Surfer Girl I Am Not (YET)
I just moved to Santa Barbara. Time to switch gears from canyoneering to ocean sports, and that means surfing. I think it's one of the last board sports on my list: snowboarding, done; wakeboarding, done; skateboarding - junior high attempts were enough to convince me that I sucked; longboarding - college wipeouts and separated shoulders were enough to convince me that, once again, I sucked; paddleboarding, done - and ready for more with all the paddling spots here!; water boarding - wait, I'm not the CIA... I guess that's my list of board sports. Let me know if I missed one.
I met Rob Holcombe at A Frame in Carpinteria and signed up for my first surf lesson. News the night before told of the devastating earthquake that hit Samoa, resulting in a tsunami warning for the California Coast. That made for some sweet dreams! Luckily, conditions were good enough the next morning to go out and the marine layer - 'fog' for you non-locals - that had been lurking around lifted.
After a passionate, TMI verbal lesson on the beach I was ready to hit the water on the 12-foot longboard. With Rob's help I caught a few waves on the inside and mastered the stand without looking like a 'jack-in-the-box.' Then he turned me loose. I'm convinced that it was about this time that strong current and riptides rolled in. My next 20 attempts at catching a wave resulted in 0 waves caught, one nose-dive (pearling is not cute); five missed waves - thank goodness there were a few of those thrown in amongst the pummeling - and 14 opportunities to either get dumped or master 'turtling' - grabbing the rails of the board and deliberately rolling it over to shield me from the mis-timed waved crashing on top of me. Needless to say, I mastered that roll fairly quickly.
There is only so much pummeling this body - and ego - can take. I acquiesced to the ocean and sat down, exhausted. I woke up in the wee hours of this morning visualizing catching a wave. I was acutely aware that my aching body was bruised and sore in some very unexpected places. So I'll give it a rest for a few days. But surfing, I'm not done yet!
I met Rob Holcombe at A Frame in Carpinteria and signed up for my first surf lesson. News the night before told of the devastating earthquake that hit Samoa, resulting in a tsunami warning for the California Coast. That made for some sweet dreams! Luckily, conditions were good enough the next morning to go out and the marine layer - 'fog' for you non-locals - that had been lurking around lifted.
After a passionate, TMI verbal lesson on the beach I was ready to hit the water on the 12-foot longboard. With Rob's help I caught a few waves on the inside and mastered the stand without looking like a 'jack-in-the-box.' Then he turned me loose. I'm convinced that it was about this time that strong current and riptides rolled in. My next 20 attempts at catching a wave resulted in 0 waves caught, one nose-dive (pearling is not cute); five missed waves - thank goodness there were a few of those thrown in amongst the pummeling - and 14 opportunities to either get dumped or master 'turtling' - grabbing the rails of the board and deliberately rolling it over to shield me from the mis-timed waved crashing on top of me. Needless to say, I mastered that roll fairly quickly.
There is only so much pummeling this body - and ego - can take. I acquiesced to the ocean and sat down, exhausted. I woke up in the wee hours of this morning visualizing catching a wave. I was acutely aware that my aching body was bruised and sore in some very unexpected places. So I'll give it a rest for a few days. But surfing, I'm not done yet!
Labels: Lifestyle
posted by MW at
10:00 AM
0 Comments
