Camp Starts So SOON!!!

We are getting the new boards prepared, the surf trailer organized, wood for art day cut, and having our first employee meeting this Saturday! THIS IS NOT A DRILL, IT’S GO TIME… WOOO!!

Before Summer gets started, we wanted to take a moment to recognize our sponsors whom of which contribute to our special camp experience. These sponsors enrich our camps experience in a number of ways, one of the biggest being our goodie bags!

This summer we have a couple NEW SPONSORS… one of which is donating a product specifically for the parents. Yep thats right, finally a gift for the hardworking parents! Scroll down to find out what this is, I think you’ll be STOKED!!

Also, we have added a little section about Beach Safe Parenting tips at the bottom of the newsletter. We plan to continue to share advice to our families on how to stay safe at the beach!

PS. We’re starting to SELL OUT for the first half of the summer… Don’t miss out, book your kiddos adventure today!! Visit us at wsmscamp.com or through the links below:

Raw Elements Natural Sunscreen

Raw Elements is a natural sunscreen that is reef friendly AND skin friendly. It’s honestly sickening to think that we have to worry so much about what products we buy for our kids to use… If you don’t know this by now, a majority of sunscreens on the market are both toxic for your children’s skin AND for the ocean and all of its special critters.

Each week at camp we do our best to educate our students on the importance of wearing mineral based, reef safe sunscreen that will not burn their skin or poison the fish in the sea. So heads up, they may come home and lecture you on making smart sunscreen decisions!

If you haven’t looked into the chemicals that these name brand sunscreens are using in their production, I highly recommend you do. If you feel moved to make the switch to a more skin and reef friendly product, as I did over a decade ago, you can come purchase Raw Elements at The Surf Stop!

Raw Elements has been our BIGGEST supporter over the years, donating TONS of sunscreen for our kids and instructors to stay covered as well as donating a tent for shade and all of our hemp goodie bags.

We couldn’t be more grateful for the contributions on our special little Surf Art Camp!

Mayday Ice cream

Who doesn’t love an ice cream cone during the summer? I mean it doesn’t get much better than that, am I right? Thanks to Mayday Ice Cream, every kiddo goes home with a FREE SCOOP card each week of camp. THIS IS AMAZING… I don’t think you realize how many free scoops that is… OVER 300!!!

We have been blown away by this level of local support from Mayday and couldn’t be more grateful for their contributions. When the kiddos hear they get a free scoop card at the end of the week, just about every single one of them smiles ear to ear with excitement!

If you haven’t been over to their storefront on 13th street in Saint Augustine Beach, I HIGHLY recommend it. I’d tell you which flavor was my favorite, but I honestly love them all so much it makes it hard to decide when I’m there.

THANK YOU SO MUCH MAYDAY!!

The Surf Stop

The Surf Stop is the Hub for our entire Surf Camp Community. It’s where we start our days and end our days at The WSMS Surf Art Camp. The whole crew in the shop is like family / or is family to us and is always there to support any kiddo in need with ice-cold water, or a break in the AC. They even let us thrash their bathrooms with tons of sand and sunscreen every summer… OOPS!

If you haven’t taken a walk through the shop while dropping your kids off at camp, I also HIGHLY recommend it. The shop specializes in its unique fashion forward products, second hand & consignment clothing, and local artists!

We are SO GRATEFUL FOR THE SURF STOP!

Where Salt Meets Soul

The brand that started it all… WSMS Camp was a by-product of our family starting Where Salt Meets Soul (WSMS). Some of our customers don’t realize that is what WSMS stands for!

This brand was started with the idea of building a loving, positive, and fully inclusive surf community. With the Tagline of “Community Promotes Unity” this brand strives to promote a more sustainable lifestyle and community here in Saint Augustine. One where we love each other and accept all forms of surfers and creatives whether you are a first timer or a life long grumpy surfer who severely dislikes crowds.

There is a place for everyone at WSMS Camp and within the heart of our Shop, Where Salt Meets Soul.

InnerWorks Performance and Wellness

Innerworks is one of our newest sponsors for this summer. Remember when I said Mom and Dad get a present in the goodie bags this summer? Well, this is it!

Innerworks is your local one stop shop for all things performance recovery and wellness. I myself have been fully converted to an Innerworks Athlete.

They offer Private Cold bath/Sauna Contrast Therapy, I.V therapy, Full Body Red light Therapy, Compression Recovery, and much more.

They are staffed with certified nurses and run their operation VERY professionally. Every time I’ve been in I have been blown away by how clean it is.

Each goodie bag will have a discount card for you to begin your wellness journey with InnerWorks!

Address: 2225 A1A S # B4, St. Augustine, FL 32080

Phone: (904) 342-0953

Hours:

Shibumi Shade

Another new sponsor for this summer is Shibumi Shade!

These guys make those epic sail tents that you see flapping in the wind all over the beach in Saint Augustine. Such a simple yet effect idea!

They will be donating two tents and chairs for us this summer to supply extra coverage for our students and instructors, we’re STOKED!

Thank you so much to the Shibumi crew for contributing to our camp experience!

Coastal Craftsmen Co.

Coastal Craftsmen Co. is a well-known local Quality Construction company that donates recycled building supplies to our camp for Art Day! Thanks to them we are able to offer sustainable art projects every week of camp by saving all sorts of wood from being thrown into a landfill!

This company is owned by a local surfer who you will see out in the water everyday after he’s done building someone a house! Pretty rad to know a surfing buddy who can also build you anything you may want…

If you are ever in need of construction work, I would call Coastal Craftsmen Co. first before anybody else!

HUGE THANKS to Carl over at Coastal Craftsmen for continually donating scrap wood for us to turn into MASTERPIECES on the beach!

Beach Safe Parent Tips

We have decided to enrich our newsletter a bit more with some much needed ocean education for the parents in our surf community. As we all know, the ocean can be a very dangerous place if you are not aware of how it functions, when to go out and when not to go out. This section has come with a lot of requests and we are hoping to add little snippets at the end of our newsletters from now on!

WHEN RIP CURRENTS ARE MOST PRESENT IN SAINT AUGUSTINE

There is one EASY way to know when rip currents are going to be more present while attending the beach here in Saint Augustine and that is:

When the tide is going from HIGH to LOW. This could mean it’s dead high right now and turning around to go low. It could also mean high tide was 2 hours ago but it’s still going low. Until the tide hits dead low after being dead high, there will be many more rip currents in that time frame.

This is because the water is collectively pulling out towards the horizon. So as it pulls it away from the beach there will be ruts that develop in the sand that will create rip currents.

There are 2 rip currents we focus on here: Flash Rips and Stationary Rips

Flash Rips pop up quick and disappear quick, lasting anywhere from 5-20 minutes during the tide pull out. These can sneak up on you while you're in the water. One minute there is no rip, the next you are in one!

Stationary Rips happen as the tide starts to pull out and stays in one place the entire time the tide is pulling out to low. This happens from a handful of reasons, the main being that there is a rut in the sand deep enough to form a stationary rip.

It does not always matter the amount of swell in the water, how choppy or bigs the waves are. The waves could be knee high and a rip current can and will still pop up.

SO how do we know what tide it is?

We can go to Surfline.com to check the tide in Saint Augustine Beach, you can just google tide chart for Saint Augustine Beach, also local bait shops have tide calendars.

There are many ways to find out what the tide is for the day. That is not the hard part… The goal is just to remember to check before you go to the beach with your family.

We suggest attempting to swim as the tide pushes in as opposed to going out. Most of the time we don’t have the option, so it is just best to know what is happening before your kids go out in the water!