Things People Do : PUSHING PAPERS-- AWAY : Eric Hanscom Would Rather Surf Kayak

He is more than qualified to wear a suit and tie, sit behind a desk and push and sign papers. Eric Hanscom’s resume proves as much.

But it wasn’t too long after a few attorneys had a good, hearty chuckle at his expense that Hanscom decided he would be a lot more content spending his days in a kayak. So his office is not in a big building. It is just off the shore of the beaches of La Jolla. And no, he doesn’t wear a tie to work.

San Diego’s Hanscom, 31, won the surf kayaking world championship last year in an international competition held in Lahinch, Ireland. The U.S. team, competing for the first time and composed of virtual unknowns, was the surprise winner of the overall championship.

Surf kayaking is a relatively new sport, though Hanscom guesses the techniques have their origins in the methods Eskimos used to transport seals.

Hanscom devotes full time to improving both his kayaking maneuvers and awareness of the sport. This year, he will compete on and coach the U.S. national team, which will travel to Wales at the end of August to defend its championship.

All this brings us back to his resume and how kayaking became his full-time occupation. Reading from top to bottom, you will find that he graduated with honors from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in aquatic biology and environmental studies, has a law degree from Hastings College of Law and received four fellowships while working toward a Ph.D. at UC Santa Cruz.

Tucked in between are items such as this: “Phycological Discovery: Algal specimen found in intertidal drift, Deveraux Point, California, 11/80. Specimen thought to be Cystoceira osmundacea subspecies of hybrid of C. osmundacea and Sargassum muticum.”

Got that?

At the bottom, there is a section devoted to personal interests, where Hanscom lists some of his achievements in both surfing--he was a member of the California Collegiate All-Star team for six years--surf kayaking and technical rock climbing.

And that’s what made him the subject of ridicule. Apparently, several attorneys thought it rather amusing that someone applying for a job in a law firm actually found time to surf.

There were little indications throughout school that law might not be his bag. Once, he tried to organize a rock climbing expedition and had only one person sign up out of a student body of 540. The longer he was in law school, the more uneasy he became.

“By the time I got through law school, I had such a phobia about three-piece suits and offices,” Hanscom said. “I always felt like an outsider. I never felt like I belonged. I questioned seriously whether I wanted to belong.”

The interviews after graduation were all fairly similar.

“I had a couple of guys just on the floor,” Hanscom said. “I think I was probably the most humorous interview in Hastings.”

Though his father, Richard, is a judge and his sister, Wendy, is an attorney, Eric decided to break family tradition and pursue a Ph.D. in marine biology, which gave him the time for surf kayaking.

For Richard, Eric’s decision wasn’t a letdown.

“I think he may have thought I was disappointed, but I’m not because I don’t think anybody should go into work that they don’t find enjoyable,” Richard said. “It probably was his mistake going to law school. Law isn’t for everybody.”

As it turned out, marine biology wasn’t really the solution. UC Santa Cruz is considered progressive because of it’s system of optional grading, but from Hanscom’s perspective, it wasn’t progressive in its approach to students. He had trouble finding professors who approved of his methods, which centered less around hours in the laboratory looking into a microscope and more around field work.

One time, a group of the graduate students were sitting around telling what they had done during a two-week vacation. Most had real rip-roaring stories, such as doing experiments separating DNA from plants. When Hanscom told of going to Baja on a surf kayaking trip, another student said dryly: “Eric, you just lead such a more exciting life than all of the rest of us.”

“I thought later, ‘Yeah, she’s right,’ ” he said.

So, when the opportunity to join the newly formed U.S. national team presented itself, Hanscom opted to skip the Ph.D. and tackle the waves.

A world champion was born.

Surf kayaking is all about extremes. It just depends who is commanding the craft.

To the novice, it can be very upside down. That’s the way the beginner spends much of his time. The wave hits, you ride for a while, lose your balance and find yourself climbing out of the top of the boat, now located where the bottom used to be.

To an expert like Hanscom, surf kayaking is . . . well, let him tell it.

“It’s like you can’t imagine anything better,” he says. “I’ve had that feeling about very few other things in life. It’s a situation that couldn’t possibly be improved upon. Sometimes you sit down to a pesto pizza and say this couldn’t be improved upon. It’s like having a pesto pizza for five hours and not gaining any weight afterward.”

Nearly every time Hanscom goes out in the water, surfers watch him twisting, turning and gliding in the surf and ask him what it’s like to ride a wave in a boat rather than a board.

“I’m going to have to get some plastic business cards,” he said. “I think, as with any new sport, it has sort of a freak image.”

In a sense, this sport has some similarities to boogie boarding because, unlike surfing, a novice can go out and have a good time right away, upside down or not.

Experts usually have a very good time and can even right themselves after capsizing with a turn of the paddle and a twist of the body. But even the best can run into trouble now and then. Hanscom was once asked to surf for a video promotional tape on a day when the wind was high and the surf was rough. Paddling out to position himself for catching waves, Hanscom ran into a 15-footer.

“I remember looking at it and thinking, ‘I’m really going to get hit hard,’ ” he says. “I knew I was going to get absolutely killed.”

He went flying over the wave, took a nose dive into the next and lost his helmet and paddle. Next thing he knew he was tumbling toward the shore. His helmet and paddle arrived on the next wave. That ended the photo session.

Last year in Ireland, Hanscom was an unknown quantity, but he quickly impressed everybody with his precise moves and agility in the water. And not only did he win the championship, but Christine Calverley, a San Diegan taught by Hanscom, won the women’s title.

When the team goes to Wales this year, Hanscom is aware he’ll need to stockpile some new tricks. He has already been informed by members of the Irish team that they are studying the video tape of his performance last year and practicing his style.

Last year’s championship was really a bittersweet experience for Hanscom. Most of his teammates were eliminated in the preliminary qualifying round. The night he won, he had very mixed feelings.

“The crown had some thorns on it,” he said. “The night I won, I took off for a four-hour walk. It’s a hard feeling to deal with.”

That he had that feeling is perhaps indicative of why he highly regarded as an instructor. Some of the money he makes to support himself is earned by giving surf kayaking lessons, and he gets rave reviews from his students.

“It is so apparent that he’s a natural teacher,” said one of them, Kevin Montgomery. “I had taken two classes prior to taking a class with Eric. The classes with him were so much more effective. He is careful to positively reinforce anything. It’s a very low-stress teaching method.”

All the while, Hansom doesn’t tumble into the category of the stereotypical surfer. He won’t call you dude, and his hair isn’t long, blond and stringy.

“I haven’t heard him say cowabunga once,” Montgomery said.

Yet there is one thing he will say on the subject of those who live the surfing stereotype.

“These people are living in a dream world,” he said. “There are some people that are not facing reality. You’ve got to work really hard at something if you want it to work for you.”

That much he has proven.