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Exec downtime: squash, golf, and ... surfing?
Corporate executives and professionals are trading their wingtips for wet suits as surfing becomes the hobby du jour of the white-collar crowd.
By Evan Pondel | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the May 24, 2007 edition
Page 1 of 3
LOS ANGELES - A half dozen surfers bob up and down, patiently waiting for waves with arms folded across their chests. The sun is still a distant glow as dawn slowly takes hold here at Topanga State Beach.
As the water flattens out in between rollers, a lull sets in. "Let me tell you, that real estate market isn't giving up," says one middle-age surfer straddling his board.
Others chime in. Within minutes, a full-fledged discussion about home values, the stock market (specifically technology hedge funds), and healthcare issues drown out the ubiquitous squawk of seagulls overhead.
Hello. We are surfing, right? Hedge funds? Healthcare? Loosen up, dudes. It appears times have changed, at least here in southern California. The new golf course is now 59 degrees, wet, choppy, and teeming with professionals who surf to network, exercise, and simply look cool when they go to work with a board under their arm and a suntan to boot.
Up and down America's premier coastal playground, more and more business executives and professionals are trading in their Brooks Brothers suits for wet suits. Surfing – once the preserve of the "hey, dude" set – is being invaded by doctors, lawyers, and options traders.
"I'm already catching waves and doing the 'dawn patrol,' " says Todd Becraft, an immigration lawyer from Los Angeles, a newbie to the sport.
He pulls his long board from the cold Pacific and joins friend Kelly Candaele, a commissioner with a Los Angeles retirement board. "When I was growing up, surfing just wasn't something I wanted to do," says Mr. Candaele. "It seemed like it attracted the rebels. But it's never too late to start. It will clear your head...."
Beyond the psychic advantages, some middle-age professionals are riding the waves for the physical rigors, too. Art Mondrala, a film editor from Marina del Rey, took up surfing just a couple years ago because he became disenchanted with working out at always-crowded gyms. Mr. Mondrala, his eyes reading the whitecaps as he prepares for a morning joust with two-foot waves at Sunset Beach, says surfing is a good way to start the day – and helps him forget the frenzy and frustrations of work.
Similarly, Richard Bergin, a small business owner, began surfing a couple of years ago when running started to hurt his knees. He now surfs several times a week on his nine-foot board and draws parallels to yoga.
"When I push up on my board to stand, I am basically doing a 'down dog' position," says Mr. Bergin, sliding his slender frame into his wet suit. "What I find amusing is that I think you can tell what kind of professional someone is by the way they surf. It's like literally having a board meeting out there. Is the person more aggressive when paddling or afraid of the big waves?" (Bergin, incidentally, paddles after every wave – often to no avail.)
While a certain number of corporate and cubicle types have always plied the waves off California, their numbers are mushrooming as surfing becomes the new corner office. "It's as if we are bringing the mundane world into the water – dragging the profane into the sacred," says Jerome Hall, a surfer and professor of anthropology at the University of San Diego, where he teaches a class titled, "Surf Culture and History." "You no longer have to be a waterman or waterwoman to surf. You don't have to be muscular anymore to haul a long board down the beach. You simply have to have enough money."
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