SPORT REPORT : Good Surfing, Vietnam

Keil Miller hadn’t been born when Saigon fell to the Communists in 1975 and the Vietnam War officially ended. But he’s done some shooting at China Beach.

Waves, that is. Miller, a 16-year-old from La Jolla, was part of an offbeat diplomatic mission that earlier this year sent 11 Southern California teen-age surfers for a three-week trip to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Hanoi and the coastal city of Da Nang, where they spent much of their time testing the waves at the scenic spot immortalized by the ABC television series. “The waves were great there, four to six feet every day,” Miller says, “and the water was really warm.”

The trip, sponsored by Kalos Kagathos (a Laguna Beach-based youth sports foundation) and the U.S.-Vietnam Friendship Assn., was a gesture designed to introduce surfing to Vietnamese kids. It was criticized by some veterans who oppose conciliatory efforts toward Vietnam; in fact, the original coach selected to accompany the U.S. group said he decided against participating after receiving threats from a veterans’ group.

But Miller says he and the other young surfers, who raised money for the trip through raffles, sponsors and, yes, their parents, feel good about their decision to go. “I didn’t know much about the war, other than what my mom told me,” he says. “There are cemeteries and war museums all over, and it’s weird because most of the tanks, planes and guns in the museums are American.”

Surfing in Vietnam brings to mind the scene from “Apocalypse Now” in which an officer portrayed by Robert Duvall hits the beach in the middle of a surprise attack and shouts, “Charlie don’t surf.”

But, says Miller, “They surf now. And for beginners, some of them are really good.”