It's not just a rumor that people in Australia like to surf. Trust me, I've seen it. And now I can say I've done it. How could I have explained myself to people in the states if I came back having not tried surfing? There was no way I was trying my luck at Bondi though. Way too crowded. Way too many people to potentially decapitate. I booked us on the Learn To Surf one day trip. The name seemed pretty appropriate for me. Some people have gone on week long surf trips and have come back speechless about the experience. But since Anthony and Christina weren't staying forever, the one day trip was easily the best option.
We waited outside the Sydney YHA hostel to be picked up by a couple surf hippies in vans. I noticed the hippie driving our van was wearing a knitted beanie. Really an awesome look for him, but not very practical in 90 degree heat. We climbed into the van with our fellow surf beginners and headed out. There was a middle-aged Indian couple in the front (who our hippie was racistly questioning about whether or not they played sitar), an Irish duo, and I can't really remember anyone else. Emily fell asleep within 12 seconds of the trip. That was one less person to talk to. I instead had to listen in as our hippie told the Indian couple that they were the first Indians in the world to ever try surfing. The conversation was getting awkward for sure. I stayed out of it. My attention shifted to the surf board that was stuffed into the van so that it poked harshly at my leg with every small bump in the road.
Sitar (see how educational this blog can be)I was really curious what the included lunch we were promised would be. The hippies didn't seem like the cooking type. I wasn't too shocked when we pulled into a grocery store car park and some bread, deli meat, and condiments were purchased for us. I bought a box of Tim Tams, a little Aussie biscuit (cookie) treat. It was a decent sized box and nobody in the van seemed to want to help me eat them. They were doomed to melt. But they made the short ride go by even faster. As we pulled into Boat Harbour, I was shocked to hear that we were technically still in Sydney. How big is this damn city anyways? We got out of our van and hopped into the 4 wheel drive vehicle being driven by the other hippie. He took us right down to the water where I was to have my very first surf lesson. The beach was absolutely empty and the waves looked beginner friendly. Saweeeet.
Tim Tams helped me reach this destination...
To wear a wetsuit, or not to wear a wetsuit? That turned out to be the question. As usual, the girls showed off their genetically superior common sense by accepting the offer of protective wear. However, G and myself are far too manly for such silly things. Wetsuit, that's a laugher. What was even funnier was seeing us later with baby powder smeared all over our burning red chests after hours of scraping our bodies against rough-surfaced surfboards. We're not there yet though.
I was still proud of my bare chest at this point. I wanted to get right out into the water, but also acknowledged the usefulness of a quick surfing tutorial that they put on for us. We put all the boards in a circle on the sand and began our lesson. They taught us a really great 4-step process for catching a wave and standing up. Really good. When I finally did get in the water after about 30 minutes of repeating the same stand up action over and over, I immediately ditched their technique for my less effective "oh crap the waves here, try to stand" style.
Somehow it wasn't working. I could catch the wave good enough, but my weight was heavy in the front and what I thought was going to be a day of surfing started out like a day of nosediving. A few more tries saw me almost getting up, but most of my time was spent in the water. I then looked over to see the Indian man pathetically attempt to push himself up into a standing position on his board. He had fallen into the water well before that could happen. There's no doubt that sight was hysterical, but it made me feel only slightly better.
But you don't have to be smart to surf. I came to this conclusion after seeing that our instructors were pretty good at it. In a brief conversation with one of them, I mentioned I was from the Boston area. His reaction would have made me think Boston was his favourite place on the planet. "Boston, that's awesome!" he said. "That's inland, right?" It wasn't worth going there with him. Later this same hippie came over to each of us, made sure we caught the wave just right, and gave us a push when it came. We all seemed to have success with this. I caught my wave pretty much all the way in (or that's how I remember it). G seemed to be a natural at surfing while I was focusing more on cool ways to fall. By the end of the day, the surf instructors came through with their promise that we'd all stand. All four of us had some success. It blows my mind when I think about it. To look over to my right out of nowhere and see Christina zooming by on a surf board is a real treat. While Christina and Emily weren't busy making fun of Anthony's paddling technique, they were getting their surf on for real. And I don't like to brag, but some of my wipeouts were nothing short of epic. What makes these experiences so awesome is that you're with the people you see a lot in everyday life, but you're doing these unbelievable things that you probably would have assumed to be out of your reach. I think all four of us agree that this was a great experience regardless of any injuries that may have resulted.
That brings me to our chest burns. Neither me nor G kept it a secret while we were in the water that our chests were experiencing some serious chafing. It wasn't just our semi-constant complaining that gave us away. Our chests did a poor job keeping a normal skin colour. Luckily baby powder had been a recent purchase and became very necessary on this day.
SmartI learned a valuable lesson. It has nothing to do with wetsuits. Let's face it, bare chest is still the way to go. But I'll never again use a surfboard that's going to hurt my chest. Hopefully I'll get the chance to surf again while here. If not, I'll try my best to continue the hobby once I get to the states. A possibility since I'll be once again walking off the plane into summer heat (awesome life). It would also be less likely to get attacked by a shark in the US which you might agree is a plus. Now I just need to find the waves.
