OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) — A North County nonprofit organization that trains the next generations of surfers needs the public's help to recover a stolen equipment trailer.
Last weekend, more than 160 young surfers participated in the Scholastic Surf Series or SSS near the Oceanside Pier.
"We call ourselves the bottom feeders," Competition Director, Carolyn Krammer, laughed. "And it's not a negative way. It's just that the kids have to start somewhere. Like little pollywogs in the water, you know?"
SSS is the youth novice division of the WSA orWestern Surfing Association, the oldest amateur surfing organization in the country.
"A lot of our surfers come through the program and are now on the US team right now," Krammer said proudly.
SSS hosts more than 50 events a year at different beaches across the county, so it has a mobile trailer to store everything.
"We store our trailer at a trailer facility, but they were having their lot paved this weekend, so we had to take our trailer out," said Krammer.
So one of the staff members volunteered to park it at his gated complex, thinking it would be safe. But it was not.
"It was locked, and then when he got up this morning to take the trailer back, it was gone," Krammer said.
Now, several tents, heat boards, tables, chairs, electronics, everything to run a kids surf tournament is gone.
"Replacing everything would cost around $15,000," Krammer said. The trailer itself is an additional $5,000.
Luckily with the holiday weekend, SSS does not have another event scheduled for two weeks. But after that, Krammer said she does not know what to do. She said canceling the events would break the pollywogs' hearts.
"Whoever stole it, please return it, no questions asked," Krammer said. "You'll make a lot of kids happy."
If you have any information on the trailer or its contents, you are asked to contact the Oceanside Police Department.
