Exec downtime: squash, golf, and ... surfing?

Of course, money helps with the start-up costs, too – a good wet suit (the new ones keep surfers warm and virtually dry in the water) and a good board. Epoxy resin is now the material of choice: It makes a board that is significantly lighter than the old fiberglass-wrapped ones and less susceptible to "dings." The boards cost anywhere from $600 to $1,500.

The new white-collar watermen have become adept at mixing business and pleasure. On a Saturday at famed Malibu, several professionals are hanging out at the beach with their epoxy boards, including Grant Hardacre, president of the Association of Surfing Lawyers. He is wearing wraparound sunglasses, board shorts, and a tan that befits a pool boy. Mr. Hardacre specializes in estate planning ... and long boarding.

"I was a surfer long before I was a lawyer," he says. "But I think it's easier to be a professional and a surfer. A lot of the nooks and crannies are getting crowded, and when you make a little money, you can travel to more remote destinations."

The Association of Surfing Lawyers started in 2002 after its founder, David Olan, realized how many of his colleagues had taken up the sport. Today, the group holds its "minimum continuing legal education seminars," a requirement to maintain state bar status, in exotic locations, such as Fiji and Costa Rica, where the surfing is good.

When asked whether the association's 100 members are actually surfers or posers, Hardacre laughs. "Yes, we do have some kooks," he says. "And I am not too impressed with the younger guys, either. But at the end of day, it doesn't matter because we are all out here to have a good time."

***

The boardroom culture doesn't always mingle easily with the surfboard culture, though. Some traditionalists lament the newcomers' lack of respect for the sport and high seas. "These corporate folks get all giddy as soon as their feet touch the sand," says Roberts, the surfing instructor. "Sometimes it's annoying because I have to settle them down like children. I tell them, 'You have to take the water seriously.' "

Others resent all the talk of high finance and low prime rates in their laid-back domain. Hey, this is surfing. If anything, they want the ethos of the sport – fun, respect, camaraderie – to change the corporate cubicle. "Surfing has become the trendiest, coolest thing, and now the coastal regions have taken to surfing" the way the rest of the country has taken to baseball, says Matt Warshaw, author of the "Encyclopedia of Surfing." "It shouldn't matter that lawyers and doctors and teachers are in the water, but it kind of does."

Professor Hall gets even more cosmic about it. "There is a lot of symbolism in surfing. You shed your clothing, adopt nakedness, leave the land, and go into the water," he says. "But when you return to the land, it is about the respect for self, environment, and the people around you. And most importantly, it's about bringing that aloha spirit back to the boardroom."

Marc Kalan brings that spirit back to the clinic. He is a couple miles up the coast, about to enter the water with a 10-foot board. "I don't mean to come off as a cheese ball," says the infertility specialist at the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, who has a pile of scrubs and surf wax in his back seat. "But I really do get a sense that I'm more in tune at work and better able to relate to my patients after a good surf."

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