Thriving in the El Porto Surf Community

Peeling off her wetsuit (a tricky task no matter how many times you’ve done it) and talking to a local about the waves, Jun Kim was enjoying her typical morning routine. She starts her day off by driving down to El Porto early in the morning to be there right when the parking lot opens at 6:15 to get in her daily surf session before heading off to work at a software consulting firm.

With a slight smile on her face and worn-out body language, she finished taking off her wetsuit and coiled her leash around her board. It was a tiring day on the water.

“Today it was definitely challenging, but when the waves are small I feel like I want more,” she said.

This means a lot coming from a woman who wouldn’t dare to dip a toe in the ocean when she was younger because she was so scared of the waves.

“I absolutely hated water,” she said with a laugh. What changed?
Kim grew up in Japan. Living by the mountains, she was always into all of the winter action sports like skiing and snowboarding.

“When I was in Japan I never thought that I wanted to try surfing,” she said.

But when she was a little older her parents tried to ease her into the water by putting her in a summer camp in Okinawa, the island south of mainland Japan. Between the summer camp and her friends later pushing her to try scuba diving, Kim ultimately gave in and overcame her fear.

After coming to the States through exchange programs in high school, Kim knew she had to settle down on the West Coast. So she packed up and moved here to Redondo Beach for work about four years ago. Living so close to El Porto Kim thought, “I always wanted to try surfing” so why not? She has been coming to El Porto nearly every day since.

She loves it, but it’s definitely no cake walk. The ever-changing conditions and having to adapt to the waves each day make it hard.

“It’s tough,” she said. “It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done…it’s way harder than skiing and way harder than snowboarding.”

But the tips and encouragement from the friendly locals helped keep her going. This may come as a surprise when we’re constantly hearing about places like Lunada Bay and other famous surf spots plagued by localism. Often we think of the two types of stereotypical surfers, the ones who keep to themselves and won’t even smile in your direction or the jerks who drop in on all of the good waves to mess with the newbies.

Luckily this is the complete opposite of what Kim has experienced at El Porto. “It’s nice to be friendly with people that I see all the time,” she said.
This less competitive spirit may be due to the lesser size of the waves, but regardless Kim enjoys seeing the same 10 to 15 familiar faces each day. There are still a few who definitely keep to themselves though.

Some “just don’t really say anything. I mean I’m sure they’re nice, just they are not here to make friends,” said Kim.

Although it may not always be the camaraderie that brings her back to El Porto each day, the undeniable thrill of surfing does.

“It’s for me to have my own space and also to relax,” she said.

Looking back on her experiences at El Porto so far, she still remembered the first kind of good wave she caught and laughed as she said “and definitely lots of bad ones too.” But “no matter how many bad days I get, that one good wave makes me feel super happy. It’s just…I want to get that again.”

Her search for good waves continues as she surfs by morning and software consults by day, living the life that many Southern Californians dream of.