Surfing Laguna: Surf team takes down Newport

After a long drought, the Laguna High School Surf Team followed a season-long surge that culminated in a victory over Newport Harbor this past Tuesday at Thalia Street.

But it almost didn’t happen, according to Surf Team Coach Alisa Cairns, who said she had a bit of convincing to do to run the competition.

“When Coach Scott [Finn] and I saw the conditions we were both on the fence due to lack of surf and the higher tide, but knowing Thalia Street as I do, I pushed to go forward because there were contestable 2- to 3-foot waves coming in. Scott gave it the green light and the contest was on!” Cairns said.

But things didn’t exactly start out great for the home team; in fact the first heat of the morning the Laguna squad filled in the bottom three slots on the results card: fourth, fifth and sixth.

Finn shared how the day went from his perspective: “Newport came out strong in the first heat and went 1, 2, 3, but we bounced back with a full team effort. It’s very rewarding for me and Alisa to watch our team get a victory. We know what they are capable of and it’s great to watch them step into it.”

I asked Finn who some of the standout performers of the day were.

“We got wins from Taylor in long- and short-board divisions, Adam Mejia won his short-board heat, Adam RK (Redding-Kaufman) won the bodyboard division. Some of the young guys stepped up too; Teague Hamilton got a third-place result in his short-board heat and Blair Conklin got a fourth.”

Finn shared his take on how this big win might play into next weeks Tuesday competition at Salt Creek against perennial surf powerhouse San Clemente: “I think this win gave a lot of team members confidence and a sense of pride that they got a victory at their home spot. Hopefully we can ride this wave of confidence into our meet next week.

Cairns kept it short and sweet when asked how she felt about the big win, and probably summed up how the whole Laguna surf community feels to hold down our local spot, when she said, “We are sooo stoked!” Next competition: 6:15 a.m. Tuesday at Salt Creek.

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.