First-time surfer remains first-time surfer

I’ve done some pretty body-intense things this summer, from riding a waverunner in 25-mile-an-hour wind, to practicing yoga on a stand-up paddleboard in the bay. But out of all those exhausting activities, none of them compared to the grueling workout I underwent during a one-hour beginner’s session of surfing with Jeff Santoloci, owner and head instructor of LBI Surfing.

I’ll be honest: I really had no idea how physically demanding surfing was going to be. I know I’m a petite woman, and the ocean tide can get rather feisty, but I’m a former gymnast and cheerleader, and I'm pretty feisty myself. In fact, many of my friends in high school referred to me as “freakishly strong.” (You should have seen my biceps!)

Photo by Ryan Morrill

I must be living in the past, though, because the meager, two-foot tall waves I paddled through and caught (but mostly didn’t catch) that recent Saturday kicked my butt. (In my defense, those waves had a little chop to them!)

I was greeted by a young boy carrying a towel and beach chair off the beach when I arrived at East 30th Street in Ship Bottom, where I planned to meet Santoloci, along with Lauren Knauss from Marlton, for a semi-private surfing lesson.

“I wouldn’t go out there, if I were you,” said the boy, looking me square in the eye. “I saw some lightning in the sky, right above the ocean,” he added, very seriously.

I saw the black clouds and heard the distant thunder, but I had just driven in Saturday traffic from Barnegat Township to Ship Bottom, and it had taken me over an hour to get here. I wasn’t going anywhere. (Looking back on it, I think this was some kind of foreshadowing of the surfing experience to come.)

“Oh, wow,” I replied. “Thanks for letting me know.”

I had arrived early at the beach and didn’t see Santoloci anywhere. So I figured I’d cool off and take a quick swim in the ocean.

While jumping over rolling waves and ducking under the crashing ones, I noticed a group of kids and instructors who were surfing off to the side of the flags where swimmers are designated to stay. The students were very focused on their lesson and looked like they were having a blast. The water temperature was a refreshing 72 degrees, and the waves were rather calm.

After my swim, I met Santoloci near the dunes. Knauss had also arrived, and we helped each other zip into wetsuits. Hers fit snuggly and made her look like a real surfer girl. Mine, a youth’s large, was of course, too big. It bulged a bit in the back, in the front and underneath my arms; I felt sort of silly wearing it.

Before heading down to the water, we met a few of LBI Surfing’s other instructors, who had just finished teaching a class.

“You’re going to have so much fun! This is the kind of sport you try once and keep trying again,” said Jason Hoch, carrying a surfboard. “Jeff (Santoloci) is the best. He’s been surfing forever, and he’ll tell you exactly what you need to do to catch some waves,” he added enthusiastically.

Santoloci grew up in Loveladies and began surfing as a young kid. He was a member of Southern Regional High School’s surfing club and worked at Ron Jon’s Surf Shop in Ship Bottom as a teenager, where he met many customers who were looking for surfing lessons. In 1996, he began teaching private lessons on the side and later hired other instructors to help. LBI Surfing was born in 1999.

Santoloci directed Knauss and I to carry our foam surfboards on top of our heads down to the water’s edge. But over my 90-pound frame, it was hard for me to walk, talk and breathe all at once. So he eventually carried mine the rest of the way for me.

“You’ll want to save some of your energy for catching waves,” he said, laughing.

Photo by Ryan Morrill

While lying down on the sand, Santoloci taught us how to stand up and catch a wave using the two-step method. Following his instructions, we grabbed the sides of our board, came up on our strong knee and placed our other foot directly in the middle. It seemed easy enough, but my foot was usually too far to one side, which Santoloci said would cause me to fall off in the water.

“It’s really important to keep your body centered on the board, so you have control of it at all times,” he said. “I tell my students to imagine there’s fire on the sides of the board. Fire is bad; you don’t want to touch it.”

After we tried the maneuver on land a few more times, Santoloci thought Knauss and I were ready for the real thing. So we strapped on our ankle leashes, which would keep our surfboards from straying too far away from us when we jumped off or fell off in the water, and headed for the ocean.

We waited for two of the incoming waves to break before paddling out. There wasn’t a whole lot of action, so when a wave rolled in, Santoloci instructed us to paddle hard to make sure we caught it.

I volunteered to go first, but when Santoloci yelled, “Pop up!” I lost all sense of understanding and fell right off the board before I even got my knee in the correct placement. I had to paddle through the crashing waves again, and by the time I got through them I was already exhausted.

As I waited for Knauss to catch a wave, I realized I was drifting all over the place. I knew I had to keep the front of the board facing the horizon so I could see what was coming, but when I saw a large, cresting wave break right in front of me, I froze. The next thing I knew, I was tumbling underwater back to shore.

When I finally came up for air, my board was lying upside down a few feet away from me. I pulled it back toward me, using the ankle leash, and climbed back on top, consciously reminding myself to keep my toes near the edge of the board so I wouldn’t tilt the tip down with my weight and go under again.

“When a big wave comes at you like that, you have to paddle through it as hard as you can,” Santoloci reminded me. “You looked like a deer in headlights back there,” he added.

“Yes, that’s exactly how I felt,” I replied.

Knauss was doing much better than I was. As I watched her stand up on her board and ride a few waves in, I crashed and burned. At least I had an excuse for each of my failures: I have arthritis in my knee, and it’s hard to stand up; I have metal screws in my arm, so it’s weak; it’s too hard to remember all of those steps in one instant.

Eventually, I stood up a few times – but never for long, and never twice in a row. I’d come back after riding a wave, excited and eager to ride another. But my over-confidence ensured I always screwed up on the next one. I’d come back, huffing and puffing, my chin on the board and my arms splayed out in the water, after fighting with the waves again. They were like big bullies, those waves – pushing me back and knocking me down.

“We only have about 15 minutes left, so we have to make sure we end on a high note and ride these waves in. You can do it!” shouted Santoloci.

Knauss caught her last wave, riding it all the way into shore. She made it look easy.

Photo by Ryan Morrill

I paddled hard for my last wave, but by the time I stood up, I had completely missed it. Santoloci asked me if I’d like to try again, but I declined. I didn’t feel like dealing with those big bullies again.

When we got back to the dunes, I was eager to hear what Knauss thought about the whole experience.

“It was fun! It was a workout, but I’d do it again,” she said, while inquiring about board pricing.

Santoloci said foam boards (best for beginners) cost around $200 and fiberglass boards (for the more advanced surfer) run anywhere from $350 and up. LBI Surfing sells their rental boards at the end of the season for a reasonable discount.

If you think you’re tougher than me (you probably are), and you’d like some helpful instruction on learning how to surf, LBI Surfing offers private, semi-private and group lessons for all ages and experience levels. Birthday parties and surf camps are also offered. Surfboards and wetsuits are provided. For more information, visit lbisurfing.com, or call 609-494-SURF.


This article was published in The Beachcomber.