SANTA CRUZ — Hundreds of disabled people made their way to Cowell Beach Saturday alongside friends and family to enjoy the sun and the sand and participate in ocean activities such as kayaking, floating, scuba diving and outrigger canoeing for the 30th annual Day on the Beach event. The event is organized by local nonprofit Shared Adventures and welcomes hundreds of participants who may have never been to the beach or spent time in or on the ocean, and some who come back to the unique event year after year, such as 37-year-old Santa Cruz resident and dog walker Jennifer Lopez, who had just returned from a ride on an outrigger canoe. “I saw some sea otters out there today,” said Lopez.
“I am here every year for the ocean activities and to hang out on the beach.” The all-ages event was created 30 years ago by Shared Adventures founder Foster Andersen, who was injured in a motorcycle accident as a teenager and paralyzed but was determined to keep participating in adventurous activities such as skiing and surfing, which was the only activity at the first Day on the Beach in 1994, according to Andersen. “I kind of pinch myself sometimes,” said Andersen.
“Year 1 was just one beach chair and a handful of volunteers and lots of pallets that we brought down. And I had this band called Two Forests, an acoustic band, and we played into the wee hours of the night. We only had surfing that day and the next year we added kayaking.
Things were a lot different back then.” N.