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Sports

OPINION: Santa Cruz's Paddle Battle with Surf Schools

This is a touchy subject: The last thing surfers want is more beginners in the water. But invasion is inevitable, based on how the surfing lifestyle has penetrated mainstream culture.

What it has come down to is this: How responsible have the surf schools become, and how do they fit in to the overall picture we call surfing?

My theory is that there are two types of surfers, those who do it as a sport and those who do it for a “lifestyle."

Surf schools, however, usually cater to an unspoken third person—the tourist who comes to town for a team-building experience or birthday party, to use a Christmas gift or to check off the bucket list. Most people are enamored by the grace of surfing, from wave selection, to paddling into and standing up on the wave and then gliding down the curl for dozens of yards. They come by the droves to surf in Santa Cruz.

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Enter Cowell Beach, a surf spot being considered for modified regulation. In reading the city's proposed ordinance at face value, it appears like a great plan. The interesting item is that the Cowell Beach concessionaire Club Ed appears to have zero restrictions on the number of students in the water, and Club Ed has held the position for about 20 years, with the city of Santa Cruz claiming its 10 percent at $16,000 annually. 

Has anyone asked the City Council to connect with Waikiki, Hawaii, to see how that city regulates its tourist-driven activity called surfing?

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The other concern is the way by which the enforcement of this ordinance will increase costs and agitation to our tourism market. It seems that based on the ordinance, there are a lot of moving pieces. Colored jerseys, eight students per business, instructors conspicuous, four students per instructor, 44 people maximum in the water except for Club Ed, all while intermingled with average surfers, renegade instructors or friends just taking friends surfing. That’s quite a feat when the waves are flat and people are bobbing to and fro, kind of like flies on a carcass.

The surf schools are the veritable surf ambassadors to our town, with clients ranging from troubled teens, company team-building excursions, mid-life-crisis therapy and kids just starting surfing.

The city should be working with these groups to better understand how their success has lead to this issue. I spoke with almost all of the surf school owners and a council member. Both sides seem eager to come up with a set of rules that everyone can live by.

Jack O’Neill, our own mega celebrity, is aligned with the California Tourism ad campaign that promotes surfing and California lifestyle. I would prefer all those Wisconsonites use a local surf school to learn the waves of Santa Cruz, rather than buy a T-shirt, eat some candy and just hang out at the Boardwalk.

My suggestions toward the entire situation:

Step 1: The City Council needs to table this situation until after the end of summer when the peak season for the surf schools has passed. All of the owners have said it's too late in the year to begin altering the rules. To be fair to all, operate this summer the same as last year. 

Step 2: Form an advisory committee immediately made up of the permitted six surf schools, representatives from city parks and rec, a nominated community member and Councilwoman Hilary Bryant, who is a surfer. The main focus would be to come up with modifications to current ordinance based on consensus. 

Step 3: Set a timeline to have rules and regulations in place by Nov. 1 to begin the process of getting new requests for proposals for new Cowell Beach concessionaire(s).

Within those negotiations, if I were involved, my input would be to level the playing field and separate the rental board and wetsuit program from the surf lessons. Make requirements for both  to have standards of operation. 

I would remove the $750 fee and charge a flat percentage on all surf lessons and rental and board revenue from surf schools. The ceiling of lessons could be set for each surf school and would then be adjusted to handle the balance. It's kind of like when you build a parking lot to determine how many cars can fit in it and still have room to park easily.

If done correctly, parks and rec would increase its revenue share with surf schools (it would be interesting to see how much revenues would increase for all surf schools). The surf schools could be allowed to compete on an equal playing field while having self-governing regulations and requirements. The locals should be placated, the tourist gets an enjoyable experience, and they will spend money in our community. Its a trifecta win, and no one goes to court.

Overall, Cowell Beach is crowded, but just targeting surf schools is not going to solve that issue. People want to surf, and Cowell Beach is the best spot in Santa Cruz to learn.

For more discussion, the Santa Cruz City Council meeting is Tuesday at 3 p.m. at 809 Center St. Room 10, in downtown Santa Cruz.

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