New Wave Cops: Law and the Breakers : Competition: From across California, 84 officers hit the beach to determine the best surfer. It’s all part of the 1990 Police Summer Games.

Police officer Vern McGarry was in hot pursuit.

Scanning the surf with an expert eye trained from years on the beach, the 15-year veteran of the San Clemente Police Department knew that he had one last chance to make some points.

So with a series of quick kicks and thrusts, McGarry turned toward the rising wall of water, spun swiftly around and dug in for an exhilarating ride aboard his surfboard to the shore.

“I had a few good runs,” McGarry, 36, said as he dropped his red, white and blue surfboard into the sand on Tuesday morning. “I felt really good. This is my home break.”

In fact, that last-minute ride--and a definite home break advantage--helped McGarry take first place in his preliminary heat to go on to a second day of surfing competition today at Cotton’s Point, just north of the San Onofre Nuclear Power Station.

McGarry was one of 84 sworn law enforcement representatives who came from all over the state to compete in the surfing contest, part of a 44-event Olympic-style athletic competition sponsored by the California Police Athletic Federation.

The 43 other events range from track and field, gymnastics and softball to target shooting, K-9 training and archery, and will be held next week in Sacramento, the host city for the 1990 Police Summer Games.

The games, which are expected to draw more than 6,000 contestants this year, are considered by organizers to be one of the largest amateur athletic competitions in the world.

The 24-year-old athletic competition was established to give officers from various departments--including state park rangers, city cops, state university patrol officers and corrections officers--a chance to test their skills against one another.

“It gives these guys impetus to stay in shape,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Ed Hitchcock, an organizer of the annual Summer Games. “That is really the reason why we do this.”

The San Clemente Police Department hosted the surfing event because--as one organizer put it--”the surf is not really rolling in Sacramento this time of year.”

Many of the wave-riding officers said they look forward to trading their holsters for surfboard leashes once a year so that they can keep up with the sport many have pursued feverishly since they were teen-agers.

Although some came from as far away as Santa Cruz and Capitola to try their luck on the South County waves, most competitors hailed from Southern California.

The largest teams were from the Orange and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s departments and the Los Angeles Police Department.

Many surfer cops said they once considered a career in surfing. Some have even been successful in competition outside the law enforcement event.

Take Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy James Moore, a 23-year-old former member of World Surfing Assn., for instance. He said he started competing in surfing contests when he was 8 years old.

But Moore quit full-time surfing two years ago and traded his wet suit for a uniform last year, lured by the steady income.

“I had to get my priorities straight,” he said. “Competitive surfing is a long and hard road. It takes everything you got.”

Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Russell said he gave up his job representing surfboard and wet suit companies seven years ago to join law enforcement. He has not regretted that decision, although he said he doesn’t get out into the water as much as he likes.

His strategy in the police competition, he said, was to find only the big waves and pass on the small waves.

“You move better when you have a lot of face to work with,” he said, referring to the section of the wave that has yet to become white water. “Here, every point counts.”

The surfers received points for their choice of waves, the ability to stand up, and the moves they made once riding the swell toward shore, said Sam Conroy, San Clemente High School surf team coach, who headed the judging team.

The surfers who finished in the top three of their preliminary rounds moved on to tougher competition today. Surfers will earn gold, silver and bronze medals in six categories.

Conroy said he was impressed by the level of expertise of the surfers, considering that many of them were between 30 and 40.

“This is a sport where you’re king at 18 and you’re ancient at 30,” Conroy said. “For their age group, they are doing really well.”

Not every successful surfer counted on his intimate knowledge of the way the waves break at Cotton’s Point (shown on maps as San Mateo Point).

Wearing a white jersey over his wet suit, West Covina Detective Dave Long, 32, expertly zigzagged across the face of the waves, executing sharp turns that seemed to defy gravity.

Still, he added quickly, the event wasn’t so much a time for him to show off his surfing prowess as it was an opportunity to spend a day at the beach with other police officers.

“We come out and have a blast,” said Long, who won a gold medal last year, when the event was held in Oxnard. “I drag the wife and the kids out, and they hoot and holler. We have a good time and get to know people we would never meet. That is what this is all about.”