The waves crash against the shore between Third Street and Fifth Street on Vilano Beach. The beach is hot, the water is cool and everything is quiet and calm.
Suddenly, a whistle blows and 60 kids come charging down the beach, splashing into the waves and racing each other to the finish line. Leading the pack is Breezy, a Weimaraner and the unofficial mascot of Surf’s Up Camp — a four-year-old ocean-awareness camp run by the Zeilman family of Vilano Beach.
Eddie Zeilman, a retired New York City firefighter, and his family host the camp for a few weeks each summer. Zeilman and his four sons — Rockne, Surf, Blaze and Clifford — all have lifeguarding in their blood; each of them spent years working as lifeguards on the shores of New York.
Surf’s Up Camp is an ocean-awareness camp. Zeilman started the camp four years ago and it has grown by word of mouth, which the family loves. This year, all four sons came back to help out with the camp, from all corners of the country, including Hawaii, where Surf lives on the North Shore.
Each week of camp is a new session. Campers learn basic lifeguarding skills and have the opportunity to work in small groups with a variety of instructors, most of whom have attended camp in the past themselves. From kayaking, surfing, skimboarding and swimming to running drills on the beach and learning ocean awareness skills, campers gain an appreciation for the ocean and love every second of it.
Campers range in age from 5 to 15 years olds. The camp is structured so each surfer can work at his potential and the older kids can work with the younger ones to help them learn.
For surfers and wanna-be surfers on the First Coast, Surf’s Up Camp makes the summer feel endless.
