Classmate News - The Endless Summer from 1968

Believe it or not -- a few of our classmates still surf, well past 40 years worth of riding the waves in the Atlantic and elsewhere. Here's a recent report from Bill Koerner to fellow '68 Cane surfers Rik Dilgren, Doug Lynes, Richard Robinson plus a couple of landlubbers, Bill Harlan and Kelley Wiltbank:

"Since you guys have been watching the Blue Sky surf report, thought you would be interested in a personal story. Last Friday was epic, but while my son was able to surf (he has Fridays off), I was hard at work. The Saturday morning surf report was not encouraging, but a buddy from church and I decided to check it out anyhow, and went to Hanna Park in Jacksonville, which is located just south of the Mayport Navy base. The dividing line on the beach between Hanna Park and the base is a row of poles that jut out into the ocean about 50 yards. For a number of reasons, this is one of the best surf spots in Jacksonville.

My buddy has a park pass, so we were able to get into the park before the "masses", and were greeted with 3-5 foot waves, a fairly stiff west wind, a beautiful sunrise with dolphins playing just offshore, and a cool 68 degrees, the water at 82. Life is good. I will confess that I haven't been out for a couple of months, and my surfing was not impressive. In fact, Rik would have been embarassed to be out there with me, but it was a great day nonetheless. Surf held up nicely for a couple of hours until the tide changed.

Note to Rik.... next time you are down this way, use your Navy ID to enter Mayport, and head for the south end of the beach. Look for the "poles"."

Note to the rest of GHS 68 -- I doubt if any of us surfed with our parents, although I imagine it was your parents who first got you over to Crescent and Daytona, like mine did! It's great to see Bill Koerner passing his love of a day like this down to his sons. Life really is good!