
On October 20, 2011, Charlie Plybon stood on a Central Oregon beach calmly tapping out a warning on his smartphone. The tone of his message, which would go out to his 800+ Facebook friends and the countless other local surfers they shared it with, was strangely calm and reaffirming considering what he’d just witnessed. It read simply, “Bobby just got shark bit at South Beach…surf with caution!”
Plybon’s friend Bobby Gumm, a 41-year-old father of four and 25-year surfing enthusiast, was sitting on his board surrounded by three-foot swell when a Cadillac-sized great white shark gave him a little bump.
“A little bump.” That’s how the effortlessly understated Plybon, a 35-year old ocean activist who lives in Newport, Oregon, described it over the phone yesterday. Another surfer who was on the scene described the incident a little differently to the Oregonian just after it happened:
“It looked like piranhas, you know how they get in a frenzy. I called to a friend and he said, ‘Wow, there is something happening to Bobby,’ and then we saw the 2‑foot dorsal fin coming up, and at the same time it looked like Old Faithful, the geyser shot up. I see the tail of his board shoot for the sky.”
Incredibly, Gumm was uninjured. But the shark’s exploratory bite sliced his board clean in half. Plybon shrugs off seeing his friend propelled through the air by the great white with a matter-of-fact, “Oregon waters are sharky.”
In the interest of full disclosure, I know Plybon—at least as well as you can know someone you’ve had occasional drinks with at various Outdoor Industry events—and can say with confidence that he’s not one for chest thumping. So I believe him when he says that sharks don’t worry him, even though he has a litany of friends who’ve had close encounters and despite the fact that he’s been “brushed” by a big toothy himself.
“You’ve got more of a chance of getting struck by lightening twice than of getting bit by a shark,” says Plybon. “I’m more concerned about the quality of the water. I’ve actually gotten sick from the ocean a few times.”

Plybon is on a mission to fight the real threat lurking in our oceans: Pollution and marine debris. He’s one of only a handful of fulltime employees at The Surfrider Foundation, a national nonprofit organization focused on the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves, and beaches. As the Oregon Field Manager, his job is to help facilitate the 600-some wave-chasing volunteers throughout the state as they pursue various actions—from beach cleanups to full-on political campaigns—in an effort to protect the natural resource that doubles as their playground.

Founded in Malibu in 1982, Surfrider is comprised of over 50,000 volunteers in 90 chapters worldwide. More than a bunch of surf bums who sit around bonfires talking about changing the world (they do that, too), volunteers are passionate activists who are instrumental in defending beach access and shaping marine environmental policies around the country.

In our home state of Oregon, as in every state that has chapters, Surfrider is a powerhouse organization. In 2011, as part of its Rise Above Plastics campaign, the Portland chapter led the ultimately successful charge to ban plastic shopping bags in the city. In 2014, the Oregon Department of Health will have to stop monitoring ocean cleanliness in recreation areas due to budget cuts that have already been made. When that happens, volunteers for Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force, a program designed to monitor bacteria levels in the ocean, will be the only ones providing data to the state.
Protecting access to and the health of our oceans is a daunting task but the organization continues to see increased membership every year. According to Plybon, it’s not difficult to understand why the growing and seemingly unstoppable wave that is Surfrider seems to never break.
“People that surf don’t kind-of surf. They surf. They love to surf. They love the ocean and have a strong connection to it. And you naturally want to protect what you love,” he says. Plybon is quick to point out that Surfrider is not the black suits and helicoptors of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington D.C. It’s just a bunch of active people who recognize the importance of keeping the ocean healthy.

“I believe it’s that tangible experience of seeing and being in an environment that makes you want to protect it. The joy of gliding across a wave with the sun beating down on your face with just no worries and no cares in your mind; that’s something you can’t put a price on and that you’d do anything to protect.”
Visit Surfrider’s website to find out how you can get involved.
Shop any of our DAKINE, Great Lakes Paddleboards, Ocean Minded, Freewaters, or Shorts & Tees sales events today and a portion from your order will benefit the Portland Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. And the folks at Great Lakes Paddleboards are matching the donation 1:1.
Here’s a cool PSA that Surfrider created through its Rise Above Plastics campaign: