Surf/Chill/Save the Atlantic

This week was an amazing week! We could not have asked for a better week of weather to be down at the Beach! It was a pretty solid work week and we got to surf a little to. The surfing was fun on Monday we got to surf a spot I normally don't go out much at because it doesn't work that often, but today it was! We paddled out on our long boards and got some good long rides. It was raining but that never stops anyone when there's waves. Gray was shooting from the rocks inland getting some really good perspective video and photos. Also this week we got to do another beach cleanup! This time we did it with some middle school students from Seabrook Middle School. They were all so stoked to be out of school and at the beach. But most importantly they were stoked to be at the beach cleaning it. We worked on cleaning Hampton beach on this day from the right side of the musical stage to the houses on the far end. In total there was probably about 30 people including us so we were abl

On such a beautiful day it's only fitting for th the guys to go out and get some more business to join the no straw campaign! We started to say by meeting up with Jen and talking to her about new business to attack. We decided that all the hole in the wall places that have self serving straw dispensers. Those places seem to attract a ton of customers so we decided it was a good place to start the day's work. Jen gave us some new postcard flyers that are a little smaller than our original printer paper sized flyer. We went out and hit the streets. Stopping at at least 6 or 7 business. We talked to the managers and workers for a while at each spy explaining what we're doing and why we're helping. Many are intrigued but some are not. One man I talked to would barely give me the time of day which is hard to walk away from because it shows he doesn't really care about the campaign. But you win some and loose some. We've been working hard on this project with BOS and

On this find Thursday the boys were very busy to say the least. We woke up packed all the paddle boards on the roof and went to the beach. We paddled around for a little while and enjoyed the day. Gray flee a drone around us all morning to get some cool footage. After that we went down to the Hampton Beach strip were there was more people than i could have ever imagined. We drove down and around spotting up places for us to post flyers for our campaign. We stopped into the local coffee shop and talked to the owner about the project. She was very happy we were able to form a flyer and she put it directly above her straws. It was ultimately a good day because we got some solid response and some stoked participants! We were happy we got something done but due to the crowd we were halted in our work. There was just one to many people for us down there to actually get into some of the main restaurants. But tomorrow is a new day! Stay tuned!!

Today was a simple day for the guys. We had to go to battle with technology today which is my least favorite thing in the world. We created an awesome flyer for our project but for the last two days we haven't been able to get it to Jen our project supervisor. We've been trying to figure out how to email it to her in editable form so she can work on it. So after we finally figured that out we were able to make some head way. We went through some clips of the beach cleanup and surfing and started to organize the video a little bit. We also are doing some promotional stuff for BOS as well. We've been extremely busy lately but it's been super fun. Taking in all the final moments of this senior project because it's been very memorable! Stay tuned!

Week two was a little more relaxed than week one but nonetheless very important. Our project supervisor  J en was away for most of the week at an important conference in Washington DC. There she talked about Blue ocean and what they do in our area and got good input on how to make the society improve. While she was away we conducted a beach cleanup with Liberty Mutual once again on Monday. The beach cleanup was organized to be down by the bridge next to the Hampton and Seabrook town line. We started in front of the RV park on the far end of the Hampton Beach strip. There we gathered the troops under the pavilion. We did the casual introduction and talked a little about the no straw campaign and then started the clean. This was a pretty solid group of people who all were very motivated to clean as much as possible. Between you and me the reason these people clean so long is because they don't have to go back to work the longer they stay at the beach. But anyways aside from that we p

With the weather so nice out today it was only fitting that the boys go to the beach! Today we had a beach clean up in Hampton with Seabroom Middle school kids. There was about 25 or so of them and all stoked to be there. We cleaned up about 30lbs of trash which is pretty standard for this beach. Although we didn't scale the whole beach it was a good size load for the little area we covered. After that we went down and talked to a couple of business about the project. I talked to the manager of Bernies beach bar and grill which is directly across from a prime beach location. This guy was convinced that none of his straws have ever gotten to the beach out of the 800 picked up last year. But I persuaded him into sending me and email and following up on the project. Some people are very interested in what we're doing but some seize to believe that they are at any wrong. Hopefully we can get people to go all in with us on the campaign because it will only help the marine life in th

Today was an awesome day that started early! We woke up at around 6oclock and went down to the beach to check the waves. I surfed all day on Sunday and I new early morning was going to be good and I was correct! It was absolutely on. After checking a few spots we found ourselves in Rye at a local spot I grew up surfing at. It's a place called straws point. It's very long left that reels down the rocks supplying long rides and big smiles. Me and Alex paddled out and went a little high up the point than we expected. There is 3 different breaks off the point. There's the very top which is ironically called the point. Then down a little at dead low tide there's a spot that works but I don't think it has a name and then a little farther down is called straws. We found ourselves in between the two at the unknown name spot. At low tide it works very well with an East swell direction and low winds. We hit it right on the money with timing and got it really good with no guys

Today was an awesome day for the boys and a productive one as well. We had to head into Portsmouth for a meeting with Jen our project supervisor. We went to the BOS offices and discussed the future of the project and where it's going. While we were there we formed and finalized our press release. We made sure it was accurate and lined up so when it does get published is understandable and good. Also we talked about how we have to head back to the business with a flyer and hand those out for people to read. It needed to be very eye popping and easy to get the point. Monday we get back in the thick of it talking to restaurants. Also we have another beach cleanup on Tuesday so we are stoked! Stay tune!

Today's was yet again another easy day do to a long travel to play Gould Academy in lacrosse. Our project supervisor Jen has been away all week. She has been down in DC at an important meeting where she was representing BOS with pride. She was at a couple of talks regarding important ocean environmental issues. But she left me with some important business. She gave me contact to a local reporter on the Seacoast in which we are going to use to try and make our no straw campaign more public. The boys and I have to form a press release in which we I'll use to up our campaign. It is a big task that we must do very well for it will reflect us and the school and most importantly BOS. Hopefully this goes through well because it will help immensely in our quest. She left me with a couple of guidelines and things to go off. It's a very exciting time for us in the middle of the battle for the No straw campaign. We need to make sure we are persistent with everything We do especially a

Today was a relaxed day for the guys filled with waves and driving. I want to talk more about the surfing aspect in this blog because I think it goes very well with everything we've been doing. A lot of why I wanted to do this project is because I love the ocean so much and spend much of my time in during the summer months. The surfing culture in Newhampshire is very small but rich with history. Many people don't believe there are actually waves here and honestly that's awesome because not only is it completely false but it also keeps people from crowding our breaks! The best part about surfing in NH is that it's a small coastline so you can pretty much surf the whole place in one day. Today was one of those days for us. We started off in Sebabrook caught a couple waves which is located farthest towards Massachusetts. After we roled up the street a little to surf in Hampton which is the center of the action in my eyes for surfing. Then we ended the day in Rye. Any farth

Today was a long day for the boys filled with waves and beach cleanups. We started the day off  with a 5am wake up call. The waves were firing this morning so we wanted to get on it earlier. We were in the water at around 6:15am in Hanpton. We surfed till around 8am got out of the water and drove down to the pavilion in Hampton at the far end of the strip. There we met BOS staff and commenced yet another beach cleanup but this time on a sunny beautiful day. Not as big of a turnout and much less trash but none the less 6 bags were formed and thrown out. Which is always a plus not haveing them on the beach. We talked with some people about the no straw campaign and wrote down some input they had for us. Total stoke all around from everyone! More waves to come and more projects to fulfill. Stay tuned!

This week was a very fun week. It was a good way to start off senior project with some hard work and some fun on the side. We started off the week meeting Jen our on project supervisor who was extremely nice and opening. She helped us so much with getting out project passed and letting us into her organization with opening arms we couldn't be happier. She was able to put together a very nice schedule for us mapping out all of our time with her for the whole project. She gave us brochures and other information so we could study up on BOS. She then inserted us into the starting lineup for the Skip the Straw campaign. She told us she wanted us to kick off the project and hen have people take over this summer in our footsteps. So this was a very important task for us because we will impact a lot of people's work including our own if we are not focused. We then had a massive beach clean up picking up 850lbs of trash which was a record amount. We did this cleanup with Liberty Mutual

Today was the first day we put our no straw campaign to the test and initiated the project. We had planned out everything the entire week for this day. We planned what to say we're to go and even things to hand over. We visited a couple of restaurants and had some good talks with supervisor. At the Sea Katch restaurant they were very intrigued by what we had to say and we're excited to help out. Many people were extremely open to what our idea was and our plan to help get straws off the beach. We went and talked to a lady at a local coffee shop and she gave us a couple pointers on How we should go to the town and try and create a ban of straws and plastic on the beach like in California . Even though that could be a little out of our pay grade there is no reason for us to no be ambitious .We have a lot planned for next week and we're excited to get back to it. Also there is waves in the forecast as well!

Today was a low key day for us. We had planned to meet Jen at the BOS offices in downtown Portsmouth. The offices were at Governor Langdens old house. Basically this big old rundown mansion in the middle of town. It was a pretty cool place with an awesome location. We were pretty stoked to be there in the heart of all the action. We met with Jen and went over our tasks that we were given to complete over the course of a few days. We created a flyer for our no straw campaign and also a letter to business owners in the Hampton area. We had to create a letter in which we could leave for then manager of the restaurants on the strips in case they weren't there. So we created a nice letter stating facts and other key thinking points. We left our name and numbers and email so we can keep in touch for further contact. We also got our plan for the next week starting off with another beach cleanup on Monday! Tomorrow we attacl businesses and open up the no straw campaign!

Today was a low-key day for the boys but a work day indeed. We had to make some head way on our skip the straw campaign by doing a little researcher work. So we met in the computer lab at around 10 and began or work. First we had to put together a list of all the restaurants on the Hampton beach strip which collaborated a long list of 19 restaurants. We chose these to target because they are all close to the water and serve drinks with straws. After we found all the restaurants we then had to create a flyer. On the flyer we had a couple of facts and pictures to flow right along with our presentation that is in

A day for the ages today was with a massive beach cleanup. Today we were instructed by our project mentor to head down to Foss beach right in Rye, NH. For any of you who know the area this beach is directly in-front of Rays Seafood restaurant down the street fro Rye harbor. We met up with Rebecca who works for BOS and is the programs director. She explained to us that Liberty  M utual would be coming and bring a bunch of people. We didn't really know how many people were actually gonna show until the cars started to pile in. We had 150 volunteers at this beach clean up and it is the biggest one they do all year. It was even raining and people were still there. We had all these people and we corralled all of them under the pavilion and broke down the schedule. We introduced ourselves and handed out clip boards with a sheet of paper giving them a place to record everything they pick up. We commenced the clean up and next thing we know we have 850 pounds of trash at our feet. Yes 850

Today was a very big day for our group. We started off the day by traveling down to the Hampton beach strip to meet at the Blue Ocean Society discovery center to meet with our project mentor  Jen Kennedy for about 3 hours who gave   us or schedule and our project. I don't want to give it all away but we will be going to business local to the Hampton beach strip to try and get them to not give straws out to there customers. The straws end up on the beach and then into aquatic lives stomach which we are hear to try and help prevent. We were given some tasks we need to complete by Thursday so we can get the Skip the straw campaign moving! Stay tuned Big things to come!