Surf AND Turf : Four-Team Prep League Was a Success, but Battle for Waves Marred All-Star Competition

The first season of the South Bay Surf League ended earlier this month with the occurrence of something new and something old.

Something new was Redondo High (6-0) winning the title in the four-team league, and Sea Hawk sophomore Mike Bernard taking first place in shortboard surfing at the league’s all-star competition Dec. 1 at El Porto in Manhattan Beach.

Something old was the recurrence of a problem that has plagued surfing for years. Surfers refer to it as localism.

Elroy Lang, the surfing coach at Mira Costa, said the all-star competition was marred by local surfers not affiliated with the league who were reluctant to give up their waves, which happened to be very good that day.

“The locals were (interfering),” Lang said. “It somewhat impaired the competition.”

Disputes over territorial rights have plagued surfing for years. South Torrance Coach Geoff Hagins said he hoped the formation of the league would lessen the animosity some surfers direct toward outsiders. But that didn’t seem to happen, he said.

During a competition between South and Peninsula, two competing surfers took off on the same wave. When their paths crossed, they ended up exchanging punches in the water, Hagins said.

Redondo Coach Les Congelliere acknowledged that localism exists in the minds of some surfers, but he doesn’t see it as a major problem.

“It’s part of surfing,” Congelliere said. “When we started coming down here seven years ago (with a surf class), some of the locals were offended. Now they are our biggest supporters. I haven’t seen anytime when the locals haven’t been respectful of our competitions.”

In another incident, Hagins said his nephew, Hagan Kelley, and another South student were chased off by a group of surfers on the Palos Verdes Peninsula when they tried to surf in the area after school. Kelley said some of the offending surfers were members of the Peninsula surf team.

“The territorial disputes have gone on for a long time, and they will probably continue,” Hagins said. “It’s a strange mentality where you don’t want anyone else to surf.”

Kelley thinks the surfers hogging part of the ocean are being petty.

“It’s pretty stupid to hassle people and throw rocks at cars over their (waves),” Kelley said. “Some people think that they own the ocean. Anybody should be able to surf wherever they want.”

Peninsula Coach Tim Hall said he heard about the dispute.

“The territorialism has nothing to do with the team,” said Hall, who has spoken to team members about the problem. “My personal belief is that no one owns the ocean. Some people thought that the league would help stop the (localism) problem, but I haven’t heard a good answer yet.”

Peninsula team member Mark Shaffer, who said he wasn’t involved in the incident involving the South surfers, said the localism problem should not be linked with the surf league.

“I don’t want to affiliate the team with that,” Shaffer said. “(That incident) is totally separate from the team.”

Most coaches, however, said the success of the league’s first season outweighed any problems.

Competitions began before school at 6:30 a.m. and featured shortboarding, longboarding, bodyboarding and female shortboarding. Bernard led Redondo to the title, followed by Mira Costa (3-3), South (2-4) and Peninsula (1-5).

In the all-star competition, South’s Kelley finished second in the shortboard category. The longboard competition was won by Redondo’s Justin Osburn, with South’s Randy Kintz second. South’s Glenn Dean won the bodyboard category, with Redondo’s Lance Ku second.

The female shortboard competition was won by South’s Ashley Kelsey, with Peninsula’s Kristen Thibodo second.

Mira Costa’s Lang, whose team started 2-0 but settled for second place, gave credit to Redondo and its coach, Congelliere.

“I’m such a poor sport,” Lang said. “But Redondo deserved to win because they worked the hardest. I hate to lose, but, scoreboard, baby.”

Congelliere was able to rely on a number of surfers to score points in the competitions.

“I think we won because we had the most depth,” Congelliere said, mentioning Sean Walker, Travis Ronkainen and Matt Maceachern as other key point-producers for the Sea Hawks.

Congelliere said that adding new schools next season would help the league to grow. Torrance and West Torrance have reportedly shown interest in joining the league. The league season could also be moved to the spring, Congelliere said, because the waves are better.

The Southern Section doesn’t recognize surfing as a team sport because so few schools participate. The league, sponsored and administered by the Boy Scouts, is patterned after a similar league in Orange County.

Lack of Southern Section sanction and financial support may make it hard for the league to grow. And the threat of losing athletes to surfing who would otherwise concentrate on other sports may discourage some schools from wanting to participate.

“It’s not a sanctioned sport,” El Segundo Athletic Director John Stevenson said. “We have no plans (to join the league) at this time.”