Save the Waves Coalition, a newly formed environmental group dedicated to preserving surf spots worldwide, won an important battle on the island of Madeira last week after the government announced that it would relocate the harbor at Lugar de Baixo in an effort to preserve the island¹s surfing waves. The announcement came just days after a visit by Save the Waves director William Henry, a photojournalist from Santa Cruz, California.

In the past months Oceanfever.net have developed a close working relationship with William Henry and with the help of this site and a selection of other high profile US sites we aim to work together to achieve success over the world and keep developers at bay. William is a passionate man and with out him the world would not be as good for the future, just think if you drove to the beach today and found a sign saying that a marina was being built!

The battle to save the wave in Madiera began late last year, when government officials revealed plans to construct a small boat harbor at Lugar de Baixo, a perfectly-formed cobblestone point break on the island¹s south shore. Save the Waves began a letter-writing campaign, publicizing the issue in surf magazines in both the US and Europe, urging the world¹s surfers to write in protest of the construction. Hundreds of letters and e-mails poured in from surfers around the globe.

In late October, Save the Waves director William Henry traveled to the small Portugese island to meet with authorities and further publicize the issue amongst the island¹s populace. Henry met with members of Parliament and representatives of two of Madeira¹s political parties, as well as with two of Portugal¹s most influential environmental groups, Quercus and Cosmos.

Just two days after Henry returned home to California, the government of Madeira announced its plans to move the marina to another bay, about 2 km west of the previous location. Henry commended the decision, but also expressed concern that the government would hold true to its word to preserve the island¹s other surfing waves in years to come. Future coastal
projects are also planned near prime surf spots such as Paul do Mar and Jardim do Mar, site of last year¹s international big wave event, the Red Bull Challenge. But Henry sees the decision as a victory for surfers around the world. Save the Waves is now planning to form a coalition of
like-minded environmental groups to take on projects in other parts of the globe, including large harbor developments on Mexico¹s Baja Peninsula and in Southern Chile. Says Henry, "What this world needs is more surf spots, not less of them, and what foreign governments fail to see is that good surf can have an immense draw in terms of tourism ­ just look at Costa Rica, Bali,
and certain places in Mexico ­ if it wasn¹t for the presence of good surfing at some of these locations, they would never have become the tourist destinations that they are today."

Over the coming months we will be filling you in on other campaigns going on in locations at Mexico and Chile.

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