SADDLEBACK/SOUTH BEACH : SAN CLEMENTE : Hanging On to Hopes of Hanging 10

It was like a surfing ballet of the absurd. With whooping howls, 26 beginning surfers rushed into the ocean, eager to catch their first ride on nature’s roller coaster.

Within minutes, the 4-foot, choppy surf had made mincemeat of them Saturday, the first day of the city-run summertime surf class.

En masse, brightly colored foam surfboards gracefully pirouetted in the air as pounding waves tossed them into the sky. Meanwhile, their former riders were drinking sea water.

“It was great fun,” said Claire McLoone, 33, of Aliso Viejo. “How long does this class last? Six weeks? I hope to be hanging 10 by then.”

According to Lt. Bill Humphreys of the city’s Marine Safety Division, which sponsors the six-week program, that’s a guarantee.

“We once had a 60-year-old woman who couldn’t stand up on her board until the last class,” Humphreys said. “But she made it. One hundred percent of the people who take this class will be standing up and riding a wave by the end of six weeks.”

For 20 years, this home of many surfing champions has shown the public how to have “Safe Surf.”

“There’s a great deal interest in surfing around here,” Humphreys said. “All of the instructors are lifeguards and we enjoy showing people how to surf safely.”

The wanna-be surfers “run the gamut of society,” Humphreys said. “We get doctors, lawyers, students, schoolteachers. About 50% are teens, about 25% are in their 20s and the other 25% can range all the way up to their 70s.”

Tim O’Callahan, 38, a Dana Point vocational consultant, said he had watched his friends surf for years but never made it onto a board.

“When I moved back to the beach after living in the Bay Area, I figured it was a good opportunity to learn,” he said. “I always thought I needed to do this.”

The class, which started Saturday, costs $55 for six weeks of instruction and a chartered bus to Del Mar for the final weekend. A second session will be offered starting Aug. 6.

After an hour of classroom instruction on ocean and surfing safety, the class was ready to surf.

The first few minutes were chaos. Foam boards, which are used for safety, soon littered the ocean.

One or two students with previous experience managed to get upright, but for the rest, it was a struggle.

“I got up on my knees twice; it was pretty hard,” said Jeff Kadi, 13, of San Juan Capistrano. “But I had fun; I’ll be back next week.”