Gone surfin'

I realized that the summer is over and I had not even tried surfing.  First thing this morning, I googled surfing schools in Sydney and found one nearby at Manly Beach.  Only an hour bus ride from home.  Nice!

At the surfing school, we first did some stretching.  Then, they taught us about water safety, as the beaches here in Australia have strong rips.  We were given big, soft boards as they are much safer to use for learning how to surf.  After each of us got a board we were given a quick tutorial on how to lay on the board, and how to jump up into the surfing position on the board.  Looked easy enough.  Time to hit the water.

I was wearing a body suit so water temperature was not an issue.  First, I had to head out far enough with the board to get to where the decent waves were.  Australian waves are hard enough to get through even when you are not pulling a 2 meter board beside you.  With the board beside me, it was very challenging.  After taking sufficient pummelling by the waves, I got out far enough and tried catching a wave.  No luck.  I fell of the board immediately and did it with very little grace. Being a subscriber to "If at first you don't succeed, try again" thinking, I got right back on the board.  And right back off it, this time head first into the water.

Fast forward 90 minutes and you will see me still trying to get up on the board, and (more gracefully now) falling off quickly thereafter.  In that time, I had drank so much salt water that it had stopped tasting salty.

Just as I got back up from one of these falls, I got a full brunt of the board (the part that you stand on) RIGHT in the back of my HEAD!!!!   I could hear my teeth go 'crunch.'  I fell into the water and it took me a while to get back up.  Grrrrrr!  The culprit had blended in with the surfing crowd, so I could not tell who did it.  I was in no mood to continue after that, and taken that as the cue for me to get out of the water.  Sometimes you feel like getting out of the water, while at other times you need a good whack on the back of your head to get you to call it quits.

I have realized that surfing is much like golf or snowboarding.  Looks so simple and fun.  I can't say that I've mastered golf and snowboarding, but at least I am at the fun parts of each those two sports.  It is time to put in some time getting my surfing skills to a level where surfing is fun.

As a last note, I would like to say that I am a lucky man, because I have a supportive wife who loves me and who is proud of me for even trying.  That's all I can ask for from life!