A surfer's life at the Jersey Shore

OCEAN CITY, N.J. - Ryan Santiago, 20, has been surfing since he was 5. Growing up at the Jersey Shore, he immersed himself in the surfing community and culture. In middle school and high school, he competed in several local and national surfing competitions. His older brother Sean, 22, was also a competitive surfer. In college, Ryan Santiago - a sociology major and Spanish minor - still pursues his passion. He recently returned from his sophomore year at the University of San Diego, where he is a member of the school surf team. Back home in Ocean City for the summer, a shoeless, shaggy-haired Santiago can be found working at the Seventh Street Surf Shop on Asbury Avenue - when he's not in the ocean catching a wave, of course.

Having grown up vacationing at the Jersey Shore, I always envied the kids who lived here all year. What was it like living at the beach? Does it lose its luster at all?

I grew up in North Jersey, in the Secaucus area, until fourth grade. Then I moved to North Wildwood, grew up in the Wildwood area until eighth grade, and then moved to Ocean City. But my entire life, I would say, I spent a lot of time at the beaches, whether it be central Jersey, Wildwood, or Ocean City. . . . It's two totally different entities within itself. Ocean City in the winter probably has a population of 11,000, and then in the summer it probably gets upwards of 400,000, so you get two totally different lifestyles, which I enjoyed a lot.

How did you get involved in surfing?

I started surfing when I was maybe 5. At the beach that my aunt always took me to in Lavallette, there's a bunch of surfers. One of my cousin's friends taught me.

Did you fall into a South Jersey surfing community?

There's definitely a surfing community, and, like anything else, there's sub-cultures, like the Ocean City surfing community, the Wildwood surfing community. But they all fall under the same umbrella.

Was surfing an after-school activity for you as a kid?

When I lived in North Jersey, I strictly surfed in the summer. When I moved to Wildwood is when I started surfing year-round, probably fifth or sixth grade. I didn't start taking surfing really seriously, though, until late middle school, early high school . . . I live in San Diego now through the winter. Out there, I surf every day, every other day. Here, in the summer, I surf as much as possible, and, in the winter, I'll surf when the waves are really good. It's hard to get motivated when it's really cold.

Was going to a place where you could surf a factor when deciding where you were going to go to college?

My freshman year I went to East Carolina, and that was strictly because I couldn't really surf as much. I wanted to test myself a little bit. After a year there, I realized I really needed surfing, and then I made the move to San Diego.

Have you noticed any differences in surfing cultures between the Jersey Shore and the West Coast?

The camaraderie . . . you see that regardless of whatever coast, whatever place. Everyone is, for the most part, really accepting. There, because it's an epicenter for surfing, you have such a high surfing population. Sometimes, you can go surfing places and the local guys will be a little bit aggressive, a little more aggressive than here. But that's something I don't mind. I understand it.

What has your experience been like working at the surf shop?

I've worked here for about eight years. For me, it's the ultimate job. I work as both a shop employee - doing customer service and sales, whether it be boards or clothing and retail - and also a surf instructor. Because we get a lot of returning students and first-time students, I probably have a couple hundred students over the course of the summer. We do group lessons where we have 25 people in a lesson and it will be me and four or five other instructors.

You learned to surf when you were 5 . . . is that normal? How young do people start learning the sport?

I once taught a boy who was turning 4. That's the youngest I've ever taught. He had the life jacket and vest on. We didn't really go out far, but he was up and riding. It was definitely a lesson I'll hold on to.

For you, what is the most rewarding part about teaching people to surf?

It doesn't even matter if they continue to surf. It's just the happiness and the enjoyment that they get, even if it's temporary. Like if it's a 65-year-old man who surfs one time and stands up once, just him going home and saying, "This is my experience. This is what happened. You should try it." With surfing, you feel that happiness, and you want others to feel it, too.