Schaffer Returns to Surfing Tour After Knee Surgery

Less than 10 months after major reconstructive surgery on his right knee, pro surfer Ricky Schaffer was not only back on a surfboard, he was competing again.

Schaffer, who lives in Woodland Hills, entered the Bud Pro Surfing Tour event held last week in Ventura. He had not planned to compete until the Malibu Pro Surfrider contest at the end of August.

“The knee is 80%,” he said before the preliminaries in Ventura, “but that’s better than it’s been in a long time.”

Last September, Schaffer tore ligaments doing a front-side cutback off a wash. His knee was already weakened, having been injured in a freak accident when he was in fifth grade. Now that the knee has been repaired, “My surfing level has progressed beyond where I was,” he said.

Before the injury, Schaffer had been ranked among the top 32 on the Pro Surfing Assn. of America Tour and had been featured in several surfing magazines.

After surgery, he underwent months of rehabilitation before climbing on his surfboard for “surf therapy” in late May.

“The first day, the first wave, I did not feel like I’d be able to do anything,” he said. “After each of the first five waves, I wanted to give it up. But I knew it would be a long process.”

Although Schaffer was eliminated in the first round in Ventura, he still believes his comeback is on schedule. “I just want to get in the water and let my surfing do the talking,” he said.