Our Instructors

Marion Clark

Marion is the Beach Programs Director for Surf Academy as well as The Surf Bus Foundation, and is the daughter of Surf Academy and Surf Bus founder, Mary Setterholm. She runs the show while Mary is away at Harvard Divinity School -- managing and scheduling private and group lessons, organizing Surf Bus Days and writing grant proposals, and in her spare time, she team coaches Lincoln and John Addams Middle School Surf Teams with Surf Academy favorites: Moshir, Blake, Jimbo, and Maddie.

Marion learned to surf 12 years ago at our first Wild Woman Waterday! She is a founding member of Surf Academy's Surf Team: The Foxy Bangers. Since getting up one knee, her surfing journey has taken her up and down the coast of California: from the big winter waves of Santa Cruz to the summer swells down at Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Her favorite place to surf are the Islands of Oahu and Kauai, not only because the waves are amazing, but so is the weather!

Marion takes both a holistic and step-by-step approach to the sport. She has a knack for relating surfing to something that her students already love -- she helps to gives them a way to connect with an otherwise foreign idea: balancing on a board on water! Marion is also a yoga and pilates teacher at various studios around the South Bay. You can find her at Harmony Yoga in Redondo Beach, YogaLoft in Manhattan Beach, and Ofie?s Elite Physiques in Palos Verdes. Her intimate knowledge of the human body helps to inform her teaching style out in the water. Marion believes that immersion in surf culture (and the ocean!) is one of the fastest ways to get STOKED and stay that way! If you ask her, she?ll tell you, "Surfing is not standing up on a board. Surfing is finding yourself in harmony with the wave...with the ocean." She gives all her students a copy of The Surfer Code and, if they want it, homework to help maximize their next surfing experience. She is a versatile teacher, and appreciates all manner of student: from groms and grommettes to Silver Surfers. Marion is available for year-round surf lessons at all three of our locations: Huntington Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Santa Monica.

Jason Heimer

Jason is the manager for Huntington Beach Kids Camp and our resident mechanical engineer. His wagons on wheels help all Surf Academy staff set up and take down our camper villages of tents, tables, and surfboards in record time! Jason's skills in the work room translate to skillz out in the line-up. He is a fun and respectable surf instructor. Jason does an amazing job of conveying the essence of surfing: FUN. He works well with boys and those new surfers hitting Surf City, USA for a summer vacation, or locals who are finally giving surfing a try. He is available for lessons during the months of June through September at our Huntington Beach location.

Todd Saks

Todd joined the Surf Academy when he was 8 years old! He was in Mary Setterholm's surf class through the City of Manhattan Beach, learning how to be "wave ready." His experience with the sea was a good one! Today, Todd is Surf Academy's Equipment Manager extraordinaire, fixing and improving all manner of softtop surfboard and bodyboard. When he's not teaching groms to surf at our Santa Monica location, he's sharing his love of Sunset Surf Sessions with beginner and intermediate surf students. Todd is especially talented at working with micro groms and helping those suffering from landlocked-itis and cubiclitis. A true waterman, Todd loves to fish off the Palos Verdes cliffs and is a Certified Dive Master through Body Glove. He's also a talented artist and loves making videos of his underwater adventures! Todd is available to teach lessons in all three of our locations, unless he's off the coast of some faraway island, taking pictures of underwater shipwrecks.

Blake Duplant

Blake joined our Surf Academy family two seasons ago, and it's like he's always been a part of our show! Hailing from Texas and Louisiana, Blake is an architect by trade, an artist in his heart, and true soul surfer. His signature "wave dance" is contagious, and he prays for surf every night! Blake taught himself to surf when he came out to California a few years ago, spending most of his wave-riding time at the Venice Pier. Since joining our crew, he's seen breaks all along the Southern coast of California, and he shares his stoke (and picks up trash) everywhere he goes! Currently, Blake is getting ready to launch his own roaming surfboard design company! He is adept at working with boys of all ages, new students looking for a great surfing first impression, and students looking to refine their skills at hot-dogging on a longboard, or smacking the lip on a shorty. Blake is available for private lessons in the Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach area, all year round.

Moshir Safavi

Moshir learned to surf eight years ago with Surf Academy's surf class at Santa Monica College. You can bet, a lesson with Moshir will have all the components of a solid first surfing experience: board handling skills, ocean awareness, swim skills, and surf skills. He is a lifeguard at the local Santa Monica YMCA and a Boys Surf Camp instructor in the summer months. While Mo loves all kids, he has a special place in his heart for the kids of Surf Bus. He loves working with children and adults that see life as a journey that never ends. Mo has a huge heart for special needs children whose families turn to surfing as a way toward healing. "I feel like these children are a mirror for me. I look into their eyes and I can see my own fears and my joy reflected back to me," says our poetic surfing powerhouse. You can find Mo available for surf lessons all year 'round at our Santa Monica site.

Jamie Shindle

Jamie is one of Surf Academy's finest! Teaching for our school since 1999, Jamie's surfing has grown up in the waters of the South Bay, even though she hasn't--Jamie stands at a tiny yet mighty 4'll". Don't be fooled by her small stature--she's fierce in the water, have no doubt! Her favorite place to surf is Costa Rica, but she settles for the epic waves crashing on Huntington Beach and Manhattan Beach. Jamie is a true soul surfer, turning all holidays into a chance to honor the Sport of Kings. If you're lucky, she will invite you on her never-ending quest for the perfect after-surf burrito!

Jamie is a founding member of Surf Academy's honorary surf team, The Foxy Bangers, a collective of early SA instructors who helped shaped our private surf instruction protocols. Her teaching style could be described as chameleon-esque. She has amazing rapport with children (she's their size, after all!), women of all ages, and of course, she can hold her own with dudes of any size. Jamie has a gentle, practical, and nonsense approach to the sport, allowing the waves to be the real teacher. She is available all year for lessons in Huntington Beach, and is on call for our Manhattan Beach location.

Mike Paul

Michael exemplifies the simplicity of stoke. He's takes in a situation almost instantaneously, and always seems to know exactly what his students need to feel comfortable in the water: A reassuring smile and hand from their teacher. Whether he's working with a micro grom (8 year old or younger) or a middle-aged lawyer, Michael has a way of conveying the purity of a surf session. He seems to exude a sense of fun! When he's not rounding up crew for Surf Academy special projects or assisting Todd with board fixes, you can find Michael playing beach volleyball, wake-boarding, snowboarding or watching The Lakers. He's available for lessons from June until September at our Manhattan Beach and Santa Monica locations.

Maddie Miller

Maddie is our token Valley Girl turned Westside Surfer Girl! Give Maddie a water vehicle, and she knows what to do. She is an avid bodyboarder, and loves nothing more than to drop in on epic waves of the Makaha, Oahu, Hawaii variety. She is a trained lifeguard, in addition to working the Girls Camp at our Santa Monica location. Maddie is an excellent "first surfing experience" instructor, and she does phenomenal work with students who are anxious about the ocean. In her free time, Maddie participates in mixed martial arts, amateur surf photography, and is Marion's partner-in-surf for all of Surf Academy's Surfaris. She is available for lessons year-round in Santa Monica, unless she's waveriding in Hawaii, Thailand, or some other faraway paradise.

Jimbo Embry

Jimbo is our most recent addition to Team Surf Academy and we are in such gratitude to have him! He brings his sense of humor with him everywhere, and if you have a lesson with Jimbo, you'll learn a great lesson about life: You should laugh at least twenty times a day, and half of those should be at yourself. Be sure you listen well to Jimbo's stories: he is schooling you in the art-form that is "talking story". He's a versatile surfer, enjoying both long and shortboards and proving savvy at both styles. Jimbo's got the stoke of a young grommet, and you can find him at Bay Street in Santa Monica every morning by 6:30am. If he's not getting his own early morning fix, he's helping Surf Academy coach both Lincoln and John Addams Middle School Surf Teams along with Marion, Blake, Moshir, and Maddie. Jimbo is adept at working with children and adults, and shows special talent at working with children who have special needs. He is available to teach in Santa Monica.

Drew Marquart

Emma Roll

Ian Michael

Ian is a self-proclaimed "Surf Academy Lifer." He started surfing with our Ohana Nalu surf club back when he was just a grom, and has sure come a long way from his days of being scared of seaweed! Ian is a versatile and stylish goofy-footer, enjoying both short and longboarding, and he is adept at helping students achieve their goals on both types of boards. Currently, Ian is studying at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and if he's not in the library with his books, he's braving the frigid water temps of Northern California. In the summer time, you can find Ian managing the Boys Camp at our Santa Monica site in Ocean Park. Ian is available to teach lessons in Santa Monica during the Summer months of June through early September.

Mary Setterholm

Mary is the owner and founder of both Surf Academy and The Surf Bus. Her personal relationship to The Sea is the driving force behind both programs. She has a need to bring people closer to nature, specifically, to bring children and the ocean together. She has numerous wins to her credit, including first place in the U.S. Open in 1972, first place in The West Coast Championships in 2001, and a fourth place finish in Surfing America's Championship Pro/Am in 2008. Mary has been surfing for 40 years now, and she STILL out-surfs and out-stokes us all! Surfing isn't about having and doing more or less than the next person in the line-up, and Mary is the first one to say, "The ocean is equal opportunity. The ocean doesn't care what color your skin is, how much money you make, what gender you are, or how athletically talented. You're still a part of the food chain."

It is this humble attitude that informs Mary's teaching style. She has a unique ability to "see" a student, and give them just what they need in a surf lesson, be it a one-time event for a vacationer, or a series of lessons for a local. Being around Mary makes you want more of what she has -- STOKE! You'll walk away from a lesson with Mary feeling both empowered and grounded. If you're lucky, she'll even talk story with you about what it was like to be one of the only women out in the water back in the 70's, and what it's like to be a Silver Surfer out in the water today.

Currently, Mary is earning a Masters of Divinity at Harvard University in Boston, MA. She brought her shortboards with her to keep her motivated for Surf Academy's Summer Season (and maybe take a weekend trip to surf Martha's Vineyard)! See that woman covered in head-to-toe neoprene paddling down The Charles River? That's Mary Setterholm, keeping in shape and being herself: Our Fearless Pioneer!

Adrian Matsumoto

Sam Perman