There’s a kind of bond that’s created when you surf with friends morning after morning. You see the same faces out there over again.
You laugh after missed waves. You share Surfline Premium logins. Some days no one really talks and the waves are the focus, but it’s fine, because everyone’s out there in the water together.
Surfing doesn’t feel like just a sport. It’s a special type of rush—to drop into a steep wave, to barely make it over the biggest of the set, and even to break your board clean in two.
These experiences have changed my life. Surfing has started to shape the way I see the world and how I move through it. Something I would have never done before, waking up before 6:30 on a weekday, is routine.
I never thought I could be that guy—but the thing is, when you learn to surf, there’s something about the ocean that starts to pull you in.
Partially it’s that adrenaline you get while riding a wave, the freedom of gliding over the water. It all feels like a sort of escape, a disconnect from the noise of daily life. It makes the salty hair worth it.
Junior Pablo McConchie feels the same.
“Surfing is lots of things, but it’s something I’m very passionate about. I feel pretty connected to the surf community here at Venice High, but I definitely think more people should surf, and we should get a surf team going,” he says.
However, surfing and school don’t always blend easily, and managing both can turn away new potential surfers. The waves don’t care about your class schedule. A hurricane swell could hit on a Wednesday afternoon during a quiz in third period.
Transportation’s another barrier. I personally don’t always have someone to drive me, so more often than not, I walk down to the beach with my board, half-asleep. For others, it’s a little easier.
“My parents are the biggest supporters,” Pablo says. “They always drive me when the waves are good.”
Still, it’s hard to find time to get in a session. Most of the time it would be easier not to paddle out. So what keeps us surfing?
“I just keep doing it. I started a while ago when my dad taught me to skate and surf and it’s just something I love to do,” says junior Zane Galambos, who is the Surf Club president
Junior Filip Stevens had a different take.
“If I think about it, surfing is like gambling. A lot of the time I don’t want to paddle in because I’m waiting for that perfect wave that never comes, but for some reason I just can’t make myself get out of the water.”
Being out there means something different to all of us. In the end, it’s about the ride. That’s all it ever was. That’s what keeps us coming back; that feeling of borrowing from something infinite, even if only a moment before it fades back into the sea.
