How Do You Beach 3: Protect & Enjoy the Beach with Lilly Woodbury
The article series How Do You Beach is a collaboration between Reef Canada and OuiSurf. We decided to come together and investigate how people beach. Our mission? To encourage you to embrace the fun, freedom and spirit of the beach, in your own way. In the next few months, we will share with you the most inspiring beach stories that we have found. Following Benjamin Rochette‘s story, this week, we give you the Chapter Manager of Surfrider Pacific Rim, Lilly Woodbury’s touching tale.
How Do You Beach With Lilly Woodbury
Name: Lilly Woodbury
City: Tofino, BC
Occupation: Chapter Manager, Surfrider Pacific Rim
What does Beach Freely mean to you?
For myself, and the organization I work for, Surfrider Pacific Rim, Beach Freely means enjoying the ocean, beaches and waves! It means protecting them, in the now, and ensuring that future generations can also love everything the coasts of the world have to offer.
Where’s your favourite beach spot? Why?
I have so many favourites! Let’s go with Chesterman Beach in Tofino. This is where my first memories took place, and where I continue to make awesome memories, from beach clean-ups to surf sessions!
What’s your favourite thing to do while at the beach?
Though I love many beach activities, surfing is my favourite!
What’s the longest drive you’ve taken to go to the beach?
I’m lucky to say that I’ve always lived within walking distance to beaches! But when I was living in New Zealand last winter, I hitch hiked for 4 hours to get to an amazing beach and surf spot called Piha. It was truly a great adventure!
Share with us your craziest beach story.
With Surfrider, we do a lot of clean-ups, both local and remote. In 2017, we spent 44 days combing the coast. During a three-day remote clean up camping trip on Vargas Island, we decided to tackle Medallion Beach, which was completely inundated with marine debris. Water bottles had washed 15 feet back into the forest, buoys sewn into the forest floor with moss, and there was what felt like an infinite number of Styrofoam pieces. After seeing thousands of plastic water bottles and other single-use plastics, you realize that actually, what we do in our daily lives and what we consume has a drastic impact on the planet.
“As we headed back to our temporary home near sunset, Humpback Whales came into the Bay.”
We left that beach and headed back to our base camp with a big exhale; we had collected ten one-ton super sacs worth of debris, and we still needed to return to do more. As we headed back to our temporary home near sunset, Humpback Whales came into the Bay. We all thought: “They’re coming to say thanks for everything we’ve done.” My eyes welled up as it was another reminder of why we do the work we do. To protect the wonderful web of life, with the hopes of achieving clean water and healthy beaches on a global level, and to ensure that people all around the world can experience the magnificence of our planet, now and long hereafter. This was definitely a crazy beach day I will always remember!
How does the spirit of the beach affect you after you leave it?
The beach is a space that gives us such great happiness in life, and this should be remembered wherever we are. Everything we do has an impact on our beaches, oceans, and every other environment on this planet. Beaches are particularly vulnerable ecosystems as they are threatened by plastic pollution, litter, spills, over development and encroaching tides due to rising sea levels. From the time we wake up to the time we go to bed, it is essential that we think of the beach and our wider environment as our actions and attitudes have an incredible amount of power in preserving, protecting and restoring our planet.