Surfers compete for love of sport

Published: Thursday, December 10, 1998

Thursday, December 10, 1998

CLUB: Team members say event about lifestyle, not number of victories

By Pauline Vu

Daily Bruin Contributor

There are unspoken laws in the world of surfing:

* Veteran surfers get the best waves.

* Newcomers get scraps.

* Respect the veterans or violence might break out.

* Honor the ocean and revere the waves.

* And above all, love to surf.

They are rules the men of the UCLA surf team gladly abide by.

"Surfing is something that people who do it just live and breathe," explained team president Matt Schutte.

Before Schutte came to UCLA, he checked with the Recreation department to make sure there even was a surf team here for him to join.

And a team there was. UCLA's seven-member club surf team competes against 16 other college teams, such as UC San Diego and Pepperdine, as part of the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA), the country's leading amateur surfing organization.

This year they have been in two contests, the first in October at Huntington Beach and the second last week at Ventura Beach. There were well over 100 surfers at each contest.

UCLA came in 15th out of 17 teams at the Huntington Contest and 13th out of 17 teams at the Ventura Contest.

At each contest, every member of the team failed to advance past their first heat, with the exception of team captain Josh Scribner.

Scribner advanced to his second heat at Huntington and advanced to the quarter-finals in the fourth heat at Ventura.

Schutte admitted the team has much to improve on.

"We didn't do that good. We should be advancing, but we choke at contests," Schutte said.

Although the team is finishing in mediocre places this year, last year they came in fifth in State Championships. Scribner made it to the state semi-finals and Amber Puha, the team's only female surfer, won every contest in her division, taking both the NSSA state and national championships.

Puha also graduated last year, however, and the team is still looking for another female surfer to fulfill NSSA requirements and round out the team.

The club team is definitely unlike any NCAA athletic team. At the Ventura Contest, two team members didn't even show up because they overslept.

"It was 4:30 in the morning and we didn't call them because we didn't want to wake their roommates," Schutte said. "But we'll probably be doing that from now on."

At try-outs, only a dozen people showed up because someone stole the team's billboard advertising tryouts.

"I know there are lots of good surfers at this school. They just don't know about us," Schutte said.

The team's practice time varies - some members don't surf that often while others surf every single day. They never surf together, which is another unspoken law, Schutte pointed out.

"Surfers who are already there get mad that there won't be enough good waves for everyone," he said.

There are currently two freshmen, two sophomores and three seniors on the team. Like Schutte, the two freshmen, Peter Spragg and Brett Pursuit, made sure before coming to UCLA that it had a surf team.

Schutte and Will Hutchinson are the sophomores, and Scribner, Justin Reese and Jackie Stewart are the seniors.

Scribner has been surfing for as long as he can remember. Both his parents surf, and it was only natural they'd set him on a surfboard as soon as he could sit.

His love of surfing permeated his childhood; when he was just ten years old he bought his first wet suit and surfboard at a garage sale, and this in turn led to other adventures.

"We used to sleep on the beach all night and hope the waves would be good in the morning. Sometimes we slept under people's cars for shelter," Scribner recalled.

This is only Scribner's second year on the team. He joined last year after he heard about it from his best friend, Jackie Stewart, who competes for the team as the only long boarder.

In competition for the more popular short-board surfing, the focus is more on "tricks" such as twisting aerials, sharp turns, and staying as long as possible on the wave close to the point where it breaks.

In long-boarding, the surfer has more time to ride the wave and can walk on the board right up to its nose.

"I feel the wave a lot more when I'm long-boarding," Stewart said. "It's a pleasure riding the wave instead of having to perform on it."

Unlike Scribner and Stewart, who grew up surfing, Schutte only began surfing four years ago. But he always knew he wanted to be a surfer and bought his first surfboard before he knew how to surf.

"It took me three weeks to learn how to stand on it, and then I hit the pier and broke my board," he said. "Surfing can be expensive."

It has also allowed the club members to experience things they otherwise would've never experienced.

Stewart remembered one time when he was surfing in Santa Barbara and a whale swam less than 100 feet away from him and his friends.

"It came out of the blue and scared us at first. It was really awesome, that this big, huge creature was right below us and wasn't hurting us. That doesn't happen every day," he said.

Schutte recalled a road trip down to Baja California through dirt roads five-feet wide and on the side of 200-foot high cliffs until he and his friends reached a quiet, rural village by the ocean shore.

"We camped on the beach for a couple of days and ate lobster burritos that this little kid gave us. There was nobody outside of this village for 100 miles, and we scored perfect surf," he said.

The team intends to organize more activities like Schutte's trip to Baja California. They are planning day trips and overnight camping trips to famous surf spots along the California coast.

Schutte also announced that this year is the third year of the annual UCLA-USC Surf Challenge. In April surfers from the two schools compete. The competition is open to all surfers, including alumni, and not just members of the surf team.

Although they are proud members of the UCLA Surf Team, the team itself is absolutely secondary to the members' own love of surfing.

"For anybody that really surfs, it's not a hobby but a lifestyle," Schutte said.

It is a lifestyle that transcends gender and age, held together by the common love surfers have for the water.

There is a famous saying that, "Only a surfer knows the feeling."

Stewart wondered, "Where else can you drop into an eight-foot wall of water, get covered up in it, spit it out and then have one of the best feelings in your life?"

For Scribner, the surf is spiritual.

"Every wave is different, every experience new. I can see how big God is, that He can create such an ocean."

If anyone is interested in information about the surf team, Schutte can be reached at wave@ucla.edu.MICHAEL ROSS WACHT/Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Matt Schutte is team president of the UCLA Surfing Team. The seven-member team competes against other universities and clubs.

Comments, feedback, problems?