In the winter morning air and the water at 62℉, which I find freezing, Millikan’s surf team isn’t afraid of a little chill. The average morning for a “free surfer”, meaning they do not participate in competitions, may be waking up early, getting to Bolsa Chica Tower 20 by 6:45 am, and leaving the beach around 8:15 am. They are free to practice surfing and are given tips and pointers to improve.

There are also competition surfers who, unlike free surfers, don’t practice at Bolsa Chica and instead make their way down to Huntington Beach Cliffs.

Competitions start in October and end in December, and are once a week against Wilson, Mater Dei, Corona del Mar, Los Al, and Orange Lutheran.

“We have been able to get some close seconds overall and many of our top surfers are winning their individual heats, but we will keep it up. Some of our top surfers who win heats consistently are, Jordan Von Leffern, Brody Shaw, Maddon Strong, Ty Jameison,  Zack Rick, and Colin Logan,” says John Fast, the surf coach and a U.S. History teacher here at Millikan.

For girls who are interested in competing, you can email Mr. Fast about the all-girls competitive season that happens in the Spring too.

For those who have never seen a surf competition, they start at 6:45 am and end at 8:30 before school. Most of the competitions that Millikan’s team joins take place at Bolsa Chica Tower 20, but a couple are at Huntington and Newport Beach.

The competition is organized into different heats and different types of sections. In those heats, Millikan surfers go into the water against other surfers.

“We have about eight heats, we have four boys [who] shortboard, with three competitors in each heat. The heats go for about 15 minutes,” says Fast.

“There’s three judges that score the rides. You can catch up to eight waves and for each wave, they’ll score you. The more 

fluid and the more moves you do the higher you score. We also have a girl’s longboard section, a boy’s longboard section, and a bodyboard section,” added Fast.

“For bodyboarding, it’s not technically surfing, but it’s the same movements lying down. [I’m in] one heatin the competition [where] I catch waves on the bodyboard and do tricks too. I do 360 spins or there’s one called a Rollo,” says Elias Hershfield, a QUEST senior on the Millikan surf team. 

“[Surf] is a great chance to get down to the beach, interact with nature, [and] meet your friends. If you’re interested in joining the surf team you can talk to Mr. Fast, who you can find near bungalow 557 at lunch.