A swell of first-time surfers

Danette Goulet

SUNSET BEACH - The surfer in 9-year-old Henry Rodriguez was awakened

Saturday.

That is just what teachers at Whittier Elementary School in Costa Mesa

were hoping for when they planned Surf Day for 30 third-grade students.

Even in his bulky blue life vest, Henry was the first and only student

by lunchtime to successfully make it to his feet in an introductory

morning surf session at Sunset Beach.

As he trudged through the shallows after a session, he could hardly

wait to get back out there on the blue foam board.

“I want to go again,” he said, looking wistfully back over his

shoulder. “I don’t want to stop. It’s really fun.”

And so Henry waited while his schoolmates tried their hand at surfing,

most of them for the first time.

“They’re doing very well,” said Bruce Cox, whose wife Maureen teaches

second grade at Whittier. “Most of them have never been on a surfboard --

or even in the ocean.”

Cox was one of several surfers who were out there pushing children

into waves on the rental foam boards, donated for the day by Corky

Carroll Surf Shop.

“I love surfing so was happy to [volunteer],” he said.

It was that same love of surfing that prompted the school’s physical

education teacher, Matt Heilano, to organize the event in the first

place.

“I just moved here from Illinois three years ago to be able to surf

all the time and to work,” he said.

Heilano wanted to share his passion for surfing with the students he

taught.

“None of them have ever done it,” he said. “Some are a little scared,

but some are really getting into it. They’re having a great time.”

With the help of Chris Galligani, a kindergarten teacher who runs the

after-school program at Whittier, Surf Day became a reality.

A lottery was drawn, pulling two boys and two girls from each

third-grade class. Volunteers flooded in, resulting in nearly a

one-on-one ratio of adults to students, and donations from families,

businesses and surf shops made the venture a natural success.

For some of the students, it was more than just their first time

surfing.

“I have been to the beach, but I’ve never been in the water,” said

Miriam Torres, 8. “It’s fun. I like it because I like the salty water

splashing in my face.”

One student, Melissa Gimenes, 9, has some big plans for surfing.

“I went surfing three times already without falling down,” she said,

adding that getting to her knees was no problem. “Now I have something I

can share it with my parents.”

Even for students who weren’t quite ready to try their hand at

surfing, it was a successful day of barbecuing, sandcastle building and

playing in the surf.