Cate Surf Team Rides the Wave of Success in Recent Historic Contest
October 11, 2023
Overcoming Unknowns, Achieving Victories, and Inspiring Courage at Zuma Beach
The spirit of October was prevalent in the form of a thick blanket of fog as we awoke before dawn to travel to our first surf contest in recent history (since the early 2000’s). The list of unknowns was quite long.
Q: How are the waves going to be?
A: I have no idea.
Q: How is the team going to surf?
A: I have no clue.
Q:Am I going to forget something?
A: Probably.
Q: Are we gonna get surfed out of the water?A: Shrugs…
It’s ironic how with all the technology the world has to offer there are still unknowns. Maybe satisfying is a better word than ironic… I don’t know.
Well, I want you to know via this mass form of community communication that the Cate Surf team showed up at Zuma!!! Despite having only 7 competitive members (Sophie Blank, Fritz Veltman, Hudson Bonsignore, Seb Brine, Brady Mogensen, Elias Smith and Johnny Foster) on our squad today AND going Head-to-Head with Santa Barbara HS we were able to have three students competing in three different finals — Men’s Shortboard, Co-Ed Bodyboard, and Women’s Longboard.
I’ll start with Elias, a guy who is almost as good of a surfer as he is a teammate (and he’s a decent surfer). Surfing can be a pretty isolating thing and Elias has spent his fair share of mornings working hard to improve at a sport he loves and cares about on a deep deep level. To see him today, surrounded by his peers and friends as teammates… I’m not sure I personally have ever seen him happier. As the day went on Elias seemed to grow in a quiet and assured confidence, eventually taking home first place in Men’s Shortboard.
Next we have Johnny Foster. I didn’t tell him that I entered him in this category (Co-Ed Bodyboard) until we were at the beach the morning of the contest. He was naturally thrilled and threw himself at the opportunity to cut loose and compete at the same time. When he realized he advanced to the final round I saw a change happen in Johnny.
It. Was. On.
Pretty much from that moment on I was pretty sure Johnny was going to win the final heat, which he did, successfully completing two el rollos (basically a barrel roll/corkscrew maneuver) blasting him into the lead. He never looked back.
Yeah, surf jargon, blah blah cowabunga… Dumb. Well, if you made it this far, I’ve saved the best for last. Most of our students who competed have never surfed in a contest before. Ever. To top that off, Sophie Blank had NEVER ridden a longboard before. In a display of pure courage and determination, Sophie advanced into the semi final round and then progressed into the final round, eventually finishing 4th overall at something she’d never done before against formidable competition. What she accomplished today was an inspiration to me and the whole surf team.
24 hours ago I had a lot of questions without many answers. Now, I’m thinkingthat unanswered questions should not so frequently be a deterrent for action, for participation, for progress. These 7 students are going to remember the 8th of October for a long time. Hopefully I don’t forget so soon either.
In the spirit of adventure,
-Kern (the person)