Surf’s up for these Newport moms
Jackie Dollander is a “surf mom.”
In fact, as she humorously puts it, “I moved to California to pick up surfing.”
The former Arizona resident and her family moved to Newport Beach a year and a half ago, mainly to beat the heat and experience the beach lifestyle full time. Their first summer here, she enrolled herself and her two daughters, then ages 6 and 7, in a camp at Newport’s Endless Sun Surf School.
“I had always wanted to try surfing, and we had a blast,” Dollander said.
But the sport took on new meaning during an Indian Princess surfing event, when she met other moms who surfed. The women were from different backgrounds, but their desire to ride the waves formed a continuing common thread.
“We started a weekly moms’ surf outing on Wednesday mornings at Blackies [a stretch of beach between the 28th Street jetty and the Newport Pier], where we took a group lesson through the Endless Sun Surf School from instructor Amy Reda,” Dollander said.
“It became a fun way to bond and form great friendships, and Amy is so supportive. And by being a woman surfer herself, [she] lends a level of comfort.”
Surf mom Cara Boyd, a kindergarten teacher at Mariners Elementary School in Newport Beach, said she had always enjoyed water sports in Oregon, her former home, but with the ocean being colder there, surfing wasn’t one of them.
Her husband is a local who grew up surfing, and as soon as her children were old enough (ages 5 and 6), they and their mom started attending surf camps together.
“It was loads of fun; we were hooked,” Boyd said.
Surfing has become a family sport for her clan — so much so that summer vacations have turned into surf trips. “Surfing has been a really fun way to spend the summer,” Boyd said.
Marcia Strack became a surf mom when she got to surf alongside her grown kids for the first time as a part of a Christmas Day tradition at Blackies.
Two summers ago, Strack signed up for Surf Divas, an all-female adult class that is part of Endless Sun Surf School.
“A special aspect of the class is that there are all-female instructors, which helps because there’s something about learning from another female,” Reda said. “I think it’s a really special and important class for women and moms to be able to get time for themselves. A lot of them want to check it off their bucket list, and they feel good about accomplishing a goal on their own.”
Unlike Boyd and Dollander, Strack, a librarian at Lincoln Elementary School in Newport Beach, grew up around surfing in Newport. She eventually decided to give it a try.
She liked the idea that Surf Divas is a women-only class. “With just women I felt comfortable,” she said. “It was a nice group; everyone got along and was supportive of one another, and the instruction was great and so positive, which helped make it fun.”
Strack, who is more of a warm-water surfer, said she plans to sign up for Surf Divas again next summer. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done — the body gets beat up — but one of the most fun and exhilarating.”
Karis Strauss, who also took the Surf Divas class, said she had a lot of success because of the right conditions, the right spot, the right board and great teachers.
“It’s like they had magic boards,” she said.
Strauss ended up taking her 12- and 14-year-old boys to one of the classes so they could see that she could be a cool mom who could surf.
She added that she plans to do some surfing with her kids in the warm weather and water of Mexico.
Reda said the beach at Newport Pier is the safest and best in California for learning to surf, mainly because of the shallow break, gentle, rolling waves and sandy bottom.
A steep, rocky ocean floor does not make for good teaching, she said.
For more information about local surf lessons, visit endlesssunsurf.com or call the Newport Beach Recreation & Senior Services Department at (949) 644-3151.