A former Navy diver has secured the right to make a living as a surf instructor after a contentious legal fight with the city of Newport Beach.
Jason Murchison filed suit against Newport Beach in January 2025, challenging a 2012 city ordinance that prohibited paid surfing and paddleboard lessons across nearly nine miles of municipal beaches unless instructors held a city contract.
Murchison, who trained with Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Class 287, said city officials turned down his efforts to obtain a contract in 2015 and 2016, offering little explanation other than that Newport Beach already had enough surf instructors.
“Despite his willingness to hand the City a sizeable portion of the proceeds for the privilege — he has been rebuffed each time,” the lawsuit said.
In the complaint, Murchison argued the city had violated his constitutional rights by protecting favored beach operators and creating what amounted to a government-controlled monopoly over surf lessons.
On Wednesday, Murchison reached a settlement with Newport Beach that clears the way for him to offer paid surf lessons on city beaches.
“The government doesn’t get to cap competition just because it feels like it. Every entrepreneur deserves the freedom to build a business without the city deciding the market is full,” Caleb Trotter, Murchison’s attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, said in a statement Wednesday.
Murchison’s connection to surfing dates back more than three decades, when he was a kindergartner in Orange County and found the sport to be a calming break from competitive athletics. He later attended the University of Hawaii, where court records say he sharpened his skills on local breaks between classes.
His passion for the ocean led him to explore a career in the US Navy where he served as a combat diver before entering a part-time evening law school program and launching his surf-instruction business on the side to help cover rent.
What started as just a few students a week eventually grew into ‘Learn to Surf,’ a business he chose to pursue full-time upon graduating in 2016. He hired eight instructors to offer year-round surfing and stand-up paddleboard lessons across Orange County, but the city ordinances prevented him from expanding his business into Newport Beach, according to the lawsuit.
In July 2016, Murchison was arrested on suspicion of two misdemeanor charges—resisting a peace officer and obstructing or intimidating a business or customers—according to court records.
The same year, Newport Beach enforced a ban against Murchison for allegedly teaching surf lessons on city beaches. The city settled but then demanded Murchison to pay nearly $19,000 in fines and fees in July 2024. Instead of paying the city, the former Navy diver took the city to court.
Consequently, Murchison and the City of Newport Beach have now reached a fresh settlement, allowing his company to offer paid surfing lessons on city beaches under a five-year contract—granting him the exact same terms awarded to Newport’s three other city-approved surf schools.
A San Diego-based surfing instructor, Helina Beck, is also taking on the California Department of Parks and Recreation, challenging monopolistic rules that grant exclusive teaching rights to favored surf instructors while banning everyone else.
