Locals Head to Europe to Teach Surfing

A few select locals are flying off to Europe Wednesday to spread the fun of surfing and introduce the beach and environmental basics to many children, some of whom cannot even see the water.

For the past 14 years, O’Neill Surf Academy has sent a handful of American surfers over to its European distributor cities each summer to teach children how to surf, be safe in the ocean and respect the environment, including in most recent years teaching children with disabilities.

“Changing the lives of these kids is the most amazing thing ever,” said Travis Nicolet, a Santa Cruz native and academy instructor for six years now. “Some of these kids have never seen the beach; it’s an amazing experience.”

The O’Neill Surf Academy typically travels to several cities in several countries, but this year’s teachings have been scaled back quite a bit, and only France and Holland are on the list.

Robert Weaver, also known as “Wingnut,” is a Santa Cruz local and professional surfer who started the surfing academy in 1997 with O’Neill and Jay Moriarity and Richard Schmidt, according to O’Neill’s Facebook page. In 2008, the event integrated its Out of Bounds program, where the instructors teach disabled children.

This is a “promotional” event for O’Neill Europe, according to Joey Hutson, head instructor and Santa Cruz native. He said the original idea for the event was to bring surfing to towns where the surfing culture was still developing, such as Italy a few years ago.

“We actually have kids that we taught 10 years ago who are now helping teaching the younger kids when we get there,” Hutson said.

Representatives from O’Neill did not return comments by press time.

Chris Lynch, another professional surfer from Santa Cruz, and Nicolet, who teaches surfing on the side and tests O’Neill’s wetsuits, will go to several cities in Holland. There, the two will team up with local instructors to teach children to surf and about the ocean.

Hutson, a former professional surfer, will go to coastal cities in France for his portion of the trip. Hutson said the program normally consists of the American group bouncing across different countries, but this year the group had to split because of budgetary reasons.

O’Neill gives the instructors a small stipend and pays for hotel stays, plane fare and meals, according to Nicolet. The instructors work three days with one day off, and so forth, through the duration of the two weeks, with time at night to explore the culture and nightlife of the new city.

The group is unsure whether the program will continue next year, but Hutson said the opportunity and experience is “awesome.”