Author: Julie Xu
Known for its awe-inspiring waves and nationally ranked surfers, Southern California provides a unique environment where novices and professionals alike can master the art of surfing.
Only a 20-minute drive from the beach, Occidental now affords students of all experience levels the opportunity to try their hand at surfing, potentially transforming beginners into aficionados.
The Occidental College Surf Club is capitalizing on the short commute to make surfing available to anyone willing to get their feet wet.
Amanda Leong (senior) and Joellen Anderson (senior) started the surf club at the beginning of this semester. Their main goal is to build a community for students who want to partake in a sport not offered at Occidental.
“Since Oxy isn’t right by the ocean, we wanted to create a club that would get students out there who wouldn’t normally be able to because they’ve never done it or think it may be too expensive,” Leong said.
Leong and Anderson are themselves avid surfers. Although they haven’t been surfing for very long, they created the club to share their love of the sport with the entire Occidental community and inspire their peers to think outside the box.
“Amanda and I both started surfing last year and fell in love with it. We really wanted to create a community where people wouldn’t feel intimidated about starting to surf,” Anderson said.
Although many Occidental students are excited about the new club, cost is a source of intimidation. Unlike more traditional sports, surfing requires purchasing both a surfboard and surf lessons.
Though equipment and uniforms must be purchased for other sports as well, the costs of surfing are greater because of the specialized gear that is required. Surfboards, for example, can cost anywhere between $300 and $1,000, while wetsuits can cost as much as $350.
Anderson acknowledges that this can present a problem for those who would like to learn to surf but do not have the financial resources to do so.
“Starting surfing can be really expensive, so we wanted to try to provide financial support for people who wouldn’t be able to afford surfing on a regular basis,” she said.
ASOC Senate funding allows the club to shoulder some of the surfing costs. This money goes toward subsidizing surf lessons. All equipment needed for surfing is included in these classes. If members wish to continue surfing, however, they must purchase their own gear.
Despite Anderson’s best efforts to make surfing accessible to Occidental students, the club is struggling to find the time to get all of its members to the beach. Although there are 160 people on the club’s e-mail list, only about 20 people went to the first surfing lesson at Santa Monica beach on Oct. 23.
With every member on a busy schedule, Surf Club doesn’t seem to be a priority for many students. Anderson hopes to combat this and generate interest by meeting more consistently. “We don’t have regularly scheduled meetings yet, but hopefully we will have weekly surf trips,” she said. According to Leong, however, this may not happen until the spring semester because of liability issues.
Although there are a number of experienced surfers participating in the club, the majority of the members are new to the sport. “Most of the people on our e-mail list have never surfed before. We just had a surf trip in which a group did their very first surf lesson,” Anderson said.
“It was really cool to see the new surfers standing up on the boards for the first time!”
Evan Pydych (first-year) is one member who has never surfed before but is making the most of Occidental’s new club. Although he joined the Surf Club to fulfill a New Year’s resolution, he is getting a lot more out of it than he originally anticipated.
“[I’ve been able] to ride gnarly waves,” Pydych said in an e-mail interview. “There is [also] a grand sense of accomplishment and gratification when you’ve ridden your first wave.”
Because many of the club’s members are inexperienced, Anderson and Leong decided the club would not be competitive. “We don’t really participate in competitions because no one said they wanted to. I for one just started surfing last year and am not nearly good enough to compete!” Anderson said.
Avoiding formal competition does not make the club any less challenging, though. The Surf Club provides both motivation to learn how to surf and helps improve surfing skills. This, along with the amount of support that the members give to each other, makes participating in the Surf Club a fun and unconventional way to enjoy the beauty Southern California offers.
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
