Making Waves

Call me a jealous sportswriter, but what a life 14-year-old freshman Nathaniel Curran is living.

While Oxnard High’s football players are banging helmets on the practice field, while the basketball players are running line drills, while the cross-country runners are laboring up hills, Curran is racing home to begin his daily workout after the school bell rings at 3 p.m.

“I’m coming home, getting my wet suit on and going into the water,” he said.

His surfing tricks and maneuvers are just as special as a running back sprinting 50 yards for a touchdown or a baseball player slugging a 400-foot home run.

“Surfing is my life,” he said.

Curran lives a short walk from Silver Strand Beach. If he hustles, he can be in the water in less than two minutes. Then the fun begins.

“It’s just great,” he said. “It’s refreshing coming home with so much stuff on your mind, then just letting it go. I think the most fun is surfing with my friends and just having a blast.”

There are more surfboards than shoes lying around the Curran house. It’s home for Ventura County’s first family of surfing.

Nathaniel’s oldest brother, Tim Jr., 21, is one of the rising stars on the World Championship Tour.

Another brother, Joshua, 19, competes on the World Qualifying Tour.

The youngest brother, Taylor, 4, is learning to surf.

Nathaniel accomplished a first for a Curran last year, winning a national youth championship. He placed first in the National Scholastic Surfing Assn. 12-and-under explorer division. It provided an early indicator of his surfing talent.

“Sometimes I sell Nathaniel short on how good he is,” said his father, Tim Sr. “The other kids are so good, I’m wanting more of Nathaniel, but I forget he’s only 14 years old.”

The Curran family’s surfing prowess is a surprise considering this used to be the family known for its pole vaulters. Anyone who competed in high school track and field in the Valley in the 1970s knew of the Curran brothers. Tim Sr. is one of six brothers who grew up in Sepulveda. Four went to Crespi High, two to Notre Dame. Five of the brothers were pole vaulters.

Tim Sr., 43, once held the national high school record at 15 feet and competed at UCLA. Youngest brother Anthony, 39, who topped him by clearing 17-4 1/4 as a high school senior, is the pole vault coach at UCLA.

I wonder if Oxnard High’s track coaches realize they have a Curran on campus. . . .

Nathaniel, 5 feet 3 and 112 pounds, has cleared nine feet in the pole vault playing around with uncle Anthony, but he’ll stick to surfing.

Tim Sr. never pushed his sons to surf. He enjoyed the sport growing up, went on family vacations to Oxnard and eventually moved there 12 years ago. Living next to the beach created the ideal environment for a new generation of surfing Currans.

“I never thought any of my kids would be this good as surfers,” Tim Sr. said. “I kind of wanted to break the mold. I don’t care if my kids do this or that, I just had one dream that one day I’d be sitting out in the water and have my kid next to me surfing.”

Now he can’t get any of them out of the water.

“My father introduced [us] to one of the funnest sports,” Tim Jr. said. “I’ve tried the other stuff. It doesn’t come close to surfing.”

Eight months out the year, Tim Jr. travels around the world competing in surfing competitions. It doesn’t give him much time to keep track of Nathaniel’s development, but he likes what he has seen on video.

“He’s come a long way,” Tim Jr. said. “I’m very impressed. He definitely has good ability. From now until he’s 18 are going to be the determining years what he can do.”

Debbie Curran, the boys’ mother, said Tim Jr. had the most passion for surfing, but Nathaniel is closing the gap.

Tim Sr. helps produce surfing videos with Anthony, and his latest, “Zero Gravity,” will feature Nathaniel in his first starring role.

“They’ll probably bag on me,” Nathaniel said of his friends’ reaction.

Last summer, during a pro surfing event in Huntington Beach, Nathaniel watched Tim Jr. being mobbed by adoring fans and autograph seekers.

“It’s weird because it’s my brother,” he said.

The autograph seekers soon might be zeroing in on Nathaniel, but don’t worry about his priorities.

He showed up five minutes late for his interview. The reason?

“I saw him talking to some girl,” a cousin said.

Good to know Nathaniel considers girls more important than sportswriters.

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422.