Sandy Ordille She Chose to Stay - Part 2
- 9 hours ago
- 6 min read
Finding Home
Sometimes the next chapter in life begins with an unexpected invitation.
While traveling on the professional surfing tour, Sandy had formed friendships with surfers from around the world. One of those friendships would eventually shape the next chapter of her life.
A friend she had met through surfing had moved to Kauai and opened a surf school. Remembering Sandy's experience in the water and her natural ability to connect with people, she reached out with an invitation.
Would she come to Hawaii and teach surfing?
To make the move easier, she even offered Sandy a place to stay until she got settled.
Sandy had never been to Kauai.
She didn't know what to expect.
But she packed her belongings and boarded a plane bound for Hawaii.
It didn't take long for the island to feel like home.
Kauai was unlike anywhere she had ever lived. Life moved at a slower pace, and the ocean wasn't simply a place to surf—it was woven into everyday life. The island's culture was built on community, respect, and a deep connection to the water.
Teaching surfing quickly became an amazing and rewarding experience. Every day she introduced people to the sport that had shaped her own journey. Watching a student catch their first wave often reminded her of the day her older brother pushed her into her own very first ride years earlier.
What had once been given to her...
She was now passing it on.
To support herself, Sandy also worked at a local hotel. Like many island residents, she balanced more than one job, embracing the rhythm of Kauai while becoming part of a close-knit community.
As the years passed, Kauai became far more than a place to live.
It became home.
Then, in September 1992, everything changed.
Hurricane Iniki struck Kauai with devastating force. The Category 4 storm tore across the island with winds exceeding 140 miles per hour, leaving homes damaged, businesses destroyed, and much of the island without electricity.
Like everyone else, Sandy hoped she could stay and rebuild.
But the reality was difficult.
With no electricity for an extended period and tourism coming to a standstill, the island's economy ground to a halt. The surf school where she taught could no longer operate as it once had, and her job at the hotel disappeared as visitors stopped coming.
As much as she loved Kauai, there was simply no way to make a living.
Reluctantly, she packed her belongings and left the island she had come to call home.
Leaving Kauai was one of the hardest decisions she had ever made.
But it also became the beginning of another chapter.
During that uncertain time, Sandy's mother offered a simple suggestion.
"Why don't you go back to school?"
Years earlier, Sandy had left Mesa College to pursue professional surfing. Like so many things in life, she had always hoped she might finish what she had started.
Now, that opportunity was in front of her.
She applied to the University of Hawaii.
Her previous college credits transferred, allowing her to continue where she had left off years before.
Everything seemed to fall into place.
Sandy earned her degree in communications, proving that it is never too late to return to something you've left unfinished.
After graduating, another unexpected opportunity presented itself.
She accepted a position in the University of Hawaii's media department, where she became involved in producing educational and multimedia projects. It was a new environment, one that challenged her in different ways and introduced her to skills she had never imagined using during her years as a professional surfer.
At first glance, it seemed like an entirely different path.
But looking back, it wasn't.
The communication skills she had developed through teaching, the adaptability she'd learned from years of travel, and the relationships she'd built throughout her life all found a new purpose.
She couldn't have known it then...
But that chapter would eventually lead her back to the sport that had shaped her life.
Only this time...
It wouldn't be as a competitor.
Giving Back
Although the work was far removed from professional surfing, it introduced her to a different way of educating and inspiring people.
At the time, it may have seemed that surfing had become part of her past. Looking back, it was simply preparing her for a different role within the sport she had loved since childhood.
The communication skills she developed through media production, combined with decades of surfing experience and the friendships she had built throughout her life, eventually led her back into the surfing community—not as a competitor, but as someone dedicated to preserving its history and celebrating the people who helped build it.
Over the years, Sandy became involved with organizations committed to documenting surfing's rich heritage and honoring the pioneers whose stories might otherwise have been forgotten. Her work with the California Surf Museum in Oceanside allowed her to help preserve those stories, ensuring future generations would understand the people, places, and moments that shaped modern surfing.
It was fitting work for someone who had lived through so much of that history herself.
Sandy had never been someone who sought the spotlight. She found greater satisfaction working behind the scenes, helping others tell their stories while quietly becoming an important part of surfing's own story.
Her passion for giving back extended far beyond preserving history. Whether speaking with young surfers, sharing stories from surfing's early years, or simply encouraging others to embrace the joy of being in the ocean, she remained deeply connected to the surfing community that had given her so much.
One of those unforgettable moments came when she met a young surfer named Carissa Moore.
Long before the world knew Carissa as an Olympic gold medalist and one of the greatest surfers of her generation, she was simply a young girl with an infectious smile, an undeniable passion for the ocean, and a level of talent that immediately stood out. Sandy remembers thinking there was something special about her—that she was destined to accomplish remarkable things.
Over the years, Sandy watched Carissa's career unfold with admiration, witnessing a new generation of women surfers elevate the sport to extraordinary heights.
For Sandy, it was a full-circle moment.
She had witnessed women's surfing grow from its pioneering years into a global sport where young girls could dream bigger than ever before. Watching athletes like Carissa succeed wasn't simply exciting—it was a reminder of how far the sport had come, and of the many women whose passion, determination, and love for the ocean had helped make those achievements possible.
Recognition eventually found its way to Sandy as well.
Her induction into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame honored a lifetime devoted to surfing—not only as a competitor, but also as an instructor, storyteller, historian, ambassador, and lifelong advocate for the sport that had shaped nearly every chapter of her life.
Yet awards and honors were never the measure of her success.
Her legacy lives in far quieter places.
It lives in the students who caught their very first wave because someone believed they could.
It lives in the stories she helped preserve, ensuring the pioneers of surfing would never be forgotten.
It lives in the friendships formed over decades spent traveling the world in search of waves.
And it lives in the example she set—that success isn't always measured by trophies or titles, but by the lives you touch and the passion you leave behind.
Looking back over Sandy Ordille's remarkable journey, it's tempting to search for the single moment that changed everything.
Was it the little Styrofoam surfboard her mother bought her?
The first wave her brother pushed her into?
The drive across the country to California?
The years spent traveling the world?
The invitation to Kauai?
Or Hurricane Iniki that unexpectedly changed the course of her life?
Perhaps it wasn't any one of those moments.
Perhaps it was all of them.
Each chapter, every setback, every friendship, every wave, and every leap of faith became part of the woman she would eventually become.
Which brings us back to a quiet afternoon in a Florida parking lot.
A sixteen-year-old girl stood beside a van while everyone else prepared for the long drive back to New Jersey. She thought she was making a simple decision about where to spend the next few months.
She couldn't have known that one quiet choice would carry her across continents, introduce her to lifelong friends, take her to the Hawaiian Islands, allow her to witness the evolution of women's surfing, help preserve the sport's rich history, and inspire countless people along the way.
She simply chose to stay.
Nearly six decades later, it's clear that surfing gave Sandy Ordille far more than a lifetime of unforgettable waves.
It gave her a life of purpose.
And in return, she gave surfing something every great sport depends on—its history remembered, its future encouraged, and a life worth following.
header.all-comments