponsored by Reef, Von Zipper and ET Surfboards. When not assisting Save The Waves, João works as the eco-manager for Mavericks Surf Ventures, Inc., which is the organization behind the Mavericks Surf Contest. Currently, João is working as the project manager for his newly developed World Wave Sites program. João states, "Waves are metaphysical temples that must be honored and protected." He can often be seen around San Francisco during the winter months, taking off on the biggest bombs at Ocean Beach and Mavs.

Sky enjoys exploring and trying out sudo-surf spots along the Northern California coast. He’s the guy, who is always saying that the surf is "better than it looks," or that "the wave is totally makable if you weave around the rocks."

Since Joana's move to San Francisco, she has volunteered numerous times for Save The Waves, including raising awareness among her fellow students and organizing a Save The Waves support group at the University of San Francisco. Joana is an avid activist for the environment and uses the words and deeds of John Muir, Thoreau and Edward Abbey to guide her perspective on the natural world. Joana brings her enthusiasm to assist Save The Waves with coordinating membership and general outreach.

An avid surfer since the age of four, he grew up in a suburban Los Angeles neighborhood from which he was constantly trying to escape. Summers were spent in Dana Point with his grandparents, just around the corner from Killer Dana, the wave that was destroyed by Dana Point Harbor in the year of his birth. His first successful move closer to the ocean came when he attended Cate School in Carpinteria, and was allowed to surf Rincon every day after school. After earning a degree in Sociology at Stanford University in 1988, he moved permanently to the Santa Cruz area, where he now lives with his wife and three children.

He continues to write and photograph for publications such as Surfing Magazine and the Surfer’s Path, and to exhibit his fine art photography internationally. (to view his photographic work, visit www.williamhenry.com ). In addition to surfing, he is addicted to exploration of the world’s frigid zones, and also the lead singer for San Francisco rock fusion band CNB.

A wave-rider since the age of two, Pete lives and surfs at Ocean Beach, San Francisco, and is also an avid lacrosse player and snowboarder. He is also well-known in the Sunset District for his raging celebrations of most national holidays, testing not only the structural integrity of his beach-front home but also a testament to the tolerance of his neighbors.

Greg first became interested in coastal resource management during a coral reef field course at the Center for Marine Resource Management in the Turks and Caicos Islands. He completed his undergraduate work at the University of California Santa Barbara, and completed his MS from Oregon State University’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences in Marine Resource Management.

Greg lives and surfs in Santa Cruz with his wife and two daughters, and is also an accomplished drummer, playing at times in certain dank, seedy establishments in the San Francisco Bay Area with the band CNB.

He lives in Marin County with his wife and children, where he has managed to maintain a delicate balance between family life and work, while trying to sneak in the occasional surf session at the notoriously fickle spots in Marin and points south.

He has been a surfer for over thirty years, and feels that the ocean has given him so much, he wants to give something back, especially to those who are less fortunate than us. He currently lives in San Francisco and spends far too much time in a downtown office.

An avid mountain biker, artist, photographer and of course, surfer, Ben currently resides in Mill Valley with his girlfriend Rachel and their two cats, and thankfully has thus far avoided being bitten by a great white shark.