All this talk about whales and minnows has been making me miss surfing. So since I am having a go at blogging I figured I might as well opt for a quick trip down memory lane and re-live the day I stood up on my first wave…
I grew up spending most of my spare time at the beach, but I wasn’t gifted with a natural ability to coordinate my body parts, so I usually body surfed the waves, and looked longingly at all the cool kids on surfboards. A couple of times I got an old surfboard and had a go, but I really had no idea what I was doing and not much guidance, so I usually ended up with lumps on my head and a bruised ego.
In my early twenties I set off on solo backpacking mission around the world, and was away from my beloved beaches (having the time of my life) for about a year and a half. The longer I spend away from the beach I grew up on, the more determined I grew to actually learn to surf when I got home.
So when I came home, I picked up some part time work, an old mini-mal (surfboard) and a pushbike. I was on a mission to figure out how to stand up on a wave. Every single day I would ride my bike a couple of Kilometres to the beach and check the surf. If the surf was good I would paddle out, if not I would go for a swim and start the uphill bike ride home.
Like a lot of local spots, there were the same local crowd at this break most days. They weren’t rude and I didn’t feel threatened, but they certainly didn’t go out of their way to talk to me or make me feel welcome there. They mostly just stared at me as a way of warning me against getting in their way. Eventually they realised I was going to keep coming back, so they got used to me being there and just ignored me while they chatted amongst themselves.
After months of perseverance, I had just about had enough. I was learning to read the ocean, gaining confidence to assert my position in the line up, getting on the wave…. And then fell. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. One particular day the surf was awesome, everyone else was so happy, and I just couldn’t get up. I was getting the shits big time. I paddled in and started storming up to the beach. As I started throwing my gear into my car, one of the guys from out in the line up walked past and quietly said:
“Hang in there – it’ll be worth it when you catch your first wave”
That one sentence of support changed everything. It just completely re-energised me. The next day I was pumped to check the surf again, and paddled out determinedly. I got on a couple of waves but fell of as I stood up, but then…
I spotted another one coming and got on it, and started to clumsily get to my feet… and I stayed up! The wave broke but then walled up again, and I was cruising down the face of the wave screaming…
WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
I was sooooooooooooo excited!! And the best bit was that as I glanced back towards the line up, the whole lot of guys who had originally stared me down, were all grinning from ear to ear! It was the best feeling, and that guy who had told me to hang in there was so right… it was definitely worth it once I got my first wave!
Nice sharing out your experience,
thanks :) It was fun to write
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fantastic!! love this article
Thanks