Community: Surfers of CC
Olivia Xerras ‘24
It’s summer 2019 and Tia Peterson ‘24 is in Nosara, Costa Rica with her family on vacation. She’s paddling out on a crowded beach where the waves are bigger than the ones she’s practiced on at her Maine home. Nevertheless, she is still determined to catch one. After hours of failing over and over again to stand on these massive, hard-hitting waves, she calls it a day.
Tia says this is her fondest surfing memory.
The wide range of hometowns students hail from make for a small but mighty network of shredders – East and West Coast alike.
“I don’t think that I have ever laughed so hard or had so much fun on that water as I did that day. Surfing for me is really about the environment, not so much the skill,” Tia told me.
Tia is just one example of the many Colorado College students who spend their free time in ways counterintuitive to our landlocked campus – that is, catching waves at the coast. There is a plethora of active surfers on campus who, although enrolled in an institution situated far from an ocean, have waves right in their backyard. The wide range of hometowns students hail from make for a small but mighty network of shredders – East and West Coast alike. Being filled to the brim with adventure-seeking students, CC seems to be the perfect breeding ground for lively stories from surfers who are seeking adventure across the coasts.
“Being from different parts of the country and connecting through CC to go off and then surf together is a pretty cool thing,” said Sammy Heller ‘24.
Sammy met his CC surfing crew – Drew Greeley ‘24 and Jack Dresser ‘24 – at the beginning of their first year. The group started traveling together shortly after coming to school and quickly realized that surfing clearly bonded the three of them.
Scarborough, Maine - Tia Peterson
What seems to be an intangible aspect of this group is the clear passion for the sport and willingness to continue to build connections based on this one hobby. Regardless of coast or ocean spot these individuals reside in, talk over similar ocean traditions, comparable wetsuit brands, and boards continue to take place.
“When we talk about surfing it is sort of like this nostalgic thing, it feels like a little slice of home when we talk about it and show each other surf clips. It is very comforting, it’s like comfort food to see the ocean, especially being landlocked, it can be kind of nice reminiscing times that we surfed together or our own surfing experiences…it can be really touching and definitely reminds us all of our respective homes, ” Sammy said.
Tia said, however, that connecting with other surfers at CC isn’t always easy.
“We’re landlocked so surfing is just not one of the big activities that people do here it’s more like hiking or biking or climbing and so I feel like I’ve had trouble kind of meeting up and like connecting and making a surfer community here,” she said.
Although, as hidden of a hobby this sport seems to be for most students, it is always a bonding experience.
“When I do meet somebody [surfing] just kind of comes up in natural conversation. It’s always a sweet ‘bro’ moment. It’s kind of like ‘okay nice, word I see you’ which is like fun to connect with people through shared interests,” Tia said. “...It’s hard to have a surfing community in a landlocked state but even on the rare occasion that I find somebody also from Maine who happens to like surfing it would be so cool to hit them up over the summer to go surfing with them. I’ve connected with two people [also from Maine] already.”
Despite drought and our distance from the sea, with the help of continued conversation, the surfing community at CC will never dry up.
Wanna get involved with surfing at CC?
Check out Summit and CC Outdoor Education for the latest trips and trainings… paddle boarding and river surfing trips have happened in the past.
