Pali’s Students are Hanging Ten Before 10:00

An inside look at Pali’s surf class.

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Every morning, Pali’s thousands of students file into their classrooms, yawning and rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. They sit down, take out their notebooks, pens, pencils or computers and prepare to listen to a lecture or take a test.

While this exemplifies  most of Pali’s students’ average morning, those enrolled in the surf class have an entirely different routine.

For these students, the morning does not involve notebooks, pencils, backpacks or even classrooms, but instead, surfboards, a wetsuits and the sound of the waves crashing down. On even days, these students venture to Tower 15 at the end of the Will Rogers State Beach parking lot, throw on their wetsuits and paddle out into the cool ocean water to spend second period surfing.

“I really like the class,” Senior Ridge Coughlin said. “I normally wake up in a really sour mood and don’t want to get up and go surfing, but once I’m out on the water I get into my groove and feel super happy.”

The class started between 10 to 15 years ago under the supervision of the previous surf coach, who left the famed surf class of his creation to P.E. teacher Ray Marsden three years ago.

Marsden, a surfer himself, has been coaching it ever since.

“[I like it] because I get to go to the beach off campus every [class] and watch kids surf,” Marsden explained. “It’s a good way to take advantage of local things that are available to us that are very rare in other places.”

Currently, Pali and El Segundo are the only high schools in the Los Angeles area with surf classes during school.

Since its formation, the popularity of the surf class has only increased.  The class, available only to sophomores, juniors and seniors, is highly selective.

“I joined in sophomore year because I had never surfed before and I didn’t want to have grown up in LA and have never surfed,” Coughlin remarked. “This year I had to choose between AP Computer Science and surf because they are [during] the same period. I chose surf because I knew that I’d be absolutely miserable in…class knowing that I could be surfing instead.”

If students are admitted to the class, they have to take two swim tests at the beginning of the year (one in the pool and one in the ocean) in order to participate.

While students are preparing for the class, Marsden goes through the annual effort of reserving the beach area for the class and acquiring permission to park, surf and have lifeguard supervision.

“I have to apply and do a lot of work during the summer to get a permit, and the permit’s a nightmare. I’ve got to jump through a lot of hula hoops,” Marsden explained. “There’s a lot of paperwork and a lot of like bureaucracy. It’s not like we can just show up and surf, so I think for us to be able to go there, park for free, surf with a lifeguard watching us and have the permit, there are a lot of moving parts, but it’s worth it.”

During a typical surf class, students arrive in the morning with their own surfboards and wetsuits, and are required to get in the water by 8 AM. After paddling around a buoy about a quarter mile offshore for their warm-up, students are allowed to surf at their leisure until 9 AM.

“The waves are not the best, but it’s still fun to get out there every [even] day,” senior Griffin Carrol commented.

While the typical surf forecast is only one to two feet, sophomore Olivia Laita looks forward to the swells, when the waves get bigger and she can experience the rush of paddling for a wave closer to her height.

“My favorite part about surf class is when the bigger waves come and everybody’s paddling for them,” Laita explained. “Sometimes you get twisted around underwater but when… everyone’s talking about it and saying, ‘That was sick,’ it’s so fun.”

After surfing for an hour, students are brought out of the water by the sound of Marsden’s whistle, and they have time to go home and shower before they have to be at school for 4th period.

Marsden, who sometimes paddles out and catches some waves before or after class, just enjoys being around the students and at the beach.

“They are good kids. It’s a different group than the kids I coach in football,” he said. “They’re all surfer dudes so that’s fun. It’s just the environment — being out there with the view is really cool.”

Pali’s surf class is sure to keep bringing waves, sun and shakas to students, providing them with a unique chance to call the beach their classroom.

“[The] students really get out and enjoy it,” Marsden remarked. “I see a lot of tourists come from around the world, and for them to know that high schools have surf P.E. just blows them away. To them it’s the coolest thing ever. It’s kind of a good thing to sell on how lucky we are at Pali high to have this opportunity.”