surfer

It’s a badge of honor to be called a surfer dude. There are plenty on the Laguna Beach High football team, led by their 6-foot-4 junior quarterback Jack Hurst.

Surfer dudes are fearless, agile and stay calm under pressure when there’s an approaching wave. They have good timing, great instincts and enjoy moments of serenity while gliding on a board waiting to test themselves against a wave.

Hurst has to avoid tacklers, so when a wave suddenly appears it’s good practice making quick decisions just like he does in football.

“I do surf a little bit. Don’t know about good. Being on the water is time to be calm for me,” he said.

Hurst has put together a breakthrough junior season after being a two-year understudy to Jackson Kollock, who is now at Minnesota. Hurst has passed for 2,560 yards and 41 touchdowns with four interceptions this season.

“I was sitting behind Jackson and waiting for my moment and my chance,” Hurst said. “We helped each other. It was great walking that journey with him.”

He’d get mop-up duty and learn from Kollock. Both have strong arms but Hurst is more of a drop-back passer.

“Jack’s improvement has been astounding,” coach John Shanahan said. “He turns 17 later this month. How quickly he processes coverages is great. He’s got lot of savvy in him.”

Laguna Beach is a true neighborhood team at 26 players strong, having gone 9-1. The Breakers have drawn Sherman Oaks Notre Dame in a Southern Section Division 3 playoff opener on Friday at Notre Dame.

Hurst is one of the first players to have joined Laguna Beach when it started a seventh-grade team trying to keep local players from leaving. There’s one middle school in the district. The same coaches and same players have followed Hurst through, so the camaraderie and chemistry is an important advantage for overcoming lack of depth.

“It’s been the same kids and same coaches since we were young,” Hurst said. “We’re all very close and play as a team.”

His top target, junior Brady Stringham, has caught 17 touchdown passes. “He’s in the right spot at the right time,” Hurst said.

Notre Dame coach Evan Yabu said of Hurst, “He’s accurate. He’s as sharp as a tack.”

There are few coaching staffs more impressive than the one put together by Shanahan. John Selbe (Cypress), Scott McKnight (JSerra), Mike Milner (El Toro, Fountain Valley) and Mark Flippin (El Toro) are former head coaches. Mike Walcott was defensive coordinator at JSerra. David Ricci coached at Tesoro and Capistrano Valley.

“Once you hear the resume, it’s wow,” Hurst said. “They know some football.”

It’s a reunion of sorts for Laguna Beach. Last season, the Breakers faced Notre Dame quarterback Wyatt Brown when he was playing for Santa Monica. Laguna Beach won 21-9. Brown has passed for 1,504 yards and 13 touchdowns and run for 912 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Laguna Beach and Hurst will need a collective effort on Friday night from his best football buddies.

“I really like that everyone is competing, whether in surfing or skateboading,” Hurst said.

If someone is using surfer lingo after the game — stoked! — you’ll know it was a good night for the Breakers.

PORTLAND, Maine — Australian scientists tested the strength of bite-resistant wetsuits by allowing sharks to chomp the materials at sea and found that the suits can help keep swimmers safe.

Fatal shark bites are vanishingly rare, with less than 50 unprovoked shark bites on humans worldwide in 2024, according to the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History. But increased sightings of large sharks in some parts of the world have swimmers, surfers and divers looking for new ways to stay safe.

Scientists with Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, tested four bite-resistant materials and found they all reduced the amount of damage from shark bites. They performed the work by dragging samples of the materials behind boats and allowing white and tiger sharks to bite the samples.

The bites from such large sharks can still cause internal and crushing injuries, but the materials showed effectiveness beyond a standard neoprene wetsuit, the scientists said. The research found that the bite-resistant materials “can reduce injuries sustained from shark encounters,” said Flinders professor Charlie Huveneers, a member of the Southern Shark Ecology Group at Flinders and a study co-author.

“Bite-resistant material do not prevent shark bites, but can reduce injuries from shark bites and can be worn by surfers and divers,” Huveneers said.

There were small differences between the four tested materials, but they all “reduced the amount of substantial and critical damage, which would typically be associated with severe hemorrhaging and tissue or limb loss,” said Tom Clarke, a researcher with the science and engineering college at Flinders and a study co-author.

Chainmail suits to resist shark bites have existed for decades, but lack in flexibility for aquatic activities like surfing and diving, the scientists said in research published in the journal Wildlife Research on Thursday. Newer wetsuits can be designed to provide flexibility as well as protection.

The scientists tested the efficacy of wetsuit materials Aqua Armour, Shark Stop, ActionTX-S and Brewster. The scientists said in their paper that they found that all of the materials “offer an improved level of protection that can reduce severe wounds and blood loss, and should be considered as part of the toolbox and measures available to reduce shark-bite risk and resulting injuries.”

The promise of effective shark resistant wetsuits is encouraging for people who spend a lot of time in areas where there are large sharks, said Nick Whitney, a senior scientist and chair of the Fisheries Science and Emerging Technologies Program at the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life in Boston. That includes surfers and spearfishers, he said.

Whitney, who was not involved in the study, said it’s also encouraging that the materials are unlikely to make a person “feel invincible” and engage in risky behaviors around sharks.

“I also like it because it’s not relying on any impact on the shark’s behavior,” Whitney said. “It’s basically very, very simple. In the extremely rare event that you get bitten by a shark, this material will hopefully make you bleed less than you would if you were not wearing this.”

The researchers said the suits do not eliminate all risks from sharks, and precautions still need to be taken around the animals.

They are hopeful their research will help the public “make appropriate decisions about the suitability of using these products,” Huveneers said.

Whittle writes for the Associated Press.

Surfer dudes. Football dudes.

That’s the best way to describe identical twins Liam and Luke Meeker, football players at Mira Costa High.

Liam is the quarterback and Luke the receiver. They’ve been teaming up their whole life.

“Twin telepathy,” they joke.

Their father, George, who was a member of Edison’s surf team during his high school days, taught them to surf when they were 9. Luke claims to be the best, but it’s football where they are making their presence felt.

Both are 6 feet 2 and 200 pounds. Liam can throw and run. Luke can be physical and protective of his brother. They’re loyal and best friends.

“He’s a great quarterback,” Luke said.

“I know where he is on the field,” Liam said.

With Mira Costa returning eight starters on defense and key skill position players such as the Meekers and standout running back AJ McBean, the Mustangs have a chance to be competitive in a tough Bay League that also has Palos Verdes, Inglewood, Leuzinger, Culver City and Lawndale.

Coach Don Morrow, in his 33rd season, likes the togetherness of his players. There’s good leaders, like linebacker/long snapper Jackson Reach, who’s been a standout since his sophomore season.

On Wednesday afternoon, it was a pleasant 77 degrees, with drums, flutes and cymbals being heard around the Manhattan Beach campus as band members practiced. Cheerleaders also worked on their routines. Then football players took the field to continue preparation for an Aug. 29 opener against St. Francis.

Afterward, anyone could take a walk to the beach and surf. The Meekers have been spending summers in Australia, where their mother was born and raised on a farm. They’ve gotten stronger with all the chores they do each summer.

When it comes to surfing, they know the lingo and the fun.

They’re “stoked” for the football season ahead.