‘Too Nice to Be a Surfer’--Waving Goodby to a Stereotype
Regarding the wonderful rescue of the Kuders by Laguna lifeguard Sam Taylor (May 6), and not discounting their frightening experience, I venture to say that Mrs. Kuder was either bobbing in the water too long or she suffers from too much exposure to Hollywood “B” movies.
Her remark that Taylor “was too nice to be a surfer” really incensed me, and I’m not even a surfer--just a middle-age average gal. I don’t know where she’s had her exposure to surfers, but all of the guys I’ve met along the coast have been pretty decent types, and surfing has advanced to the professional level over the years.
Every group will have its “bad apples,” but to assume across the board that anybody in the water on a surfboard isn’t “nice” shows just how far we, as adults, have not progressed. I’m sure that Sam Taylor, and the bulk of lifeguards on our beaches, started out as youngsters with a surfboard under their arms.
I’d sure welcome any surfer to rescue me in the water, and I’m certain that they are involved in more heroics than we know about.
DONA LEE LEICHT
Laguna Beach
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