Paddle Logger and the Save The Waves Coalition – working together for a better environment

Paddle Logger is one of the leading apps for tracking your paddle activities when you are on the water, in the summer of 2023 they teamed up with Save The Waves, an organisation working to protect surf ecosystems. This is an incredibly important mission and something that David Walker from Paddle Logger and Diego Sancho Gallegos from Save The Waves now share with TotalSUP.

A special welcome to TotalSUP for you both, we already know David from Paddle Logger and it’s great to have Diego here for the first time. I want to start with a quote from the Paddle Logger website

We are paddlers, waterways and our oceans are where we play. It is our responsibility to both reduce our impact on these spaces, as well as look to improve these spaces for future generations.

David, and Diego please tell us more about the Paddle Logger and Save The Waves collaboration.

Thanks, Chris and it’s great to be here on TotalSUP, like our work together here’s a collaboration from us.

Save The Waves – be part of the solution.

Our goal to make better paddlers is made up of three elements for the individual paddler: technical improvement, safety, and environmental stewardship. This year Paddle Logger introduced a brand new integration designed to help our paddlers do more to protect our ocean playground.

Already paddlers who purchase a subscription with Paddle Logger are giving back to non-profits who are working to improve the health of our marine environment. Those who want to do more can make micro changes to their lifestyles through the SHiFT platform which can also be found in-app. While every action from these two partnerships makes a difference, working with Save The Waves Coalition has made a direct impact by an individual paddler simpler and more powerful than ever. 

And for those who do not already know, who are the Save The Waves Coalition? 

Save The Waves is an international non-profit organisation that aims to protect surf ecosystems–the land-to-sea interface that creates breaking waves for surfing, the biodiversity that lives in these places, and the communities that rely on them for their livelihoods and wellbeing. 

Image: Sarah Lee (www.sarahlee.photo)

Save The Waves aims to protect, steward and defend these unique ecosystems by building coalitions with local communities who want to take care of their coastal resources. Save The Waves has active projects in 11 countries, including the US, UK, Mexico, Portugal, Costa Rica and Brazil, but the coalition extends to more than 40 countries around the world through tools and knowledge sharing.

I think that your connection with the Paddle Logger team started long before your 2023 initiative? 

That’s right, Paddle Logger and Save The Waves began collaborating at the end of 2021, via 1% for the Planet. 1% of all Paddle Logger revenue is committed to giving back to the planet. The 1% portal offers businesses and individuals an opportunity to connect with vetted organisations such as Save the Waves. 

For Paddle Logger working directly with Save the Waves moves that on a logical step to assist paddlers in making a direct change for the better. 

For Save The Waves, the partnership with Paddle Logger is an opportunity to engage a key group of coastal users around the world. 

Before, during or after your paddle you can use your phone to do something good

Ok, how can Stand Up Paddlers help with this?

We find that all paddlers, not just those that stand up spend a significant amount of time in or near coasts and waterways, which are all critical for surf ecosystems and overall coastal health. This is exactly the type of coastal stakeholders Save The Waves hopes to engage with as paddlers’ connection to place, respect and love for nature, and ability to provide unique observations from remote locations are essential to effectively protect, steward, and defend these coastal ecosystems. 

So as SUPers we are in a good position to do some good!

Exactly! Stand Up Paddlers are also an ideal user base for the Save The Waves App, which allows individuals to make reports of coastal issues and take care of the places that they love. This is how the STW App integration in the Paddle Logger app came to exist, and our partnership has continued to grow since. 

And this can be done through the Paddle Logger app…

Yes, the Save The Waves App integration in the Paddle Logger App focuses on intercoastal environments, where Save The Waves encourages water users to report environmental threats. Through this integration, paddlers can quickly report any environmental issues they encounter during their sessions. The report includes an image of the issue, the type of threat, a description, and the exact location of the problem. 

What kind of issues or threats can we report and what happens after a report is logged?

The App has 6 main threat categories users can report: 

• access
• sea level rise & erosion
• marine debris & trash
• water quality
• coral reef impacts
• illegal coastal development 

Each one of these has sub-categories such as sewage, algal blooms and runoff for water quality, and a 7th “General” category exists in case the issue isn’t related to any of the 6 main threat categories. 

Information from reports is shared with partners who can help solve the problem, direct the information to the adequate authorities or use the data for mapping and advocacy. 

Image: @Keva-On_Board

With an increased awareness of our own identities on-line how much personal information is shared with third parties?

Good question, all reports made on the Save The Waves App are kept anonymous. Save The Waves also provides a resource hub for individuals to take action by clicking the “Take Action” button after making a report. This hub gives App users resources from partners to join clean-up efforts, brand audits, or sign petitions to government agencies, among others. 

Sounds good, who then gets the information you gather about environmental issues that paddlers report?

The Save The Waves App’s data are shared with and used by different organisations, institutions and governmental agencies all around the world from members of our program areas–World Surfing Reserves, Surfing Protected Area Networks and Campaigns–. who are able to relay the information from reports to local authorities or partner NGOs for action, to organisations such as Surfrider Europe, Till The Coast Is Clear, Reefcheck Malaysia, Nicoya Peninsula Waterkeeper, Movimento ALP, and several others, who are taking action based on data from STW App reports on the ground.

The Surf Ecosystem extends far beyond the break. Image:©RyanCraig @chachfiles

Truly global coverage. How successful was your summer collaboration?

In one word VERY. During July 2023, Paddle Logger and Save The Waves collaborated to increase awareness and action around environmental issues by Paddle Logger users all around the world. By giving away a lifetime subscription to Paddle Logger and a Save The Waves prize pack to anyone who reported on the Save The Waves App and tagged their report with “#PaddleLogger”, paddlers were incentivized to report issues they encountered during their paddles and showcase environmental stewardship. 

The goal of this giveaway was to leverage the network of paddlers on Paddle Logger to address environmental issues by connecting user-reported issues with local organisations or agencies to resolve, address or respond to them. The idea came from Save The Waves’ success working around the world with local partners identifying illegal dump sites, strategising around trash hotspots for clean-ups, and mobilising governments to address water quality, coastal erosion and access issues. 

A great example from the UK. In South Devon, UK, our partners at Till The Coast Is Clear removed a 70kg trawl net reported by an individual through the STW App from a rocky shore with difficult access using kayaks. 

Similarly, the community at the World Surfing Reserve in Santa Cruz, California mapped the San Lorenzo River watershed as a key source of beach litter using the STW App. Their efforts resulted in a shift to prevent and clean up the watershed before winter rains arrive, reducing trash on the beach. 

That then led to more App users in Santa Cruz reporting major erosion events that affected access to beaches, as well as roads, which were mapped and presented to the City government by our local partners. The resulting dialogue with authorities prompted a larger discussion and mobilisation of government funding to address coastal erosion along this iconic coastline. 

Similar trash mapping efforts have successfully changed the focal points of cleaning efforts in Costa Rica and Malaysia, while government-led responses to water quality issues reported on the App have also resulted in Australia’s Gold Coast.

The World Surfing Reserve at Guarda Do Embau, Brazil. Image ©PlinioBordin

Wow! Fantastic examples and a great initiative. I had no idea that there were so many Surfing Reserves around the Word with a new one in my old stomping ground, Devon! 

It doesn’t stop there. We are aware that that not every corner of the world has a Save The Waves partner, the information from reports in such places is shared with global trash mapping efforts from global organisations and academics, such as the Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter (GPML), the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI) and the Zero Waste Platform, which help curate global datasets driving environmental policy efforts worldwide, such as the International Plastics Treaty. The STW App’s data is also openly available to anyone interested in using it through the Save The Waves App data sharing portal. 

I must confess that I had little idea of the reach of your two organisations and learning about your work has inspired me to do more here.

Good to know! Paddlers journey into waterways and coasts on a regular basis, providing them with the ability to observe environmental impacts before authorities or conservationists even know about these issues. They are also able to view impacts on the water and in remote areas that might otherwise remain unknown, making the paddling community an essential partner in keeping our natural ecosystems healthy and clean. 

Through the Paddle Logger partnership with Save The Waves every paddler can make a real difference after their sessions; it only takes one minute to make a report and every report makes an impact. 

David and Diego, thank you both for your time talking to us here at TotalSUP. It’s a fantastic initiative and the team here hope it goes from strength to strength! 

Paddle Logger is an award-winning iPhone and Apple Watch app used by a huge number of paddlers around the world and is available free to use or with a subscription to access more Paddle Logger features.

You can find out more about Paddle Logger on their website, Facebook and Instagram. The Paddle Logger app is available from your local Apple App Store for the iPhone and Apple Watch.

Save The Waves Coalition (STW) is an international nonprofit that works with diverse organizations dedicated to protecting surf ecosystems. You can find out more about their work through their website, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X/Twitter and their App is available for Apple and Android devices here.

Images from Paddle Logger and Save The Waves unless credited.