Posted on: Monday, September 8, 2003

EDITORIAL
Surf's up at school — or so we hope

It's a travesty that surfing isn't a school sport here in the capital of big-wave riding. So we're delighted that the Board of Education appears to be correcting that.

A BOE committee has voted in favor of a measure that would allow public schools to form competitive surfing teams. A final vote could come as early as next month.

We can only assume that an official surfing program will motivate some students, who otherwise cut classes to surf, to stay in school and join the team. Of course, students would have to keep up their grades to participate and learn about the ocean and water safety. Those are good things.

Now, some who are worried about accidents and liability issues have proposed that schools offer surfing instruction without having the students practice in the ocean, except at surf meets. That doesn't make sense. How do you teach water safety and skills to people who are not actually in the water? That would be like teaching canoe paddling on dry land.

Sure, the ocean can be dangerous. But if kids know how to gauge the conditions and read the tides, they'll be all the safer for it.