2 hours of windsurfing 1 hour of trash picking... Absecon NJ

Derikthin · Joined: 22 Mar 2016 Posts: 141 Location: Highland Park NJ

https://youtu.be/ZggCvqxx44s

Went down south to Absecon yesterday to enjoy what ended up being lighter winds. Absecon was reccomended by a friend because of the East NE winds.
Got there and it was friggen trashed =(. I couldn't ignore it so got back in the truck and hit up the Homedepot down the street, dropped $25 and cleaned it up. I've decided to keep the bags and gloves in the truck now for future use.

I decided to document it at an attempt of vanity lol. Also, joking aside, wanted to somehow say

"Hey we windsurfers (if I can label myself as one even though I suck) love taking care of the places you let us in... Please let us in more places".

So maybe +1 for windsurfing gang!

Derikthin · Joined: 22 Mar 2016 Posts: 141 Location: Highland Park NJ

In hindsight, the progression of pictures makes it seem's like I showed up and spread the trash =/. I promise that's not what I did haha.

johngullotti · Joined: 15 May 2002 Posts: 24

Thank you!

Love the sign.

Alena · Joined: 04 Jul 2000 Posts: 43

Hi
First you were an inspiration in your love of windsurfing and now you are an inspiration in picking up the trash.
I am getting a trash bag for my next trip.
Have fun
Alena

Derikthin · Joined: 22 Mar 2016 Posts: 141 Location: Highland Park NJ

The sign is pretty hilarious. I'm not sure if it was intentionally meant to be hilarious or if it just stands for like "Wildlife Trust Fund". At any rate it didn't seem to help much =(.

Was happy to do it and on top of that, felt even more compelled from reading some of the forum posts from senior forum members talking about being proactive and making positive impression for our sport.

I've gotten absolutely nothing but positive interactions with our community and it's contagious.

On top of that I was working the day Lakes Bay did their clean up so it was like "catch up" work haha.

justall · Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 442

Goodonya! Thank you for doing that. I like your and Alena's idea of bringing a bag along, and will put one in my car, too.

Maybe I'm getting too philosophical, but there is a great college in Schenectady NY, called Union College. They emphasize three things: Thinking about problems from multiple perspectives, Connecting ideas from different disciplines, and Acting in a way that makes a meaningful difference in the world. I really like that they believe so strongly in encouraging that last point, to take Action. Just like you did.

Derikthin · Joined: 22 Mar 2016 Posts: 141 Location: Highland Park NJ

Made me happy. =)

It was also nice that after I cleaned it all up a bunch of people showed up and were enjoying the water. They were crabbing and walking their dog. They might have not wanted to stay had all that garbage still been there. So it felt even better.

We all can make a difference I guess. Wish my son had been there with me, it probably would have been a good teaching moment. However unfortunate, I'm sure it will not be the last time I'll get the chance to do that.

Happy father's day also, to all you dad's out there. Or single mom's who are both mother and father =).

rollerrider · Joined: 17 May 2003 Posts: 100

Yeah litter is a big problem in OBX. I got a large mesh bag and used to take it every trip to the beach but it got to be too much. I take it when walking the dog which works great. The vacationers are just not careful at all. Because of their ignorance of the conditions here the wind and high tides spread plastic everywhere. Many of them leave their stuff on the beach overnight and the wind comes up and maybe an extra high tide and it's crap everywhere.
But there are quite a few locals and vacationers that do pick it up.