La Jolla News Nuggets: WindanSea Surf Club holds beach day for kids, Razor House listed for $30 million, Shark gobbles sea lion off La Jolla Shores

WindanSea Surf Club holds beach day for kids

WindanSea Surf Club held its 33rd annual Day at the Beach in La Jolla Shores on Aug. 11.

Benefiting the children of families residing at the St. Vincent De Paul homeless shelter — part of Father Joe’s Villages — it was described as a “huge success” by WindanSea Surf Club president Bill Fitzmaurice.

“You can measure the event’s success by the smiles on the kids,” Fitzmaurice said. “The whole day is dedicated to letting kids be kids. And these kids don’t have the opportunity to be kids, like most kids do.”

Club members showed 27 children — most of whom never touched a board — how to surf as at least one of their parents watched from shore.

As rewarding as the annual experience is, Father Joe’s program manager Jennifer Ryan said she prefers when her kids get to experience only one.

“The idea is that they come to us, we get them stabilized and get their families housing,” Ryan said. “If they’re here more than once, then we’ve got more work to do.”

Razor House listed for $30 million

One of the most stunning (and stunningly expensive) houses in La Jolla is back on the market. The Razor House, named after the Razor Point Trail, was designed by Wallace Cunningham, one of “Architectural Digest”’s Top 100 Designers and constructed in 2007 at 9826 La Jolla Farms Road.

Sitting on three-quarters of an acre above Black’s Beach, the clifftop valhalla has six bedrooms and bathrooms in 11,954 square feet of living space and was featured in commercials for Calvin Klein and Visa.

Believe it or not, the asking price is less than its 2007 construction cost ($34 million) and 2008 asking price ($39 million), but considerably more than it last sold for in 2011 ($14 million).

Laleh and Niloo Monshizadeh, affiliate agents with the La Jolla office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, have the listing … if you have the cheddar.

Shark gobbles sea lion off La Jolla Shores

An expanding blob of crimson marked the spot off the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club where a shark was spotted devouring a pinniped on Aug. 8, just 50 feet away from swimmers and kayakers.

Student helicopter pilot Asher Burke shot a cell-phone video, from which a shark expert identified the predator as being of the white or Mako variety.

Money magazine rates UCSD No. 2

UC San Diego ranks second on Money magazine’s newly released 2018 Best College for Your Money list — right behind Princeton. The list reportedly considered graduation rates, net costs and alumni earnings provided by Payscale.com

“UC San Diego is committed to providing a world-class education and support services to all of our students from all socio-economic backgrounds,” said Chancellor Pradeep Khosla in a statement from the university.

According to the list, the average UCSD student who borrows “leaves with about $18,500 in debt, roughly half the national average, and recent grads report earnings that are 14 percent higher than those of grads from universities with similar student bodies.”

Scripps scientists locate WWII shipwreck

After 75 years, the wreckage of the stern of the USS Abner Read has been discovered off a remote Alaskan island. The discovery was made by a team of scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) on July 17 in the waters off the Aleutian Island of Kiska.

After multibeam sonar mounted to the side of the research ship Norseman II identified a promising target, the team — which also included scientists from the University of Delaware — sent down a deep-diving, remotely operated vehicle to capture live video for confirmation.

“There was no doubt,” said expedition leader and SIO oceanographer Eric Terrill “We could clearly see the broken stern, the gun and rudder control, all consistent with the historical documents.”

Seventy sailors were killed in the largely forgotten incident, which took place at 1:50 a.m. on Aug. 18, 1943, when the stern was blown off the rest of the ship by a mine in waters occupied by Japan during World War II.

Somehow, the crew kept the main part of the Abner Read’s hull watertight, and two nearby Navy ships towed it back to port. However, for the families of the doomed sailors, the final resting place of their loved ones remained unknown until now.

Improv comedy series at National Comedy Theatre

The National Comedy Theatre is presenting a new show, “Offstage,” on Thursday nights through October.

The improvised episodic comedy series follows the exploits of a theater company as it makes its way across the United States. The audience supplies not only essential idea for each show, but also a cast member. (At each performance, one audience member joins the action at various points on stage.)

“We decided to push the envelope a bit, and try a completely new style of show,” says company artistic director Gary Kramer. “Having our actors play characters in a continuing storyline over several months creates a new set of challenges for us.”

“Offstage” is onstage at 7:30 p.m. on the last two Thursdays of each month, through October, at the National Comedy Theatre, 3717 India St. in Mission Hills. For tickets, visit nationalcomedy.com