Breaking the waves

Andrew Edwards

The waves rolled toward the sand, carrying a group of wetsuit-clad

children as they body boarded through the white foam.

“I liked it,” 7-year-old Zak Agzour, said. “It feels like you’re

kind of in the sky.”

Youngsters’ spirits rose with the tide at the Beach Kids Surf

Academy, where children as young as 5 can get a taste for salt water

while boogie-boarding in the shallow water, and receive one-on-one

surfing lessons.

At the camp, children learn “the basic fundamental stuff,”

instructor Tyler Tebrish said. “How to push up so a wave will go

under you, how to turtle dive, how to stand up.”

The day started as the three surf instructors led the children

through a frantic game of dodge ball and a round of silly songs,

before getting down to business with a talk on surf safety just

before heading into the water.

“How do we get out of a current if we’re caught in one, guys?,”

instructor Josh Helpern asked the class.

“Swim sideways,” 6-year-old Dominic Hill called out.

“If you go forward in a rip current, you’ll run out of breath,” he

explained.

Ready for action, the children helped each other zip up their

wetsuits, grabbed their boogie boards and ran into the shallow water

to get on their boards and ride the waves again and again and again.

“I like, you know, catching waves and stuff,” 7-year-old Griffin

Clement said. “It feels weird, kind of, because waves are coming in

with me.”

One at a time, the children would take a break from boogie

boarding for an introduction to surfing. The lessons began on the

sand with an instructor, who would demonstrate how to paddle out and

pop up.

“You gotta dig when you’re out there paddling through the waves,”

instructor Gina Lopez explained. “Those waves are strong.”

The children would lay face down on a surfboard and carve deep

ruts in the sand as they practiced their paddling, before taking the

board into the water with their instructor for a chance at the real

thing.

Out in the ocean, the instructors stayed near the small surfers,

guiding the progress of learners like 5-year-old Abbie Alohusen, who

are getting a chance to find out what surfing feels like.

“It’s kind of like I’m walking on a wave,” Abbie said.