Surf School, Asbury Park

Can 4-Year-Olds Learn to Surf? Yes.

One of my hangouts is on the beach near the jetty that separates the surfing beach - the northernmost beach in Asbury Park - from the swimming beaches that lie to the south, down to Ocean Grove. And possibly my most favorite thing to watch is the very young children in surfing school. We're talking four to seven years old.

But don't worry, Mom and Dad. In the class for the youngest surfers, there is always an instructor mounted behind the child on the surfboard. And there are more instructors standing in the water, which generally comes up around their knees. And there are more instructors on the beach, watching everything that goes on in the water and keeping an eye on the kids who are sitting on the beach, waiting for their turn.

Here's a bigger kid getting a ride. Practice makes you better.

And here's a class getting ready to go down to the sea with surfboards. (Apologies to Psalm 107.)

Another class in the water and heading out.

A day at the beach. Note the mini-surfboards.

And one more.

The whole show is put on by a company called Summertime Surf.  This engine of commerce, or scholarship, or surfing, or maybe just plain fun was founded in 2006. It seems to pretty much own a large stretch of the Jersey shore, with schools offered in Asbury Park, Bradley Beach, Belmar, Point Pleasant, and Manasquan River. A tentacle appears to have reached out to Rhode Island.

The kids - and the instructors - don't spend all their time in the water, and so the camp in Asbury Park comes with a large tent - a shady refuge for breaks and the occasional bit of instruction.

Below, a student racks her board after a lesson.

These camps are expensive. Not everybody has room for something like this in their budget, but in Asbury Park there is an option - the Asbury Park Surf Club, which traces its origins to 2019. It runs a class every Thursday in the summer. The children come in groups from places like the Boys and Girls Club. The instructors are volunteers; they're also surfers, and their love of the children and the sport shines through every time I'm watching them.

Here's a shot of a group of APSC surfers heading out to the waves.

Again, notice how many instructors there are.

And here's a shot of the beach crew at the end of the day, standing and watching as the campers take their last rides.

The pictures here were taken in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

See also How Surfboards Get Around, Umbrellaville.