Kali: "My legs got all cut up."

Name: Kali Recker

Age: 17

From: Coronado Shores and Phoenix

Location: Coronado Beach

Occupation: Junior in high school

On New Year’s day, there were hundreds of people out in the water behind the Hotel Del and the high-rise condos to the south. There were only a few surfers out, though. I saw Kali and her mom getting ready to go back in for the 1.5 foot waves during high tide.

“We come out almost once a month and every time,” she said, “we surf.” They live in Phoenix and they have a pad at the Coronado Shores.

Kali was super-stoked to try out her new custom made 5’4″ Rusty board.

“It’s customized for her style, ability, and for the surf that you get in Coronado because Coronado has a lower surf for a one-foot-swell that’s pretty flat,” said Kali’s mom. "You can almost catch anything on the Happy Shovel board.”

Kali’s been surfing for about four years and this afternoon she was barely getting use to her “high-tech designed” board with the replaceable future-fins in the “62 degree water” — and wasn’t trying anything fancy.

Kali learned to surf with her Girl Scout troop at the Camp Surf program at the YMCA in Imperial Beach. She recalled one incident when she was surfing with a bunch of kids there.

“There was like a 100 people in the water at a time,” Kali said, “and there’s the little kids trying to boogie board in front of us. I was surfing and had to turn my board so I could miss the little kid and the kid pushed my board and I fell over sideways. My legs got all cut up from the rocks underneath, but the kid was fine.”