Blind Youths Try Surfing, Find It’s Cool : Recreation: Members of a Braille Institute outing overcome fear in a day of catching waves.

After spending most of Thursday morning surfing off Malibu Beach, 13-year-old Monica Vasquez decided it was time to change her name to something that more aptly described her new-found talent.

“Just call me Ms. Surfer,” the blind teen-ager said Thursday after surfing for the first time in her life. “I was born on the surfboard.”

Well, maybe she wasn’t born on a surfboard. But beach-goers who watched Vasquez and her 14 pals from the Braille Institute Youth Center of Los Angeles can attest that some of the young students can ride the waves with the best of them.

The youths, who ranged in age from 5 to 16 and came from across Los Angeles County, were invited to the beach as part of the fifth annual special outing for students and staff of the institute sponsored by Paradise Surfing, a local surfing school.

Along with eight staffers from the institute, two volunteers and the staff of Paradise Surfing, the group of mostly anxious youths learned the basics of surfing.

After a brief morning orientation, during which the instructors and their students became acquainted with one another, the group took to the water.

With a surfing instructor and an institute staffer on each side, the students learned to work the board in the shallows, said Ted Silverberg, founder of Paradise Surfing.

Vasquez came to the beach Thursday with the three essentials: a swimsuit, sunscreen and an adventurous spirit.

Although she floundered frequently, Vasquez remained undaunted as she was taught the new sport.

“Everyone should learn to surf. It’s thrilling and fun,” she said. “I’m going to teach my parents . . . although I know they will be too scared to learn.

“And they can see!”

Not all of the students were as daring as Vasquez was Thursday.

A sobbing 5-year-old refused to set foot near the water and spent most of the day playing on the sand.

But then there were others, like Damin Bordenave, 13, who were raring to go.

“Surfing’s great,” said Bordenave, who has surfed in the program for the last five years. “I think I am the best surfer here. But that’s only my opinion, of course.”

But even the cocky Bordenave admitted to being scared the first time he went out.

“It was really scary the first year I went,” he said. “I felt like I was going to go underwater. But you get over your fears and start to have fun.”

On Thursday he surfed like a pro--standing on the board at times while deftly maneuvering it with his arms and legs as he rode the small waves.

“I only got wiped out once,” he said after he had finished. “I am ready to go out again.”

While the exploits of the blind surfers captured the attention of some of the regular wave riders, these students are no strangers to high-risk adventures. Before the summer ends, the group will also have gone water skiing, rock climbing and camping in the mountains, said Gary Jimenez, assistant youth coordinator at the institute.

“We try to mainstream them into the community,” he said. “They do things that other sighted kids do and even more.”

Anita Wright, youth coordinator at the institute, added that Thursday’s fun also had a serious purpose.

“The day gives them a sense of accomplishment. They realize just because they are blind does not mean they can’t achieve things,” she said. “It exposes them to things they would normally not have an opportunity to do.”