Last Friday I was lost at sea, well not literally, I was after-work-scrolling through Instagram, through pages and stories of rad rippers throwing spray and getting shacked. As I mindlessly drooled and drifted into a semiconscious state, scrolling like a technology-addicted zombie, one Insta story snapped me back to life. I’m in the beginner surfing sphere (we know that, barn) and I saw @blacksand.surf post about a local Long Beach surfer/ surf coach who puts on a free monthly coaching sesh at Sunset Beach in HB. It seemed like an event that gathers a nearby community of hard-charging beginners and I wanted to check it out. I wanted to meet the coach and some of the students. I took a screenshot of the event and planned it all out: Ok. I’m going to grab my camera, get there right when the event starts, take pictures, meet the students and coach and ask them some questions that my readers will enjoy. A well-thought-out plan indeed.
Like I always say, I am a life barn, not just a surf barn. I biked nearly three miles to Sunset Beach because my truck is from the stone age and it’s faster to pedal than to propel and kick my feet through the bottom of my Ford like the Flinstones. YABADABADOO!! As you’ve probably already guessed, I missed the entire event and scrambled to meet the coach as he was changing from his wetsuit outside of his car. Classic barn. Luckily, he invited me to the restaurant Taco Surf — a staple of post-surfing in Sunset Beach.
I met the crew of students and we had a couple of beers while talking about everything surf. There were about nine of us. Although many of the surfers around the table have been surfing for less than a year, their passion and stoke reverberated throughout the room. I felt at home, I felt like I was sitting at the kid’s table at a Thanksgiving dinner while the “adults” were at other tables talking about boring “grown-up things.” Surfing can do that; it’s a pure child-like joy that’s difficult to explain or recreate with other activities.
Well, let’s meet the man who facilitated this meeting of minds and brought this community of strangers together at the gates of Mama Ocean.
Sofly Surf School
Sahrfilli Matturi owns and operates Sofly Surf School. He was born and raised in Long Beach — an urban, cultural hub that contorts from one block to the next, where skyscrapers, hotels, restaurants, flickering lights and echoing city sounds spill into the Pacific ocean. A place where you can see your wetsuits and dish soap waiting in a line of massive cargo shipping containers off the coast. Activities in Long Beach are plentiful and cultures are diverse. The one thing you can’t really do in the LBC is surf. Although formerly known as “The Waikiki of the West Coast,” a breakwater was built after World War II. In fact, it’s the largest manmade breakwater in the world, linking its rocky arms in protest of surfing. It’s now known as “The Great Lake of the West Coast.” Really? No, I just made that up. But swell cannot get through, thus, it’s flat. So how did Sahrfilli, known as Sofly for short, learn to surf and begin a surf school in a waveless, yet stoke-filled metropolis? Easy, surfers just have to drive to Seal, Huntington, or go north to Palos Verdes — well, check out this article before you go, dam fifty-year-olds — or to the South Bay. Long Beach is perfectly situated for reaching both colder and warmer waters. Actually, tons of froth-infected shred-gods are from Long Beach.
The 31-year-old grew up right there, an hour drive from the shores of Malibu to the north and an hour drive to Trestles to the south. That’s where he lives today. His students meet him in Sunset Beach. The scenery on the drive from LB changes drastically on the way: through a horde of stoplights in LBC, a cruise down Pacific Coast Highway passing Seal Beach, a tour of the US Naval Weapons Station, up and over the bridge into Sunset Beach, Katin Surf Shop on your left, take a right at the water tower and roll through N. Pacific Ave. You’re at the beach and ready for surf lessons.
Within minutes of meeting Sofly, I could see he is very approachable and helpful — qualities that are important for a surf instructor. However, the more I dive into learning about his surf school, the more I can see that he is more than just a dude who surfs who teaches beginners to surf. He is creating a community as well. On his website, soflysurfschool.com, his written purpose says all you need to know about his level of care, his character and what he is trying to achieve. It reads, “Our purpose is to provide those of underserved backgrounds, especially those of African descent, the opportunity to experience surfing and nature as a way to promote healthy living, spiritual healing, and joy throughout Southern California and beyond.”
Well, Mama Ocean doesn’t care who you are, where you’re from, the color of your skin; none of that matters, she will still give you the ride of your life or pound you to a pulp. As surfers, especially when the waves are big, we transcend our land-dwelling plight of people vs. people, to people vs. mother nature. Common ground in unstable waters. Aaron Chang, a surf photographer for Surfing magazine in the ’80s and ’90s described growing up in San Diego and being bullied in the playground for being Asian. He was offered a reprieve by the ocean and its vast healing powers. Chang said, “There was no racism in the water, just ability.”
“There’s a lot of fear and pain in the black community related to the ocean due to past trauma. I want to reintroduce people to the ocean and it’s healing properties.”
Still, if you wander to the beach on any given day, you will notice that the majority of surfers occupying the mainland U.S. shoreline waters are white and male. Surfing itself, however, was conceived by dark-skinned natives in Hawaii before Westerners ever arrived on the Islands. Also, wave-riding crafts of all different kinds — whether it was canoes used to coast into the beach after fishing or a piece of wood used to practice an earlier form of recreational ocean play — have been present on the West African Coast for thousands of years. Sofly’s goal is to help the black community return to the ocean. “Returning to the ocean is the idea of healing the mind and spirit. The ocean is the one element that has the power to sustain mankind. So many people are afraid of the ocean because of the unknown that lies beneath. There’s a lot of fear and pain in the black community related to the ocean due to past trauma. I want to reintroduce people to the ocean and its healing properties,” he said.
In the book,The Drop, the author Thad Ziolkowski explains that surfing exists in a “liminal” state. Meaning, where we catch waves is neither on land nor in the open ocean, we catch waves in a transitional zone. To step into a transitional zone or “borderland,” he writes, “is to pass into a new world, where one’s status is uncertain and provisional.” Surfers are just surfers, and it is its own culture with its own cultural hierarchy that does not necessarily parallel the twisted structures present on land. However, as I mentioned, surfing in the U.S. and surf media can be very one-sided. Blonde hair, blue eyes, white surfer dudes. Well, the 35 million surfers around the world paint a different, more colorful picture. Sofly is uniting a community in the Los Angeles and the OC areas that is bringing diversity to the water.
It’s clear that Sofly’s students are having fun and surfing is chipping into — and maybe even taking over — thier lifestyles (as it does for us addicted wave-hounds). He teaches the fundamentals that set his students up for success out in the mistifying and ever-changing ocean. I missed my opportunity to take pictures of the event but Sofly’s Instagram perfectly depicts these vibrant days at Sunset Beach.
A quick Q & A with Sofly:
Where and when did you start surfing and who or what introduced you?
I started bodyboarding at seal beach when I was a kid, I didn’t buy a surfboard till I was 15. I always loved the beach I taught myself how to surf.
Can you recall the first time you became aware of surfers or surfing?
The reason I bought a surfboard was because I got run over by a lady on a surfboard and it made me want to stand up on a board and catch waves. I was tired of getting dropped in on just because I wad bodyboarding
How long did it take you to realize that surfing is the shit?
As soon as I saw people surfing I knew that’s what I wanted to do forever.
What surprised you most about surfing when you began doing it regularly?
The difficulty of surfing, how physically demanding it actually is to surf at a high level. The time effort and consistency it would take to develop basic skills
How do you keep physically fit and maintain your paddle strength aside from the actual act of surfing?
I do a lot of cardio, and just consistently stay active; 100 push-ups and planks.
What is your favorite aspect of the surf experience?
It’s always been an adrenaline addiction for me. Conquering my fear and having fun while challenging myself as well. But now in the later years, I enjoy teaching people and creating a community for others to enjoy.
What feels better, a barrel or a smooth drawn-out roundhouse cutback?
Honestly, whatever the wave allows on any given day feels better to me. But if the waves are barreling I’m tryna get shacked all day.
What kind of boards do you ride?
Mostly short boards and grovelers because the waves aren’t usually good most of the year.
What do you like most about surf culture?
The relaxed atmosphere and freedom, overall happiness and natural stoke to see your friends get a good wave
What do you dislike?
I dislike the stereotypes and micro aggression that some people give off, it’s like the Columbus effect, people think they invent something and try to make the mainstream believe they are the face of a sport that has been around for hundreds of years.
What is your favorite wave and why?
Trestles would be my favorite because of how consistent it is.
Have you been on any surf adventures recently?
No, I haven’t. The last trip I went on was in April this year, I went to Maui for a week.
How long have you been teaching people how to surf?
About 6 months.
What is the most difficult part of teaching someone how to surf?
Overcoming mental fear and any predisposition limitations people might have to overcome.
What is the best part?
Watching someone catch a wave and smile from ear to ear.
Why did you decide to open a surf school?
I wanted to spread the stoke and be a mentor to create a new opportunity for kids who look like me
What type of surfboard would you put under the feet of a never-surfed-before barn and why?
Something big and oversized. The reason being is the hardest part of surfing is swimming and paddling so to eliminate that I would have somebody on the biggest board they can acquire.
What type of surfboard would you give to a progressing barn that has solid fundamentals and wants to progress even more?
A mid length or very thick fish surfboard.
What is the first thing that you teach your students?
Body positioning and the pop up.
On your website’s home page it says, “Returning to the waves To Honor the Ancestors & Nature.” Would you mind going a little deeper and explaining how this idea has influenced you to start a surf school?
Returning to the ocean is the idea of healing the mind and spirit. The ocean is the one element that has the power to sustain mankind. So many people are afraid of the ocean because of the unknown that lies beneath. There’s a lot of fear and pain in the black community related to the ocean due to past trauma. I want to reintroduce people to the ocean and its healing properties.
In the “about” section of your website, you talk about growing up in Long Beach and navigating “urban disparities” and that surfing was your therapy, have you experienced any of these disparities in the lineup?
Localism is less prevalent now than it was a decade ago. I’ve heard an ear full of slurs and had occasional arguments in the water due to my skin color but it never stopped me from doing what I wanted to do.
How many students do you have?
I have a solid crew of about 5 but we always have new faces joining at every session.
How often do you do your free Saturday lessons at Sunset?
Once a month.
Who do you look up to the most?
I’m not sure, I’m into a lot of different things so my inspiration comes from everywhere.
What’s your favorite type of Music? Favorite artist? Favorite band?
Afro beat, I’m my own favorite artist lol, the Gap band.
Favorite food?
Thai food.
What do you do when you’re not surfing, coaching surfing, or working during the week?
I’m with my daughter or I’m creating music.
If you would like to learn more about Sofly and Sofly Surf School, check out his Instagram @soflysurfschool or visit www.soflysurfschool.com. Hit him up to learn the ancient art of riding waves. Also, you can email us at [email protected] with any follow-up questions and we’ll be sure to get back to you! I hope you’ve enjoyed, please make sure to subscribe to the blog so you can stay up to date with shapers, events, cringey stories and more!
– Barney Beadette