Surfing!

Before we headed out!

Although the weather was rainy and cold I finally managed to convince everyone that it was still a great idea to go surfing for the afternoon in a town called New Brighton about an hour away. By 12 o’clock everyone was awake and motivated and we took the metrobus out to the town. Anna, Carly, Alex, Michael and I found a small surf shop called Sisco Surfgirl. Anna, Carly and Alex decided to get a lesson with their rental while I decided I could remember how to do it from the lessons that Rachel and I got a VERY long time ago. (Rachel, remember when you fell off and our instructor cheered and said “Wipe-out, dude!” haha) Michael had just taken a lesson last week so I figured at the least he could give me a private one! Michael and I headed out into the rough seas with our foam, fake surfboards attempting to successfully ride the waves. The water was surprisingly not cold, considering that it’s the middle of winter. Although, I think that the booties, gloves and hoods were very helpful in keeping us warm. Once I finally made it out far enough into the water to catch a wave I realized that surfing was not as easy as I remembered it! Michael gave me some good tips and I eventually started to catch on. It was so tiring. My arms were dying after 30 minutes of holding the board above the waves, pushing (or failing to push) myself up to a standing position, and walking the surfboard back up the beach when the current had pushed us to the pier.

Michael was the perfect companion though, because he was more than willing to take so called “60 second breaks” with me and sit on our boards in the sand. After about 5 minutes we’d venture back into the waves again. Carly, Anna and Alex eventually came out and their instructor helped me catch a few waves in-between helping them, which was really nice! While enjoying our breaks on the beach it was hilarious to watch the other girls on the water because the waves that we were catching that felt so huge to us while we were in the water looked absolutely pathetic from the shore. Everyone had a blast and I’m so glad we went. After about an hour and a half we were all freezing and exhausted so we headed back to the surf shop. It was such a fun experience and I would love to go again soon – maybe when it’s a bit sunnier/warmer. Michael and I are going to try to secretly become really good and impress everyone...I think I’ll need a lot of practice.

Afterwards