Surf Club revels in URI's No. 7 spot on Surfline.com's best surfing conditions list

03/26/09 - As the warm weather rolls in, swarms of students will begin to gather along the beaches of Rhode Island, specifically surfers. The University of Rhode Island was recently ranked in the top 10 colleges to have the best surfing conditions by Surfline.com. According to the Web site, it is "the surfer's choice for global surf and surfing features, information and weather resources."

Rachel McCarty, president of the URI surf club, was excited about making the top 10 but disappointed the university was only ranked seventh.

"I think we should actually be above [University of North Carolina-Wilmington]," McCarty said. "We've actually been down there for a contest and yeah, it's water down there but the waves aren't as good."

McCarty, a junior at URI majoring in journalism, said she believes Rhode Island's surf breaks are the reason why surfing conditions are favorable.

"We have the most variety on the East Coast," she said. "We have beach breaks like Narragansett Town Beach and point breaks such as at Point Judith Lighthouse and the rock reefs in Matunuck."

Professional surfer Peter Panagiotis, better known as Peter Pan, and the Rhode Island district director of the Eastern Surfing Association, helped establish the URI Surf Club in 1968. The club now has about 50 members.

"We usually have more in the fall semester when the freshmen come because they hear about us at First Night and they want to surf," McCarty said. "It kind of dwindles as the water gets cold."

"I actually came to [URI] for the Surf Club," sophomore Ben Sienko said. The Rhode Islander has worked as a lifeguard during the summer and said he loves to surf.

Although Sienko, a communications major, knew a few of the students involved in the club when he first joined, he met other students from different states.

"I had a few older friends in the club, but I met surfers from all over like New Jersey, Philadelphia, Long Island, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, kids from all over New England," Sienko said.

The Surf Club offers "Learn-to-Surf" days on Saturdays or Sundays throughout the year. McCarty said that if weekends don't work, some members can teach new members on weekdays as well.

"We're pretty committed to helping someone learn to surf," she said.

There are about eight to 10 student teachers willing to teach students how to surf for free.

"There's a lot of satisfaction from teaching someone how to surf and watching them stand up on a board for the first time," McCarty said. "You feel proud of them and they're crazy-excited!"

When the club moved up from a Level III to a Level II club and received more than $700 from Student Senate, rental prices dropped. What used to be a $25 rental fee for a board and a wetsuit is now only $13 per day from the local surf shop, Gansett Juice Surf and Skate. This added and extra perk for the top 10 surfing school.

"One of the qualifications for moving from a Level III club to a Level II club is to be able to teach a skill, in this case, how to surf," McCarty said.

The Surf Club takes students surfing all throughout Rhode Island. The club starts up in the fall and runs through May. Carpooling is available for members.

"We teach people up until November when it gets too cold for the wetsuits we rent," McCarty said. "It's pretty easy to progress when you're surfing all year round.