San Clemente surf shop is collecting boards for Native Mexican youth

The Hobie Surf Shop is collecting like-new surfboards in a drive for the young people living along the Baja Coast. The drive will take place today (Saturday, Nov. 16) from 3 to 5 p.m. at their San Clemente store.

The backstory

Those donations will then make their way to Indigenous youth through the nonprofit Native Like Water (NLW), which is working to preserve Indigenous youth’s sacred relationship with water.

To do so, the Imperial Beach-based group emphasizes surf training, board drives, cultural conservation, and music as medicine for mental health. Founded in 2000, NLW now has international programming in Mexico, Panama, Hawaii and Jamaica.

Teaching young people to surf is a key component of the group's work to "indigenize education."

“With that age group for surfing, it's kind of like music,” said Marc Chavez, NLW's founder and director. “If you can start them at a very young age and give them the resources to just excel, who knows what could happen? It's really inspired us.”

What boards NLW is looking for

NLW is collecting smaller kids’ boards during this drive. Chavez said that will meet a need on the Nahua Coast, in more central Mexico. With the region’s favorable surf conditions and lessons passed down from parents, Chavez believes access to quality equipment is what will close the gap between starting — and ripping.

“It's part of their parents' lifestyle, their grandparents' lifestyle.” said Chavez, who is Chicano and Nahua. “They grow up around the ocean with a lot more familiarity with the ocean. So when you can give them a small little board…they're off to the races.”

This makes a suburban surf town like San Clemente an appealing epicenter for the board drive.

“A lot of youth that are now teenagers or adults have grown out of their smaller surfboard,” Chavez said. “It might just be sitting around the house, kind of like a small bike, they outgrew it. These are the types of boards that are exactly what we need.”

How to donate

Location: Hobie's Surf Shop, 167 Avenida Del Mar, San Clemente
Time: Saturday, Nov. 16 (3 to 5 p.m.)

What to donate:

• water tight surfboards
• quality Leashes
• complete quality fin sets
• Lightly used or new boy and girl board shorts

Who to contact: Please DM @positivevibewarriors to notify of board/equipment donation and for more information or questions.

After the drive, NLW will need to transport some 20 boards down to the Nahua coast, with an average flight time of five to six hours.

Learn more

Here in Los Angeles, at the TCL Chinese Theatre, Angelenos will be able to catch a glimpse of NLW’s community-based ethos in a screening of Haagua for the LA Skins Film Festival on Sunday, November 24. The documentary short film, co-produced by NLW, will further explore the time-honored bond between native tribes to the ocean.