Visually impaired hit the waves for Blind Surfing event

San Diego’s visually impaired will once again have the opportunity to experience our famous shorelines from a surfer’s point of view. Blind and sight impaired, participants are given instruction, and assisted in the water by local surfing instructors and Lion Club volunteers as they challenge themselves to balance atop surfboards. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Lions Club International will feature Blind Surfing as its theme for the 2015 Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena.

The Encinitas Lions Club is in partnership with the Swami’s Surfing Association and the San Diego Surfing Academy who donate their time and expertise to offer surfing instruction to members from blind centers throughout San Diego County, including the Blind Community Center of San Diego, the San Marcos Blind Community Center and the La Jolla Leo’s Club For Sight Impaired Teens.

This year’s Encinitas Blind Surfing Event will feature a BBQ lunch sponsored by Hansen Surfboards of Encinitas. The event will take place at South Ponto Beach in Carlsbad, Sept. 14, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Encinitas Lions Club is a group of men and women who identify needs within the community and work together to fulfill those needs. In addition to the annual Blind Surfing Event, the Encinitas Lions Club works on a variety of projects such as free diabetes and eye testing clinics, a Christmas food drive for needy Camp Pendleton families, an eye glass recycle campaign for the sight impaired, guide dogs for the blind and Audible Traffic Signals.

The Encinitas Lions Club meets on the second and fourth Monday of each month at the Cicciotti’s Restaurant in Cardiff. For more information, please contact Lion Bob Mangini at 760-436-7338 or ramangini@cox.net; visit www.lionsclubs.org.