‘Surf’s Up’ Makes School a Success

Nancy Emerson’s school on Surfrider beach is doing a swell business.

Welcome to the International School for Surfing Lessons in Malibu, the only such school in Los Angeles County and one of the few in the world.

“We get businessmen, doctors, lawyers. There are more women now than ever before,” said Emerson, a professional surfer who rode her first wave when she was 6.

Emerson has operated surfing schools in Japan and Hawaii for the last six years. Her Malibu location opened only last year, and demand was high even before the current hot weather siege, she said.

Last summer alone, Emerson’s Malibu school attracted more than 600 students who paid between $35 (for a group lesson) and $50 (for a private lesson) to learn the art of catching a wave.

On the Hawaiian island of Maui, the 33-year-old instructor’s school finds itself enrolled with anywhere from a dozen to 100 resort vacationers a week. Her Japanese school has attracted as many as 200 students in five days during peak weeks in April and May.

The Malibu school has competition from several local universities and community colleges which offer surfing courses during the summer. But most of Emerson’s classes--offered year-round--are populated with fledging surfers between 28 and 55, older than found in most college classrooms.