Surfing

For a couple of days I have been waiting for the right opportunity to take a surfing lesson. Every now and then I go to one of the shady tents where the surfers (aka instructors) hang out and ask them when a good time for a lesson might be.

Surprisingly, rather than sell me any old time slot, they seem legitimately concerned that I have a good time, so they continue to council me to be patient and wait for better conditions.

Since there isn't much to do in Sayulita but eat delicious food, sleep, and surf, I spent a fair amount of time out on the beach. I noticed one particular instructor seemed to be especially enthusiastic about teaching so I decided he was my best bet.

Like the others, he preached patience. He suggested we meet the next morning before the waves got too crowded with others. When I met him the next day, he looked out at the surf and pushed the lesson out another hour and a half so the waves would be breaking in the right spot. An hour and a half later, he pushed it another thirty minutes. Then, finally, the gods whispered to him that it was time, and he pulled a Norwegian guy and me down to the water line.

He taught us how to position ourselves on the board to paddle out, some general surfing etiquette, and then finally how to hop up on the board and the proper stance once upright. That was really it. Not much to the lesson. But then he swam out with us to the spot where folks were waiting for waves and then, as a wave would come, would yell "Paddle! Paddle! Paddle! Jump up!", then he'd give the board an extra push, and just like that, I was up and surfing on the very first try.

Since I am a snowboarder, the general balance and sensation of riding was not new to me, so I was surprised how easy it really was once one catches a wave. As it turns out, paddling around is much more challenging than riding a wave. I knew that paddling around required a lot of back and shoulder strength. You can tell by the tell tale muscle tone on most surfers. But I wasn't prepared for the neck strength it took just to keep my chin off the board, so as not to swallow tons of sea water. The proper posture is to have your shoulders and head well above the board while resting on your rib cage. Try staying in that position on and off for an hour. That turned out to be even tougher than the paddling part.

Armed with new confidence in my shredding skills, I rented a board the next day with Michael, who has done a little surfing, and we headed out for the waves... slightly bigger than the day before. As it turns out, having a dude in the water yelling "Paddle! Paddle!" and pushing your board for you is more useful than I thought. Choosing waves to paddle on was a challenge. Besides judging which ones I might catch, I was also preoccupied with not getting run over by other surfers, and so I had a hard time catching many at all.

All in all though, I consider the adventure a success. I don't think I will become an addict anytime soon. Running out to chilly Ocean Beach at 6 am before work still doesn't really appeal to me. But I will try it again next time I have more friendly 85 degree water to play in.

After a delightful week of beach bumming, I am off to San Francisco for a two day layover before heading off to Germany. I am creating an extensive shopping list of items to recharge mt backpack for the final two months of my trip.

Bye bye beach.