‘Only in California, only in California.’ : Safari From Sea Level to Snow Line : For 14th Year, Group Rides the Waves and Skis the Slopes--All in Same Day

Ah, life in Southern California . . .

One moment, you’re in a wet suit, surfing the waves, gazing at the snowcapped mountains off in the distance. The next moment, you’re wearing a turtleneck, ski jacket and boots, gliding down the snowy slopes.

For a group of Southern Californians, surfing and skiing on the same day has become an annual ritual in celebration of the region’s diverse climate.

One man’s relatives in Minnesota don’t believe it’s possible. Business associates back East think they’re crazy. But these Southern Californians have surfed and skied on the same day for more than a decade.

On Wednesday, they met for the 14th consecutive year at San Onofre State Beach to continue the tradition.

About 30 people, including a handful of doctors and attorneys who had canceled their appointments for the day, hit the beach to ride the waves for three hours. Later, they hopped into their cars and headed up to Bear Mountain Ski Resort in San Bernardino County to glide along the slopes for three more hours.

“This is why we pay higher rents and higher prices for real estate here,” said Bob Kiefer, manager of a real estate brokerage in San Clemente. “We might as well enjoy it. When you surf and ski on the same day, it says that you’ve arrived. . . . That’s why you wouldn’t trade this place for anywhere else in the world.”

The excursion is organized every year by three longtime surfers who have become legendary figures at the Point, a popular surfing spot near the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

They are Doug Craig, 70, a retired chief executive officer from Dana Point; Fred Caserio, 63, a retired organic chemist from Del Mar in San Diego County; and Ross McAdam, 62, an investment counselor from Corona del Mar.

But surfers at San Onofre know them simply as “the Three Wise Men.”

The threesome got their nickname from the younger dudes. When the youngsters gabbed about parties, “debs” (surfer slang for good-looking women) and “getting rigged” (having sex), the three older men would nonchalantly discuss corporate mergers, the stock market and global conflicts.

One day at the beach, one of the younger surfers remarked while listening in on their conversation: “They sound like the Three Wise Men.”

The name stuck.

Apart from planning surfing tournaments and SurfSki Day, Craig and his buddies offer sage advice to younger surfers who may be encountering problems with their jobs, their spouses or their careers.

Joe Weaver, 34, of Riverside credits his recent decision to launch his own accounting firm to Craig’s constant advice that “I’d be better off working for myself.”

“I was having a few problems with previous employers,” Weaver said. “But all that changed after (Craig) told me to take the CPA exam and start my own business. If he didn’t stick behind me, I would have still been miserable.”

The regulars talk to the Wise Men almost every day, but they plan months in advance to spend SurfSki Day with them. Caserio said the Wise Men started the event “as an enjoyment of life . . . to show how much we enjoy the weather in this unique place called California.”

Dore Gilbert, a 42-year-old Newport Beach dermatologist, said he told his assistants not to schedule any appointments for Wednesday and to take the day off. An attorney, who declined to be named, canceled his caseload, and a few construction workers called their boss to say they were simply not going to make it to the job.

Some of the surfers arrived at the beach before 7 a.m. They slipped into their wet suits in the crisp morning air and paddled out to sea. The six-foot-high breakers tumbled over them.

Craig, who hits the waves five times a week, knelt on his surfboard, standing upright in time to catch the wave. As the wave broke to his right, he tiptoed to the nose of the board, lurching his back and standing only on his right foot.

Mr. Casual.

After three hours, the surfers came ashore and washed off the salt and sand under an outdoor shower located between two patches of bamboo.

A few dressed in shirts and ties and apologized for not being able to make the ski trip before heading to work. The remainder jumped into their cars for the 140-mile journey to the ski resort.

During the journey, the men talked about how their relatives and colleagues in the Midwest and East refuse to believe they can ski within hours of surfing.

Kiefer swore that his relatives in Minnesota “still believe I’m pulling their legs.”

Mike McCaffrey, a 58-year-old personal development specialist from Laguna Beach, said that when he told some colleagues in New York that he was planning to surf in the morning and ski in the afternoon, “they fell out of their chairs.”

“I’ll just tell them I went to a board meeting,” McCaffrey quipped, referring to his surfboard. “They understand that kind of terminology a lot better.”

About 2 1/2 hours later, they arrived at Bear Mountain--8,505 feet above the beach at San Onofre. Wet suits were replaced by thermal underwear, wool sweaters and heavy socks.

Once they jumped off the lifts, Craig and McCaffrey demonstrated that they were accomplished skiers, much to the chagrin of the younger men who thought they could outdo them on the slopes.

“He makes me sick,” Gilbert said good-naturedly as Craig skied off a steep ridge and raced down a gully.

Later as they returned home, the men talked about how McAdam, the third Wise Man, had missed this year’s event because he was delivering a lecture on investment funds in Denver.

“I guess he could ski there,” Caserio said. “But can he surf?”

Then he answered himself.

“No surf in Colorado. Only in California, only in California.”