Victory at Sea

Standing next to lifeguard tower No. 32 at La Jolla Shores, the woman tried to prioritize her fears. It’s hard to say what scared her most, facing 40 or her first surfing lesson. With her impending birthday came a looming sense of her own mortality . . . but with surfing came jellyfish (plenty of which had been spotted in the water the day before), sharks (remote but for the phobic anything is possible), or simply being tossed about in a wave, unable to catch her breath. She was determined, however, to fly on the water.

For many 40-ish women, the world revolves around kids, career and cellulite, and not necessarily in that order. But women who take up surfing at this age find themselves acquiring a new language, one with phrases associated more with teenage boys: riding the foam, paddling out, waiting for a set.

Forty-something surfer chicks may stand out on the shore, but they’re not alone. According to folks involved in the sport, the surfing sisterhood is growing. And on their boards, these middle-aged neophytes are competing against the ocean, not their age, for the perfect ride.

Chris Osti, 41, co-owner of a Sierra Madre hair salon, first tried surfing in December when the ocean temperature hovers around 55 degrees, conditions that often deter the novice or fair-weathered surfer. Her friend Sandy Duvall, 40, took her out after months of promising her she would love it. Duvall had only learned to surf in August, taught by her husband, who had surfed as a teen.

Osti doesn’t consider herself a risk-taker but admits most of her friends are afraid for her. Surfing is a rough-and-tumble sport, and fear is what keeps many grown women from trying.

“I’d never jump out of a plane,” said Osti. “I have to be on the ground or in the ocean. Life is there for us to experience. So why not?”

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At 48, Susan Edlinger, a training and organizational manager for a local computer networking company, decided to try surfing after resolving not to live her life encumbered with inhibitions.

“When I was younger I was much braver,” said Edlinger, the Canoga Park mother of two boys, 11 and 14. “Getting older, having kids, a job--pretty soon the only risks I was taking were career risks.”

She grew up in Oklahoma riding horses but always loved the ocean. When she moved to Hawaii as a young woman, she watched surfers, wanting to try, but too afraid. Then, a couple of years ago, after the death of her sister, she decided she didn’t want her life to be ruled by fear.

During her first lesson she felt sick to her stomach as she sat in the sand and anxiously watched the waves at Santa Monica Beach crash in front of her. Today, at 50, she surfs at least once a week, tackling the more powerful breaks at Zuma Beach or Malibu.

The trajectory of Edlinger’s experience is not uncommon. By 40, most women are faced with the responsibilities that come with children and/or careers and aren’t willing to take unnecessary risks that might jeopardize their well-being or that of loved ones, according to Diane Sanford, PhD., co-author of “Midlife and Menopause: A Celebration of Women’s Health” (Awhonn Publishing, 1998).

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Unlike their daughters and nieces whom they’ve seen participate freely in soccer and baseball leagues starting at age 4 or 5, many women in their 40s were never encouraged to compete in organized sports. They came of age before the effects of Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972 (prohibiting sex discrimination in any educational program receiving federal funds) trickled down. As a result, many lack the confidence to master an intensely physical challenge.

Born and raised in Orange County, Eileen Davidson, 40, remembers watching her boyfriends head to the beach with surfboards in tow but never considered trying to surf herself. “I was the cheerleader. Girls weren’t socialized to do that kind of thing,” says Davidson, a soap opera actress who is a star of “The Young and the Restless.”

But with middle age, people begin to take stock of their lives, asking themselves if they are where they want to be. They begin to let go of fears and inhibitions that stand in the way of unfulfilled dreams, says Sanford, who believes that addressing a physical challenge like surfing can leave a woman exhilarated and empowered. Davidson herself describes the experience as an “emancipation proclamation.”

True, a 40-year-old female may not be as fearless or as athletically gifted as a lot of kids, but they listen better, try harder and want it more, according to Joel Schultz, who has surfed the Malibu coast since 1962 and now teaches the how-tos of catching a wave to students of all ages, including Edlinger and Davidson. “Then it becomes a passion that they won’t give up,” says Schultz.

Alex Finlayson, 48, a corporate writer, admits she was never passionate about anything athletic. Yet when she moved to La Jolla from Chapel Hill, N.C., six months ago, she was immediately drawn to the ocean. “At first I thought I just wanted to date a surfer,” Finlayson says with a laugh. Realizing that surfing itself was the lure, she opted instead for a two-day beginners’ clinic with Surf Diva in La Jolla, where the all-female staff specializes in the instruction of women at any age.

For Finlayson and other women who love the sport, they speak of it as the culmination of a long spiritual journey.

“I am 48 years old and have waited this long to find something that brings me this much joy. As soon as I step in the water, it’s like my soul sings.”