The Endless Summer Surf Camp has been teaching people, young and old, how to surf for more than ten years now. Founded in 1991 by Mary Lou Drummy, a former pro surfer and Director of United States Surfing Federation. Drummy assembled a camp staff composed of professional surfers, including then camp director Jason Senn. In 1995, using prize money he had saved from major pro surf competitions, Jason bought camp from Drummy. Today, Jason still actively competes on United States Pro Surf Tour, where he has finished among top 10 for last three years. The Endless Summer Surf Camp is one of few camps that can boast an active pro surfer on their staff. "That's one of reasons I chose this camp," one camper revealed to me. "If I was gonna fly out here from Chicago for an entire week, I wanted to make sure staff would give me my money's worth. That and location." Indeed, Endless Summer Surf Camp can boast an ideal location. Located at San Onofre campground, halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, summer temperatures average 78° while water temperature averages 70°. When you spend an entire day in various stages of falling into and climbing out of water, these numbers are important.

If a professional surf director and ideal conditions are not enough to offer, camp staff will have you packing your swim trunks and towel in no time. Hailing from various backgrounds, including two "Tico's," or Costa Rican locals, staff is highly skilled, easily approachable and they seem to share an inexhaustible supply of patience and enthusiasm. I tried my best to wear them down, but in end it was always a staff member who was pulling me off beach, encouraging me to get back in water and hit surf.

As expression goes, you learn how to ride a bike by falling off, not by lying on beach. Or something like that. I was determined to get my day's worth of surfing in, and I did. By end of day one, I had swallowed hours upon hours of

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Misha Troyan, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent – Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com

Lou works with a couple of local surfers who assist him in his classes. Ryan is a 22-year-old surfer gal who sings in a band when not surfing and has a smile that literally bursts out of her when particularly happy surf thought breaks over her mind.

Billy is a 27-year-old business owner (G-Bolt, a company that makes and sells accessories for wake boards) who assists Lou in his spare time for some extra geld. He is also constantly smiling; actually his face looks like it hurts when he isn't grinning

These two were like all surfers I met in that it was easy to see that one thing a surfer loves is anything to do with surfing. They are constantly looking for next wave, a tireless and endless pursuit that seems to them like a natural extension of breathing.

At one point in my day I had asked Ryan if she ever got tired of talking about surfing. She looked at me like I was insane and explained that it was something inside of her, "a drive." Lou had recently been instructing a few Air Force Lieutenants, one of whom observed to him that he was constantly in water, working in it all day, then playing in it; his response to this was that they should think of him as, "an ocean going mammal. I come out of ocean to feed, sleep and one other thing. Then I'm back in water." These guys live to surf and when your class starts you will feel that desire coming off them in waves, and I guarantee you, it is infectious.

My beginners class started with a hefty dose of safety instruction. Ryan was very clear and adamant about potential dangers to be faced in water. Although I never felt any fear of any of things covered when I was actually in water, they do an excellent job of making possible dangers very clear to those who know nothing of ocean.

Everything was covered; from holding your board properly, moving around with it safely in water, and any potentially dangerous ocean fauna you might bump into. Ryan had an instant rapport with kids, and although she allowed their occasional digression, she was expert at bringing them back to task at hand and keeping their attention. If I were going to put my kid into a school to learn how to surf, these folks would be ones I'd want teaching them; safety was a huge priority and yet I don't feel that kids ever thought they were being talked down to. Ryan almost went out of her way to scare us all a bit, to make us know we were participating in a sport that could be dangerous, and in a potentially perilous place as well, although it was all a bit overplayed for awareness:

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Mike, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent – Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com