Coral McIntyre was destined to be in the water.
The 18-year-old was born in a bathtub. By age 2, she was begging her father, Shayne, to let her jump off a pier and into the ocean. (Forget that she didn’t know how to swim yet.)
“It wasn’t too tall; maybe about 6 feet or so,” Shayne McIntyre said, noting that Coral “just always loved being in the water.”
So maybe it’s no surprise that the La Jolla High School senior with the oh-so-fitting first name has become one of San Diego’s rising stars in two sports: bodysurfing and surfing.
On April 10, McIntyre won the Women’s Open Division at the Mark Drewelow Remembrance Event, an elite bodysurfing competition at Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point. Less than a month later, she took fourth in the women’s shortboard surfing event at the OB Pier Surf & Skate Classic in Ocean Beach.
Coral’s dad has been by her side every step of the way, and not just because he’s supportive.
Shayne McIntyre is also a longtime competitor in both sports. He and Coral don’t just hit the beach together — they enter some of the same competitions.
“The best part is that’s kept us really close,” Shayne McIntyre said. ”Surfing together, going in contests together. And it just happened very naturally, and I feel really blessed about that part.”
Coral McIntyre, 18, surfs during her heat at the 10th annual OB Pier Surf and Skate Classic at Ocean Beach on Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Kristian Carreon / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The McIntyres both compete in USA Bodysurfing, an organization launched in 2022 to provide the sport with a formal governing body in the United States. USA Bodysurfing is part of the International Bodysurfing Association, which hosts competitions across the world.
The North American leg of the 2026 IBSA season began in April with the Mark Drewelow event in Dana Point, and both McIntyres were in the water.
As Coral prepared to win her event, she was thinking about her dad.
“Right before my final, where if I won that leg I’ll (win the championship), I was praying my dad wins, too,” she said.
Coral came out of the Women’s Open Division on top, besting three-time national team members Christina Gasparich and Calla Allison. Her dad finished second in the Men’s Open Division to Del Mar Bodysurfing Club peer Greg Wilkinson, a two-time member of the national team.
It was a full-circle moment for both father and daughter.
Coral McIntyre, 18, is all smiles as she belly rides a wave in after competing in her heat at the 10th annual OB Pier Surf and Skate Classic at Ocean Beach on Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Kristian Carreon / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Shayne McIntyre grew up surfing the same beaches he frequents now with Coral and son her brother Banyan. The McIntyre siblings surf and bodysurf alongside the kids of some of Shayne’s childhood acquaintances.
“That’s been a big part of my life, bodysurfing and surfing,” Shayne said. “And with both our children, you’re always hoping they’re going to get interested in it, and they’re going to want to be around it.”
All the time spent together has also allowed the father-daughter team to find other shared interests — like music.
Men’s Open Finalists at Salt Creek (L-R): 1st: Greg Wilkinson (DMBC), 2nd: Shayne McIntyre (DMBC), 3rd: Bart Templeman (Ventura), 4th: Ed Sweeney (Ventura).
(Photo by Jean Cazares)
En route to competitions, Coral listens to a playlist featuring artists who were prominent when Shayne, a 1995 graduate of La Jolla High School, was growing up.
“LL Cool J, Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers,” Coral listed off. “Stuff that pumps me up.”
“We peaked as a music culture in the ‘90s and early 2000s,” Shayne laughed.
In the water, it’s a different story. Shayne says the younger generation is “leveling up.”
Bodysurfing has been a fixture on beaches up and down the Southern California coast for generations. Riders catch waves without the aid of any boards, gliding through the water with one hand in front of them. Most everyone wears fins.
“It takes the radness of surfing and combines it with the competitiveness of swimming,” Coral said.
Surfing is one of the newest Olympic sports, debuting at the COVID-delayed 2021 Tokyo Games. The 2028 Olympic surfing will be held at Lower Trestles in San Diego County. Swimming, of course, has long been one of the Olympics’ showcase events.
Could bodysurfing be next?
If so, expect Coral and her dad to be right in the middle of it.