Long Beach High School students teamed with Quiksilver Foundation

In the months leading up to the Quiksilver Pro N.Y., Daniel Bobis — the late advisor, founder and coach of Long Beach High School’s Surf Club and competitive surf team — had reached out to Quiksilver in the hopes of involving students in the first ASP contest ever held on the East Coast.

“[Quiksilver] had been in touch with Danny through the Surf Club and Surf Team — his thing was that he always wanted to get the kids involved,” said close friend Billy Kupferman, who co-founded the Long Beach Surfer’s Association with Danny. “Quiksilver really reached out and wanted to provide an experience for the kids, to let them see what the contest was all about.”

In July, Bobis was killed in a tragic surfing accident during a trip to Indonesia with his wife, Rachel. Bobis — a beloved teacher, leader in the surf community, environmentalist and musician in the popular band Cipher — was missing for days, and as students and the community continued to reel from such a devastating loss, the impact that Bobis had on the community was not lost on Quiksilver, Kupferman said.

“When [Danny] went missing, Quiksilver got right on board — they made an effort with whatever contacts they had in that area to aid in the search at that time,” he said. “They came in here pretty well aware of what happened.”

Through the Quiksilver Foundation — a non-profit organization committed to benefiting the
quality-of-life of communities and supporting environmental, educational, health and youth-related projects — students worked with members of the foundation during the event on a number of initiatives that served as a fitting tribute to Bobis, Kupferman said.

Long Beach High School students joined forces with the foundation to help the city clean up the Magnolia Street Park, a children’s playground that was damaged by Hurricane Irene. Members of the school’s surf team and students in the International Baccalaureate Program teamed up with city, school officials and representatives of the foundation to shovel mounds of sand and remove debris.