Damn that guy looks fit! Hahhaa!
I’ve even had the chance to read an intermediate levels guide to surfing during this time. A very useful guide and now allows me to know things like off shore wind and the difference between a gun and long board.
The last two days my instructor has not been feeling well and I pretty much went out on my own (under his supervision of course). Battling the waves to get out was a lot harder than I previously thought. Without someone there to help you with your board and tell you where to wait to catch the waves, it can be quite intimidating. I spent a lot of time getting tossed like a top by some pretty small waves. I haven’t been able to master the duck dive which would help me get through the waves. But then again, it can’t really be done with a long board since its too buoyant.
Either way, I am very confident now in getting onto my long board on waves that have already crashed over (if that’s the term, I haven’t really had a good explanation of wave terminology yet, but that will change since I’m planning on going to surfing school in Bali!). However, those aren’t really waves, more like moving water I’m riding (videos coming soon! Have to reformat them for you).
I only got the chance to really get up on two actual forming waves which was the next level of difficulty. When you feel the wave pick you up you get your first feeling of the power of waves. As it lifts you up in the air, you paddle down the face and take off (get onto the board). That of course is what separates body surfing from real surfing, the take off. It’s a great feeling when you get up and ‘drop’ onto the wave (you have a slight drop depending on how big the wave is) but its usually at this point that I wipe out since I’ve yet to master handling the drop.
After wiping out, this is where you feel the real power contained in the wave. As the water comes down and smothers you, you literally get tossed and turned like a toy. Your board goes flying out underneath you and gets dragged along with the wave (while spinning round and round of course). Sounds like fun until tones of salt water get forced into your nose and the wave holds you under a little while longer than you feel comfortable with.
The level of fitness required to learn to surf is also much higher than I thought. You spend a huge amount of time paddling, getting up, wiping out, paddling again, repeat. I guess this is why surfers are always so fit. You need a pretty fit upper body to push yourself up after paddling through what seems like endless amounts of waves.
Regards, I still enjoy learning to surf (good exercise for me). Still learning how to catch that perfect wave (a nice small slow breaking wave in my mind) and eventually, I want to be able to do some tricks (I can turn a little, but not much since I’m just in the white wash and not of the wave).
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