Surfing

My soon to be sister in-law, Erika, has gotten into surfing this summer and talked me into taking a lesson with her. I then talked my sister, Maddy, into coming with us too.

Me and my little sis

We headed down to Wells, where we took a private lesson through Wheels and Waves. It was a gorgeous day, but very windy!

those waves look so small from the beach

I was tired before we even got into the water between trying to get myself into my wet-suit and attempting to carry my board down the beach in the wind. 

Carry these suckers in the wind is not easy

We did some drills on the beach to practice popping up. Both my sister and I are pretty athletic, so we caught on pretty quickly. Little did we know how much harder it would be on the water!

Then we headed into the water. Even with the wet suit it was cold and my poor bare hands and face were aching. Getting out with my board into the deep water was really hard. Between the breaking waves, the wind, and the undertow I was really struggling. The waves were really close together yesterday so I hardly made any forward progress before I got pushed back by the next wave. 

Finally we were out into the deeper water and I let Erika and then Maddy catch waves first. Poor Maddy got whacked in her face with her board after she fell. She cut her nose and it started to bruise and swell. Then it was my turn. The instructor helped me pick a wave, told me when to start to paddle, and then yelled to tell me when to pop up. 

It was so much harder to pop up and balance on the water than the land. My first try my legs were way too close together and I quickly lost my balance and flew face first into the water. I battled my way back out and tried again. That time I was looking down which called me to lean too far forward. Again, I went flying into the water head first. 

So it went. Battle out through the waves, paddle down the beach since the current kept sweeping us down towards the rocks, catch a wave, stand briefly, and then fall into the water. 

After about an hour and half, I noticed Maddy was heading to the shore. I followed her in. When she admitted that her face really hurt and she wasn't having fun, I was so relieved. 

"Oh thank God," I said. "I am freezing, I am tired of getting hit in the face with waves, and I hate falling face first into the water with my foot still attached to the board and gulping in tons of salt water. I just didn't want to be the first to quit."

We rested for a few minutes on the shore and then stuck to riding the waves in on our bellies for the rest of the lesson. Way more fun!

So I guess I can cross professional surfer off my list of potential careers. But it was still a good adventure and a good workout. My shoulders are so sore today from all that paddling. 

At least we look like surfers

Have you ever tried surfing? Did you like it?