Students and faculty members at Point Loma Nazarene University have an opportunity to enjoy the unparalleled beauty of Sunset Cliffs and its premier surf breaks, but when academic and professional commitments interfere with the passion to catch the next wave, tension arises.
Sunset Cliffs is home to some of the most sublime and awe-inspiring surf spots in the world — breaks that people travel unknown distances to experience for themselves. But for PLNU students, those waves sit right in their own backyard, calling even the least experienced surfer to paddle out.
For many, the surfing opportunities at PLNU are a big reason why students choose the school.
This is the case for Ethan Howard, a second-year biology-chemistry major from Orange County. He said that he often plans his days around a surfing schedule.
“I plan my meals around it, and I often have my sessions planned out way in advance,” Howard said.
During his first semester at PLNU, Howard surfed nearly every day. Now, in his second year with a heavier course load, he said it’s harder to find time to get in the water.
“If my main goal was to surf more, I would definitely change my major to something less demanding,” he said.
Surfing is often a stress reliever for Howard, but he said that if he does it too much, it can make him even more stressed throughout the week.
“If I go and I surf, even if it’s fun in the moment, for me, ultimately it’s not worth it if it just makes me more hurried and stressed out,” he said.
Logan Moore, a third-year environmental studies major and San Diego native, had a similar experience during his first year.
“Definitely freshman year, I feel like I had time to surf almost every day … because the workload wasn’t as bad,” Moore said. “And then sophomore year, I was still able to go [surfing] every day, but I wasn’t doing as good of a job at balancing out that with my homework in school.”
Both Howard and Moore said they are working to better balance their coursework with their passion for surfing.
“I definitely idolized it the first semester a little too much,” Howard said. “This year I’ve been working on trying to put it in its proper place.”
Sometimes, when most students are fast asleep, Moore will wake up to catch a surf before class. He said that the earliest he’s woken up to surf is 5 a.m.
“There’s not a better feeling than just being one of the first ones to wake up and just starting off the day on a perfect note in the water,” Moore said. “That sets you up for the rest of the day to be in a positive mood.”
Howard said that he usually takes one week off to focus on schoolwork and one week on to surf regularly if his course load allows. During his busiest weeks, he tries to limit his surfing to the weekend.
“The sessions that I have on a Friday tend to be much more enjoyable than a session on like Tuesday, where I’m sneaking it in between tons of work,” Howard said.
But it isn’t just students who struggle to balance their work and surf lives.
Ben Cater, PLNU Honors Program director and a professor of history, is a dedicated surfer. He said that, while he loves surfing, his professional responsibilities must come first.
“My calling in life and at PLNU is to be a professor, so I honor that work over surfing,” Cater said in an email interview. “But at the same time, paddling out allows me to interact with students in another way that contributes to their growth and experience at PLNU.”
Cater said that he sticks to a calendar each week, planning potential surf days around his work.
“I try to schedule my classes around my surf window, which is normally the morning,” he said. “So in that case, after coffee and Bible, and dropping my daughter off at school, I check the Cliffs in front of Young. If there’re waves, and the tide’s right, I’ll usually paddle out.”
This semester, Cater is teaching a larger load of classes than he does in the spring, making it harder for him to get in the water.
“I’ve probably paddled out twice in the last six weeks — I’ve just been too busy, and the waves haven’t been great during my small window of opportunity,” he said.
When Cater can’t surf, he said he’ll go on walks with his wife and dog or swim laps at the local YMCA. Whether he’s surfing, hiking or fishing, Cater said he finds peace and rest in being active outdoors.
“Creation gives praise to God — see Psalm 19 — so any type of outdoor activity helps revive my spirit,” he said. “Surfing envelops you in something immediate and larger than yourself, so you don’t have an opportunity to devote all of your thought-space to things that weigh you down.”
Howard and Moore also said surfing helps them unwind and escape stress for a while.
“When you’re out there, especially when you’re alone, you kind of just notice that the world is bigger than you and that whatever homework you have to go back to really isn’t that deep,” Howard said.
“It’s a great way to just decompress, step away from school for a little bit in nature, [and] do something fun that you could improve on,” Moore said.
Despite difficulty balancing hobbies and passions with academic and professional obligations, students and faculty still make time to pursue them. And for many, attending PLNU has introduced them to surfing as a new outlet for community and self-expression.
“I’ve seen and known plenty of people who never started surfing or never got into it … and then right when they came here they just loved it and added that to one of their hobbies,” Moore said.
For many at PLNU, school may be important, but the ocean still calls.
“It’s definitely integral to who I am and my personality,” Howard said.
Steve Anderson 
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