All of those who have a vested interest in learning to surf, or getting back into the water again post injury....Here's your forum!

Well, I suppose I had better go first...My name is Christiaan Bailey and i'm a disabled professional surfer... I currently spend about 7 months out of the year traveling all over the world, doing expression sessions on the WQS and WCT. All in aims of raising public awareness for spinal cord injury research and in hopes of shifting peoples paradigms of our perceived "disabilities". The foundation I work for (Life Rolls On), specializes in getting people who have sustained spinal cord injuries, back in the water surfing once again. As well as promoting a healthy, active, lifestyle amongst the disabled community...So if anyone needs and help, advice, connections ect, please feel free to ask!

Oh, here are a few photo's of me surfing this year...

Not much surfing to do here in the mountains of northeast Tennessee, but is sure looks like a lot of fun!

Cool pics!

Nice to see another L3/4 on the forum! The surfing looks awesome. If I wasn't so scared of drowning and well ... dying I'd be surfing right now. Apparently, according to a neighbor of ours the other day we had amost 30' waves at one of our beaches, but he said the water was sooo cold (and very dark) you could only be under for like a few seconds. Anyway ... cool pics!

Of course!...Ya, my buddy Grant lives in San Luis Obispo, so whenever I head down south from Santa Cruz we go hit Morro Bay...Good surf out there for sure, lol the waters not that cold though! Seriously though, let me know if you ever want to give it a try and we'll arrange something!

I am seriously considering signing up for the LRO surfing event in June in... La Jolla, I think it is? I'm in Toronto so it'd be a trek for me to get out there but I'm sure it'd be very worth it.

Well, we will be holding several throughout the year...If you did'nt want to drive all the way south to San Diego, I will be holding a TWSA in my home town of Santa Cruz towards the end of the summer! I hope to catch you out at one of our events sometime!

yeaahh. i'm deffinitally going to try and make that one.

Oh sweet, good to know that there are other events in case I can't make the one in June. Keep me posted on the details of your event How far in advance do I need to sign up for one of the TWSA events?

Well if you go to Liferollson.org and sign up for our newsletter, we will keep you up to date with all of the events throughout the year...Typically we recommend RSVP'ing a week or two in advance.

I think I get the LRO newsletter in my email already but I'm gonna go sign up again to make sure. Surfing would be crazy fun! I'm a water lover, I get really excited about any watersports. I was watching some of the giant kite tubing stuff on Youtube and now I want to find a way try that out too!

Ya, I don't know where I would be if I couldn't get back in the ocean again...Not very happy, thats for sure! ;)

a good friend of mine whom I was in rehab with, Nathan Gocke , had a video made by Life Rolls On I think. Neat group.

Ya, I know Nate...He came out to our "Night By The Ocean" benefit diner in Hollywood a few months ago...He's doing really well!

Yup, he's the only reason I stayed sane my months in rehab.

So you were at Casa Colina as well huh?...LOL, so when are you coming surfng with us? ;)

Haha.. whilst Nate was excited about getting back in the water, I was excited about getting back on the race track. All my efforts lately have been toward that purpose. Maybe when i'm less busy i'll check it all out. Between college, a sudden injury, racing scca, etc etc I have no time whatsoever.

I signed myself up for the La Jolla event in June! It's waaaay in advance but I'd rather take care of that now so I don't forget and have to do it last minute and know that it's done. I am so excited about it! I don't have any of my own equipment, no wet suit, nothing. Does LRO provide wet suits? I think I read on their site that they do. Also, how difficult are those things (wet suits) to get on??

Yes, we will provide all of the equipment on site (board, wetsuit, food ect...) I'll look forward to seeing you there!

June seems like ages away, I'm so stoked! It will be cool to meet you! How many volunteers do they usually give per person? Pre-injury, I was an extremely good swimmer (swam competitively for years) and I'm still good in the water but not at all experienced with surfing, strong currents, etc.

Usually we are sure to have 5 to 10 volunteers per disabled athlete...I look forward to meeting you wheel to wheel as well! If you are ever in the northern california area, feel free to drop me a line anytime!

Wow, that's a lot of people. That's good, that means there's little chance of drowning ;)

Nope, it's about as safe an environment as humanly possible!

Hey just to give everyone the heads up, here is the schedule for this years Life Rolls On TWSA (They Will Surf Again) program... If anyone is interested in attending Click Here!


TWSA #22 - May 3 Bolsa Chica State Beach, CA

TWSA #23 - May 16 Jacksonville Beach, FL

TWSA #24 - June 28 Long Branch, NJ

TWSA #25 - July 18 Zuma Beach, CA

TWSA #26 - July 25 Cocoa Beach, FL

TWSA #27 - August 1 Virginia Beach, VA

TWSA #28 - August 8 Wrightsville Beac, NC

TWSA #29 - September 13 La Jolla Shores, CA

TWSA #30 - September 27 Cape May, NJ

TWSA #31 - October 10 Santa Cruz, CA (Cowell's)

i tried to attend one last year but because of a schedule change on my side i couldn't, i hope to make it to one this year, i thought about la jolla in June cause then i could also see some friends down there, but cannot find it on the schedule you posted, am i missing something?

There's a good chance I will be at the La Jolla event in September.

Hey, Christiaan, how far is Santa Cruz from Mammoth Lakes? If I make the move to Mammoth later this year for a few months, and am there in October, I will maybe drive out to Santa Cruz for your October event.

We held a TWSA event in La Jola last year in june...However, it is seldom they take place at the same time every year, as there are alot of logistical arrangements that need to happen beforehand. The event this year will be held on September 13 at La Jolla Shores.

T.O. Mammoth is just shy of 140 miles from Santa Cruz or 3 hours give or take.

Hi everyone! My name is Meghan Schinderle and I am the Program Director at Life Rolls On. Should anyone need additional information, support and resources, please feel free to contact me at Meghan@liferollson.org. You can register for all of our They Will Surf Again events at www.liferollson.org/twsasignup or follow us on twitter. I hope to see you all soon.

Life rolls on!

Meghan

Hey Meghan, this is Mimi! We've been emailing

I surfed for the first time since my accident last August at one of these events and it was pretty righteous. Not only getting out in the water again, but being around so many dynamic and beautiful people. Very cool and I can highly recommend doing it. I am an ex-competitive surfer and this truly was a gift. I'm stoked to see they're going to be having an event in Santa Cruz and if everything lines up how I hope it does, I'll be there.

For those who might be interested, I blogged about my experience on my site. Check it out if you want to read about something firsthand.
Quad surfing is a team sport: they will surf again