Coach Jimmy moved to New Smyrna Beach as a teenager and took up surfing as his new sport to go with football, basketball, track, and skateboarding. He was also on the swim team and became a beach lifeguard. Jimmy was successful in amateur surf contests and decided to go pro. He got to travel around the world on the ASP tour and won many pro events, spending a month ranked as the number one surfer in the world! While surfing in Australia, he attended a judging school and has since been a judge for many pro and amateur events.  Jimmy has met and surfed with many other professional surfers and board builders and as a world-renowned surf artist has airbrushed thousands of cool surfboards over the last thirty years, carving out a niche as one of the fastest artists in the industry. Several of his murals can be seen around New Smyrna Beach, such as the one on Red Dog Surf shop.

Jimmy opened the Jimmy Lane Surfing Academy over thirty years ago and his summer camps are the official camps for the New Smyrna Beach Leisure Services Department. He is an artist and a dad, and is very active in the New Smyrna Beach community and with the NSB Museum of East Coast Surfing. Jimmy's wife and daughters have been part of the Academy every year since we started, and the rest of the coaches are just like family as well. JLSA Summer Camps and surf lessons are like a rite of passage in this town...and a vacation destination to many from all over the world!