Anderson students catch waves at Cowell Beach

THE GANG: Members of the Anderson surf club: (back left) Troy Slosted, Liz Dykstra, John Greene, Amanda Greene, Jocelyn Mc Mannis, Jesse Jentzen, Shannon Westmoreland, Dusan Nikolic, Giorgi Dolidze, Katrina Wilson, Gilbert Serna, Tim Klaiber, (front left) Ricky Kirk, Tiffany Bernal, Hannah Brackett, Brittany Zeis, Brittney Jennex, Kasey Richards, and Pablo Lana.

The students at Big Blue have one of the most unique clubs in the area - a surf club. No other high school in the area can boast to having one, mostly because no one would expect a small land-locked town to have one.

It started when Tim Klaiber, at teacher at Anderson, took a student he was training down to Cowell Beach to surf in preparation for a triathlon back in 2001. The student became hooked and little by little more students wanted to go surfing and more trips were planned. Finally Klaiber and Troy Slosted, also a teacher at Anderson, decided to form a club about four years ago.

Now out of the 700 students attending Anderson Union High School, 100 are signed-up for surf club, said Klaiber.

Once they started the club, they tried to find different businesses to donate equipment. Quicksilver came through donating 30 wetsuits. Recently a business owner leaving the area donated three new boards to the club.

A normal surfing outing entails surfing for four or five hours, followed by eating lunch and then walking the boardwalk or the pier. After that, they head to Marianne's Ice Cream, which according to Klaiber is a tradition, before piling back into the vans and heading home.

Slosted and Klaiber said that in their van they play Rock and Roll Trivial Pursuit on the way down to Santa Cruz and back up to Anderson. When they stop for dinner they declare a winner, who gets a t-shirt.

Both teachers agreed that they always have fun on the trips. Klaiber recalled having a foreign exchange student from St. Petersburg, Russia join the club and once he got out in the water, they couldn't get him out.

This year there are two foreign exchange students in the club- Dusan Nikolic from Serbia and Giorgi Dolidze from Georgia.

Slosted said that they teach the kids etiquette before taking them out and they stick to user-friendly beaches. Klaiber added that once people see the group and understand where the high school students are from, they think it is really cool they have a surf club.

"Its an identity and a pride thing. There is an 85 percent socioeconomic disadvantage rate at the high school, and the kids know it but it's great when they can tell kids from Shasta about a club they don't have," said Klaiber. "It really helps them build confidence."