Surf club wipes out Harvard in first match

Though the words "Princeton University" may conjure up images of Polo-clad preppies, the Princeton surfing club's recent victory over Harvard showed that the "dudes" are having their day.

Despite obstacles such as a short East Coast surfing season and lack of competition, members have started their third year with a splash.

On Oct. 13, six Princeton surfers went head to head with four Harvard surfers off the coast of Rhode Island. The meet was as much a competition as an informal, friendly day at the shore — the surfers blowing their car horns to signal the beginning and end of each heat, founding member Andrew O'Riordan '03 said.

"Even at this competition against Harvard, both teams spent about as much time in a free-surf, or just surfing for fun, as we did in heats and competing," Paul Alexander '03, another founding member, wrote in an email.

In two heats, lasting 20 minutes each, two Harvard surfers competed against three Princeton surfers. The contestants were judged by their performance on three waves, with Princeton winning 11 to nine.

O'Riordan met one of the members of the Harvard surfing club by chance last year, and a competition had been in the works ever since. As far as members of the club know, Harvard is the only other Ivy League school with a surfing club.

Though the members of the club do not get to surf very often while they are at school, they relish every opportunity to be in the water.

"Getting out into the water, even if it's going to set us back a few days' work, is completely worth it," surfer Joey Sheffer '04 wrote in an email.

The surfing club was initially founded by Alexander in the spring of his freshman year but did not really get off the ground until the next fall, with the addition of members O'Riordan and Dan Fuller '03. They found each other by word of mouth.

"Surfers sort of gravitate to one another," O'Riordan said.

Since then the club has continued to grow, and although O'Riordan said it took a while to reach a "critical mass" because there are not many surfers at Princeton, he can now count about 20 devoted members.

Getting together to go surfing is the club's main activity, but since the surfing season on the Jersey Shore lasts for only about four to five weeks in September and October — during hurricane season — the club also sponsors other activities.

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Last year's events included a screening of the cult classic surfing movie "Endless Summer" and a Fall Break surfing trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This year, the club plans to sell T-shirts to benefit the Surfrider Foundation — an environmental organization founded to protect oceans and beaches.

This year, Fuller and O'Riordan are planning a Fall Break trip to El Salvador, where they look forward to catching some excellent waves.

"The surf club's inaugural competition was a great event, and we hope that it will set a precedent for the formation of an Ivy League Surfing Association," Fuller said. "Furthermore, we hope that the event will encourage the development of an even more committed, cohesive group of Princeton surfers who will be the foundation of the club's future."