Our Team
All of Coastline Adventures’ instructors are Red Cross CPR/AED and First Aid Certified. Both our school and senior staff are certified by the National Surf Schools and Instructors Association. Our school is fully insured and community-supported. Coastline Adventures also believes in giving back to our community through environmental and charitable events.
Our lead instructors, Jennifer Steffener and Lance Tompkins, participated in a comprehensive course and passed testing, interviews, and evaluations to become certified NSSIA Master Level Instructors. Coastline Adventures Surfing School is the only NSSIA Certified School in Ocean and Monmouth Counties, NJ. Jennifer is one of the first women in New Jersey to become a Certified Senior Level NSSIA Instructor and Lance is one of the first in New Jersey to become a Master Level NSSIA Instructor. As of 2013, Jennifer is now a Master Level NSSIA Surf Instructor!
Lance Tompkins
Lance has been teaching surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding for 30 years. He has been snowboarding for 38 years and skateboarding for 51 years. He is a Master Level Certified Surfing Instructor (NSSIA) and he has been surfing for 49 years!
He created Coastline Adventures Surfing School of New Jersey in 1995 because of his desire to share his love of surfing with others. Lance wanted to offer a safe and easy way for people to learn this challenging sport. His career in board sports has included many surfing and skateboarding contests, fundraisers, endorsements, and product testing. He has been photographed for various surfing and skateboarding magazines and local newspapers.
Glen Friedman of the ‘Dogtown’ movie has also photographed Lance skateboarding and included his picture in his best-selling autobiography. Lance was featured in the new surfing film, “Drawing Lines”. In 2006, he was featured in the TV show “Whata You Do”, shown on the USA Network and the Fox Network.
Lance grew up surfing on the jersey shore. He is grateful to be able to share his passion for surfing at Brick Beach 3 – the very same beach he learned how to surf on. Lance has traveled far and wide to surf the waves he loves and enjoys surfing along the East Coast and California.
Jennifer Steffener
Jennifer is a Master Level Certified Surfing Instructor for the NSSIA and one of the first women to achieve this status in New Jersey. She is also a Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and Meditation Instructor, and a Registered Yoga Teacher. She has been working and teaching in the health and fitness field for over 32 years. She owns a successful massage and wellness practice and has been featured in numerous newspaper and magazine articles about surfing, massage, and Tai Chi.
Jennifer combines her passion for surfing, stand up paddleboarding, and her vast knowledge of the body and movement to create a unique teaching style that inspires and motivates. Her teaching experience, attention to detail, and ability to create a safe and enjoyable atmosphere has earned her the reputation for hosting New Jersey’s premier Women’s Surf Retreat. Jennifer is an avid water woman and has over 42 years of ocean, bodyboarding, and surfing experience.
Traveling the globe to follow her passions has taken her through the Americas, across to Europe, and through many islands. Jennifer lived in Hawaii for 8 years where she fell in love with the islands and its people. During her time in Kauai she learned to sail, scuba dive, ocean kayak, and took her surfing and body boarding to the next level. Jennifer loves traveling, spending time in nature, eating and preparing vegan food, snowboarding, and studying and practicing Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and Yoga when she is not playing in the ocean.
Stephanie Tomasco
Stephanie started working with Coastline Adventures Surfing School in 2008 and has been with us ever since. She learned to surf in Atlantic Beach, NC with a lot of positive encouragement from her North Carolina “Surfing Family”. Stephanie moved to New Jersey during her senior year of high school.
She is a graduate from Monmouth University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and a minor in Marine and Environmental Biology and Policy. She re-chartered the Monmouth University Surf Club and held the position of President for 2 years and was the Captain of the MU Surf Hawks – their Surf Club team.
She competes in the local Eastern Surfing Association contests in both the Women’s Shortboard and the Women’s Longboard Divisions. She considers herself very lucky to travel to various places to explore and surf. Her travels have taken her all over the east coast of the US as well as many countries including Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, El Salvador, Gibraltar, and Costa Rica. She has been able to surf at amazing breaks in Puerto Rico, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Spain, and Portugal.
She won First Place in Central NJ ESA Women’s Longboard Division in 2013, 2014, and 2016 and is currently the east coast champion. In June 2015 Stephanie participated, trained, and passed the National Surf and Instructor Certification Course. She is now a Senior Level NSSIA Surf and Stand Up Paddleboard Instructor.
Other than surfing, Stephanie enjoys hanging at the beach, listening to music, dancing randomly, and spending time with her friends.
Lindsey Jones
Lindsey began her surfing journey as a student of Coastline Adventures 15 years ago. She enjoyed surfing so much that she continued on her own for a few years, typically at her local spot at Brick Beach. Four years ago we called on Lindsey to help out with camps. Due to her winning personality, strong communication skills, and professionalism, we invited Lindsey to officially join the Coastline team in 2016 and couldn’t be happier that she accepted.
Ray Nalewicki
Ray’s expansive water experience and knowledge spans 7 decades. He began body surfing and mat riding waves in Belmar during the 50’s, to surfing in the 60’s and 70’s, boogie boarding the 80’s and 90’s all the way thru 2010. Ray’s newest passion is Stand Up Paddleboarding.
One of the first 8th Ave Belmar surfers to dream about surfing in Oahu, Ray first discovered surf all over the states from New Jersey to Virginia to Florida to California and finally made his journey to Hawaii to realize his dream. Ray believes there is no place better to be than in the water and enjoying what Mother Nature has to offer us. College-educated and a Veteran of active duty during the Vietnam War, Ray now lives in Brick, is married and has two sons. Ray is CPR and First-Aid Certified, a Karate Black Belt, and an avid fisherman. This is Ray’s seventh year with Coastline Adventures as a SUP instructor and he looks forward to meeting and sharing his SUPer knowledge with you!
Caroline Schwester
A Jersey Shore local, Caroline started surfing around 12 years ago with Lance and Jen! She is now in her fourth year with Coastline Adventures as an administrative assistant and water assistant with our surf and bodyboard camps.
She is a certified EMT in New Jersey!
In her very limited spare time, Caroline enjoys being at the beach, reading, napping, and spending time with her family and her dog.
Sarah Anderson
Sarah grew up making her favorite memories in the waves for as long as she can remember. One the rare occasions she wasn’t following her dad out as far as she could, skimboarding, bodysurfing, or having a catch in the water, she was always watching her older cousins surf. At seven, she was standing up on her bodyboard riding waves for fun. When she was twelve, her cousins gave her their old board, and she finally caught a wave of her own. She knew instantly that surfing was going to be a lifetime passion.
Today, Sarah is a student studying Homeland Security at Monmouth University. She hopes to serve by becoming an FBI operative specializing in counterterrorism and protecting the place and people she loves. When she’s not studying or surfing, you can probably find her losing track of time in a good book or walking the shoreline hunting for shells she definitely does not need, but keeps anyway. Sarah also enjoys acting, soccer, writing, drawing, being with friends and caring for her one-too-many plants and pets.
Jesse Howard
Jesse learned to surf in New Smyrna Beach, Florida at the age of 16. He started competing in both ESA and NSSA competitions one year later at 17 years-old, where he went to compete in NSSA Nationals in California as well as the ESA Easterns championships. During Jesse’s undergraduate studies, he joined and helped the school’s college surf team place 8th in the nation for shortboarding in 2015 in Dana Point, California. Over the years, he has traveled and surfed North Carolina, Florida, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, California, and Nicaragua. His favorite break he has surfed is a reef break known as Middles in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Jesse relocated to New Jersey last year after being accepted into Monmouth University’s Physician Assistant graduate program and he is now a second-year student of the program. When Jesse’s not surfing, he enjoys spending time with his wife and their small Chipin dog- named Daisy- they rescued a little over two years ago. His passion is working with people and helping those as much as possible along the way.
