Surfing Laguna: Team keeps up the heat

Coming off of a strong performance last week against surfing powerhouse San Clemente High, the Laguna Beach High surf team continued to surge Oct. 15 against Dana Hills High at Salt Creek Beach.

Adam Redding Kaufman came out swinging for the Breakers in the first heat in the shortboard division, taking home first place. Backing Adam (or “RK” as he is known) was the perennially stoked Travis Sampson, who nailed down third place with his slash-happy style, giving Laguna the first-round victory.

Up next was the girls’ divisions, where reigning South Coast League MVP Taylor Pitz took out the competition in both long- and shortboard divisions.

When asked about the recent surge in Laguna’s performance, Taylor echoed what many Laguna faithful have been saying: “This year the support from the parents and coaches is unreal. It’s allowing us to focus on surfing and the coaches can focus on strategy and directing us more.”

Part of the support Taylor is referring to is no doubt Team Mom and intuitionalist extraordinaire Dorte Packpour.

Dorte has been setting up a full blown hot breakfast for all competitors, parents and supporters to enjoy throughout the completion. Back out in the surf, team captain Porter Hogan was busy locking up first place in his heat with radical new school hits and airs that had the beach crowd on the edge of their seats.

Also having a stellar showing in Porter’s heat was sophomore Dane Zaranelli, who scratched into a clean set wave and managed to blast several nice snaps before stomping a floater on the inside.

The last heat of the day featured the dynamic Laguna duo of seniors Sean Kimball and Victor Packpour, who together pulled out a resounding heat victory. When asked about their team’s recent rise in the heat victory column, Laguna coaches Scott Finn and Alisa Cairns had this to say:

Scott Finn: “It’s a huge step for us to win the overall shortboard division against a great team in Dana Hills. Can’t say enough about the parent support too, having breakfast, a photographer and all the families here gets the kids excited to do their best. Huge thanks to all.”

Alisa Cairns: “Our young guys are starting to step up, RK, Teague, coupled with some of our newer members of the team like Sean (Kimball) who, although older, haven’t surfed on our team throughout their high school career, so they are really starting to come around. With a bit better results, like turning some fifth and sixth place finishes into thirds and fourths, we will see some really good things in the future.”

CHRIS WILLIAMS is a surfing coach and Laguna Beach resident, and father of four surf-crazy sons. He can be reached at chris@soulsurfingschool.com or (949) 497-5918.