On a crisp, foggy Sunday morning just south of the Santa Monica pier, the Malibu High surf team took to the ocean in its monthly Scholastic Surf Series event with one goal in mind: conquer the waves at hand. In doing so, the results would speak for themselves in the head-to-head matchup against Oak Park.
For the third time this season, Malibu surfed its way to an easy victory. Having dispatched San Marcos, 87-48, and Palisades, 86-31, earlier this year, the Sharks (3-0) towered above its competition from over the hill as they defeated the Eagles rather handily, 92-38.
“This is probably the best team I’ve ever had assembled here today,” Malibu coach Michael Moss said. “The kids did pretty well. It’s exciting to be among a group of kids that are psyched to perform for the community.”
Frankie Seely, Danica Downing and Billie Malkin swept the women’s short- board and longboard events with first, second and third place finishes, respec- tively.
Henry Buckley won the men’s longboard while Thelen McKinna, Amour Armony and Henry Jenkinson each won a heat in men’s shortboard.
“The tide was a little bit low so it was kind of snappy. But I pulled in a couple of barrels and got first,” said Buckley. McKinna has been a strong addition to the team this year. His event began at 7 a.m. and he set the tone for the day by catching several waves and riding them cleanly. “It feels good to have a good session and, after surfing, feeling ‘surfed-out’ is priceless,” he said.
This year’s team features more than 40 MHS students who have been dedicated to Moss’ workouts. The Sharks generally meet every Tuesday at County Line from 3 to 5 p.m. and on Thursdays at Zuma Beach from 6 to 7:30 a.m. to hone their surfing skills.
Despite graduating a good portion of the team from a year ago, Malibu has regrouped with underclassmen rising up to the level of the competition.
“We have really good people on the team,” said Downing, a senior. “A lot of the juniors and sophomores that didn’t do it before joined this year and they have really helped us out.”
Blessed with some of the nation’s finest surfing spots, the local talent makes MHS’s team a threat to win every competition they enter. According to Moss, Malibu brought its “A” team to compete against Oak Park as they prepare for the State Championships in a couple of months.
“This is my upper echelon of talent but I literally could have put together a whole other team of kids and they would still out-compete most teams,” Moss said.
Upon the completion of the team event, the individual portion of the SSS highlighted the day. Twelve teams descended upon Tower 22 in Santa Monica and the best surfers from each team battled for superiority in five different categories.
Seely won the overall women’s longboard and took fifth in the shortboard; Buckley finished sixth in men’s longboard; Ryder Sturges claimed sixth in the men’s shortboard; and Tom Klane garnered second place in the coed bodyboard.
“It was pretty fun,” Seely said. “I got a really good wave selection. The waves weren’t great but they held up for the contest.”
The final SSS event will be held on March 23 at Tower 10 on Zuma Beach for the first time in many years. The Sharks will have “home-surf” advantage as the location is just a stone’s throw away from MHS.
“It’s going to be nice to actually have a home event,” Moss said. “I’m super excited having an event at Zuma and having the whole community get involved. Come on out and support our program.”
The surfing season will conclude with the State Championships at Oceanside Harbor in San Diego County from April 5-7. Malibu figures to be well-represented at the contest, where the team’s depth, experience and strategic planning should play key roles in being successful.
“There’s a lot of competition at these events but the best surfers are at state,” Buckley said. “We will have some great competition down there.”
“We definitely can win it,” added a confident McKinna.