San Luis Obispo County’s beach scene provides a second home to a small group of Cal Poly surfers. Almost every day, they paddle out to catch waves in Morro Bay, Pismo Beach or Cayucos.
The Cal Poly Surf Team may not be as well known as other sports clubs on campus, but its 30 members share a passion for competing, fundraising and surfing recreationally throughout the year.
“Surfing is just so much fun,” history senior and team president Hunter Maul said. “It’s a stress reliever, it’s good exercise, it’s something you do with all your friends. It’s also an adrenaline rush when the waves get big.”
During winter and spring quarter, many team members surf almost every day, Maul said.
“I think SLO has some of the best waves in California,” he said. “The only part that causes people to kind of stop is how cold it is, but the waves here get way bigger than in Southern California.”
San Luis Obispo County’s popular and plentiful beaches even attract out-of-state students.
Hawaii-native and nutrition senior Alana Hendrickson has been surfing her entire life and enjoys the opportunities San Luis Obispo County provides to keep doing so.
“One of the reasons why I chose to come to Cal Poly was that it’s near the coast,” Hendrickson said. “There’s surf spots, and I heard they had a pretty good surf team.”
The surf team participates in competitions during fall quarter, traveling to five different contests throughout California. This year, they had three contests in Huntington Beach, one in Cardiff and another in La Jolla, competing against teams such as University of California, Santa Barbara and Miracosta Community College. The team consists of “A” and “B” teams, with six short boarders, two long boarders and two women on each team.
Unlike last year’s third-place finish, the team did not place in the competition this fall because it missed one contest. Not enough students were able to compete because the contest took place on the weekend before finals, Hendrickson said.
Finals or not, fall is the best season to catch waves, but the surfing community helps you to easily find the best times to go during the rest of the year, Hendrickson said. The cold winter and windy spring seasons are when she asks members of the surf team for advice on where to surf.
“I’ll be like, ‘I wonder how it is up north,’ and I’ll text (Maul) and be like, ‘Hey, did you surf today? How was it?’” she said. “It’s kind of a cool community. I know someone surfed today, and I can get the report.”
Although most team members go surfing frequently throughout the year, being a college student and a surfer causes some conflict, Hendrickson said.
“I would usually go when I have four hours of free time … because driving out there and back is like an hour each way,” she said. “It’s like, I could surf, but I really should do this homework assignment or study. But me and my friends, whenever we do question whether we should go out, we’re like, ‘Well, surfing is always better than not surfing.’’
Not everything about San Luis Obispo County beaches is perfect, however. The waters here tend to have more sharks than other locations, surf club vice president and business junior Justin Barr said.
“It’s always kind of a problem,” Barr said, “but you just kind of look past it because you love the sport so much.”
Although spotting a shark is a rare situation, members of the surf team know to remain calm and paddle back to shore quickly, he said.
“The worst thing you can do is get scared and start thrashing around in the water,” Barr said.
Surfing, whether recreationally or in competitions, is the main aspect of the surf club, but there is a business side to it. This quarter the team is shifting focus to fundraising. The fall competition requires $100 per surfer for at least 20 team members.
“Competitions cost a lot of money, so we have to try to do our best to host events and raise money for it,” Maul said.
In order to raise money for next fall’s contests, the team hopes to give surfing lessons to Cal Poly students but are currently having difficulties due to Associated Students, Inc. liability concerns, Maul said.
Spring quarter also calls for recruitment. Despite the team’s passion for the sport, it has been lacking in publicity and participation this year, Maul said. The team plans to hold a beach cleanup later in the quarter to promote awareness of the club.
A contributing factor to the slow year was the loss of local board shop One Way’s sponsorship, he said. It closed down due to slow business, and the team is now looking for a new sponsor. Having sponsors is crucial to fund fall contests, Maul said.
Another factor was the sudden transition in leadership this quarter. Maul took over the team at the beginning of the quarter, after former president Giovanni Mola left to study abroad, causing delay in publicity and fundraising opportunities.
“We encourage people to come find us,” Maul said. “We want people to always be able to actively compete and rep Cal Poly. We’re actually a legit club. There’s that stereotype that surfers are lazy stoners that never do anything. We’re kind of trying to break that stereotype.”
Barr will take over as team president next year.
“He’s motivated, and we think he’s going to do a really good job,” Maul said.