A surfer for 14 years, MomentFeed Chief Executive Robert Blatt, 54, woke up before dawn about a month and a half ago to hit the waves at Topanga State Beach.

Blatt surfs three or four days a week, but this day was different.

“It was a pretty bad summer of surf,” he said, “and in September we got a whole set of really great swells.”

That meant a lot of inexperienced surfers, known as “kooks,” had ventured to Topanga to take advantage of the big waves.

“People who don’t know what they’re doing shouldn’t surf at Topanga,” Blatt said about the site known to attract veteran boarders. “They should stay at Sunset.”

He said one of those newbies went for a wave out of turn and lost control of his board, which flew into Blatt’s face.

“Just as I was standing up, I saw this giant white thing out of nowhere,” he recalled.

The runaway board broke Blatt’s nose and opened a large cut on his head, but that wasn’t enough to get him out of the water.

“When you’re bleeding everywhere, every wave is your wave,” he laughed.

The love of surfing is so strong in the Blatt family that his wife, Bailey Field, actually surfed Topanga later that day after meeting him at UCLA Medical Center.

Blatt is even a bit proud of his battle wounds.

One of his daughters posted a photo of her bruised and battered dad on Instagram, where it received some attention.

“It got 45 likes!” Blatt exclaimed.

Driving Discussion

By day, Teresa Freeborn is a credit union chief executive. But at parties, she plays the role of a car dealer.

Freeborn runs Xceed Financial Credit Union, which began life as the credit union for copier giant Xerox Corp. Ltd. in Norwalk, Conn. She said that because they don’t have the marketing budget of large banks, people don’t realize just how many services they provide. And one way she gets the message across is by asking people she hardly knows what interest rate they’re paying on their car loan.

Freeborn said that after they get over the initial surprise, most people answer the question, assuming they have a good deal. But nine out of 10 times, she can beat it.

Freeborn, 62, said that not everyone feels comfortable talking about their car payment, but her casual style helps people see credit unions as a friendly alternative to banks. And that’s not a hard sell.

“People are amazing,” she said. “They love to hate their banks.”

Staff reporters Omar Shamout and Matt Pressberg contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].