Surfing!
I’ve wanted to surf for years now, but the waves are lacking in Central Texas. When I found out I was coming to San Diego I got really excited. We lucked out by arriving in town at 9am so we had most of the day to relax and hit the beach. After hitting up In-N-Out, we headed to our surfing lessons on Pacific Beach.
The beach was a little farther than we guessed initially (by a mile..), but once we got to it we were able to walk along it, and walk back down it when we realized we were headed the wring way. We eventually made it to the surf shop for our lessons.
Surfing is hard.
I should clarify. Surfing on the water is hard. ‘Surfing’ on land isnt so bad. We started out on the beach learning how to lay on the board (toes touching the tail), paddle (like climbing a ladder), and getting up off the board (a combined push-up and jumping rotation). A small crowd had gathered on the beach to watch us laying on our boards and popping up. I think we were entertaining.
Surfing in the water is a different story. Surfing doesn’t look like it would be all that hard, but it is, and your body is wrecked afterwards. You’re constantly fighting the waves as you walk out in the water. And then when you spot a good wave, you turn around and start paddling. It’s hard to know when to stop paddling and get up on the board. Your initial reaction is to stop paddling and get on the board when the wave starts pushing you, but you have to wait and let the wave carry you. Then you get up.
At least in theory.
The combination of inadequate sleep, traveling, and cold water made getting up on the board hard. A lot of times I wouldn’t get up in time, or get up to early, and then wipe out. But after awhile the tides changed (har har) and I was picking good waves and getting up on the board. Once I could do that I was satisified. I had set a goal of standing on wave with a board by the end of the day and I did it!
But there is so much more to surfing than what I got in an hour and a half of small waves. I have incredible respect for the guys who can cut cross waves, or swim out and catch the really big waves.
What an experience though. I totally understand the lifestyle of the beach bum and Southern California surfer. My body was beat up after it and I was pretty dehydrated, but we had a blast. Here’s a really blurry photo of all of us in our wetsuits afterwards.
Much love to the guys and gal at Pacific Beach Surf Shop (Ben, Wyatt, and Isha) for showing a bunch of Texans the first steps in learning how to surf!
