Continuing a long tradition, Windansea Surf Club in La Jolla is looking to reactivate a youth program that previously has conducted significant ocean studies, like mapping the underwater topography of Windansea using kayaks with sonar.
WSC’s Ocean Advocacy and Youth Leadership program was founded by Jim Neri in 2014. With the help of the Windansea Surf Club membership committee, they recruited the first five-year class that participated in the inaugural science program.
“Even from the beginning, there was a certain emphasis on community service,” said Steven Jenner, a longtime WSC club member and mentor with its youth program. “There was a strategy, early on, to try and improve the public image of the sport of surfing, because there was a lot of stereotyping of surfers.”
Of the inspiration behind the development of the club’s youth leadership program, Jenner said: “We had a club member in the 1960s who was an ocean scientist and a marine biologist at Scripps who was doing a Ph.D. when he was named president of our surf club.”
From there grew the notion that the surf club could expand its horizons beyond the sport by engaging in science projects that were ocean-related.
Maddy Perreault was one of the first young people involved in the club’s leadership program. She said she benefited from it immensely.
“With mentorship from Steve Jenner and the Windansea Surf Club, I was fortunate to have an opportunity to engage in citizen science from a young age,” said Perreault. “In 2015, I worked with other junior members of the club to map the bathymetry, or underwater contours, of the reef at Windansea beach. We used a kayak and sonar to understand the structure of the reef that makes the waves at Windansea so unique.”
Added Perreault, “In addition to the bathymetry project, I worked with a group of junior members to build a remotely operated vehicle at SDSU’s Coastal and Marine Institute Laboratory. We learned how to solder, troubleshoot various wiring problems, operate the ROV from a boat, and work together to make the project exciting and successful. The end goal was to use the ROV to study kelp forests with an attached underwater camera.”
Concluded Perreault: “These projects allowed us to explore the world of science and research, gain new leadership and critical-thinking skills, and understand what it means to be dedicated to a scientific endeavor. Since these projects, I have pursued research at UC San Diego in aquatic ecology and I am forever grateful for the early introduction to science with the Windansea Surf Club.”
WSC not only participated in oceanography projects but planned and organized multiple Menehune contests.
One of the continuing missions of WSC is to encourage junior members and non-members (and parents) such as Y Strong Girls, Kumeyaay Nation, and local La Jolla middle and high school students to engage in ocean-related sciences.
“It’s just a sensible relationship,” noted Jenner. “If you are a surfer and you go into the ocean for years and years, it would seem like you would be interested in learning more about the biology and physics of the ocean. We need to work with youth to inspire them to learn more about science and how to protect the ocean.”
At windanseasurfclub.org, under the ocean advocacy and youth leadership tab, there is a junior leadership development interest form surveying participants on possible future youth science-related projects. Project suggestions include: locating and monitoring rainwater outfall areas, studying marine habitats, locating sources of debris or pollution, meeting with Scripps scientists, assisting with marine protected areas, studying and obtaining data for king tides, and restoring wetlands.
Jenner noted that another possible science project might be to return to Windansea and finish mapping the ocean floor there, as that project was only partially completed seven years ago.
