The Mavericks/Save The Waves Tee
August 21, 2009

Interview with Joao De Macedo

What brought about the idea of a Mavericks/Save The Waves Tee made from recycled plastic bottles?

Well, Mavericks and Save The Waves are long-time partners. This specific idea of a Mavs/STW T-shirt was fueled by a desire to honor the partnership, give the public a way to embrace the environmental message of both organizations in a fun way, and of course the wonderful by-product of that is being able to raise vital funds for STW programs through the sale of this shirt ($5 per tee). I actually work for both organizations - as Environmental Manager for Mavericks and as Program Manager for Save The Waves. So I’ve been a kind of liason between the two and this is something that we’ve been meaning to do for some time now.

Can you tell us more about that intended environmental message contained within these shirts?

Sure, so another critical driver of making this idea a reality is the desire to communicate the message that improperly discarded plastic is a huge problem for the marine environment. By providing a symbolic but real outlet to putting discarded plastics to better use, we hope to educate the public on this massive problem. We actually saw the plastics problem hit way too close to home in our last beach clean-up, when Save The Waves’ Environmental Director Josh Berry spotted the infamous “mermaid’s tears” at the Beach at Mavericks. These “mermaid’s tears” are small pieces of plastic that when discarded improperly, never completely break down and end up on our beach – often going entirely unnoticed by beach-goers. Marine life, both animals and plants, are negatively affected by this. Animals mistake the small pieces of plastic with food, eat the plastic, and then starve to death because they can’t digest it and become unable to eat actual food. Plant life - specifically oxygen producing plankton - when covered by plastic are unable to receive proper sunlight for photosynthesis. So plant life ends up not being nourished, and therefore starves to death. This of course contributes heavily to the planet’s inability to curb Climate Change.

So dealing with the excess plastic in the world is a big deal, affecting in some way or another not only surfers, beach-goers, and environmentalists, but basically anyone who lives on our planet Earth. When I found out from our Apparel Director, Chris Silverman, that we had the opportunity to work with New York-based PLAYBACK Clothing to utilize their fabric that’s created from recycled plastic bottle to produce a tee – I jumped at the chance!

Tell us more about the partnership between Save The Waves and Mavericks, and your involvement with that.

Mavericks is situated in an extremely unique place. It belongs to NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) network of National Marine Sanctuaries, it’s part of the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve (a San Mateo County Park), and it’s adjacent to Pillar Point Harbor – a critical fishing hub for the local community. There’s a lot going on today, but also a rich history that dates back thousands of years, when Native American Indians populated the Half Moon Bay area and probably checked the surf from the Pillar Point bluffs the way we still do nowadays! So, I think Mavericks really exemplifies what a natural wonder a wave - in this case a giant wave - can be. And Save The Waves is all about protecting places like this. A lot of the inspiration for our Mavericks Environmental Program comes from this knowledge that Mavericks, as our “backyard” really, is sacred and has the power to educate people on the power, beauty and value of the ocean and its marine life. And further, how paramount it is to defend and protect it.

Save The Waves partners with Mavericks to organize three annual beach clean-ups, manages our Green Team on Contest Day to help trash control and inform the public of some of the special characteristics of the place, and implements a Stanford University research study on the Value of Mavericks to the Half Moon Bay area. There are so many positive synergies, and I’m honored to be right in the middle of it.

How did you get involved with Save The Waves (STW)?

I started working for STW doing translations for their first documentary film project called Lost Jewel of the Atlantic. The film is about a big wave surf spot on the Portuguese island of Madeira that was seriously damaged by short-sighted coastal development. Nowadays, I’m Program Manager for the World Surfing Reserves program, a recently launched project that aims to protect and enshrine special coastal areas through the creation of surfing reserves for globally cherished surf spots. The funds raised through the sale of this T-shirt will revert to this program, but also to other programs such as the Surf Spot Protection program and the Documentary Film program.
For more on STW’s programs, please visit www.savethewaves.org

That’s great - $5 per tee sold to Save The Waves. So who is the surfer featured in the massive wave photo on the back of the tee?

Well actually, it’s me. Yep, super stoked! When Chris our Apparel Director said he was thinking of using an image from the XXL nominated wave I caught last November at Mavs I was honored and just plain happy. Catching that beast really was a culmination of a lot of work and effort for me in my other life as an athlete. To reach that level in big wave surfing is a big personal achievement for me, so to have that featured on a Tee just gets me all pumped!

So your background is as a professional surfer?

Yep, surfing and the ocean has been a part of my life forever. Ever since I was born I spent my summers in Praia Grande, Sintra - my home town in Portugal. For my 12th birthday I got a surfboard and started competing when I was 14. My first sponsor came when I was 15, as I was doing really well in the junior contests and represented the Portuguese National team in 1994 and 1995. Yet doing contests was never really my calling. After a few years struggling with my desire to compete as opposed to simply being a soul surfer, I found a student exchange program that took me to Newcastle, Australia. My surfing was reignited there, and when I completed college I decided to get back into contest surfing on the European Tour. At the same time I started a surf-school in Praia Grande to help me pay bills. Still, contests continued to not satisfy me and were really a source of anxiety. Liberation would come in the form of channeling my experiences from teaching at my surf school (www.surfacademia.com) to create an advanced coaching book called “How to be a Surfer”.

Now that I live in San Francisco and surf primarily at SF’s Ocean Beach, I get to chase big waves here at Mavericks!

When was the first time you surfed Mavericks?

I had paddled out on a big day in the winter of 04/05 when some friends were in town from Portugal. All I had was my trusty 6”6 Indo board. Hoping to borrow a gun when I arrived, I got to the peak and it was an amazing and beautiful sight. Nobody lent me their board that session, but while I was volunteering for Save The Waves at the 2006 Mavericks Surf Contest, things came together for me. When the Contest finished, I grabbed what equipment I had - still just my 6”6 Indo board - and paddled out! This time when I got out there I noticed a guy paddling toward a jet-ski and pointing he wanted to go back in. I quickly approached the ski and noticed the guy was speaking in Portuguese. I immediately started speaking in Portuguese to him, asking if I could borrow his board and he could take mine with him. I would later find out it was Contest Invitee Danilo Couto from Brazil. He was a little hesitant, but super cool, and passed the board onto me as long as I took it back to his hotel. Done deal!

It would be one of the best sessions of my life, with huge perfect waves coming through. I caught 3 or 4 big ones and felt on top of the world. Since then I’ve been out many times, and last November 30th caught the wave you see on the tee.

Any last thoughts for us?

Don’t make Mermaid’s Tears! Recycle your plastic, and we’ll take 8.5 plastic bottles and make you a cool t-shirt out of it instead…