Surfing, Day 2

Day 2 was even better than Day 1!

We went out with Tommy, who is from the UK and has taught surfing in the UK, San Diego, and Australia. He had the stereotypical fun-loving, freestyle, laid-back surfer attitude about life, it was so much fun.

Day 1's trip was supposed to be to Boat Harbour Beach, but the waves were far too large to start beginners on. However, on Day 2, the waves were peaking at only 6 ft, which was much more comfortable (and offered a new challenge to second-day surfers!). We had far fewer surfers on this trip - only a couple from Austria joining us, so we took a smaller truck, with all of the surfing gear rigged up and attached to the back.

Again, at the beach we jumped into our wetsuits and got a quick lesson from Tommy. He knew that some of us were one-day experienced, so he catered to that a bit: he adapted the lesson to include turning, and how you might approach a bigger wave. He also included a lot more on the nature of the tide, rip currents, etc. Then it was out onto the water!

By now, I was really getting the hang of things, and loving it! If I could manage to spot the right wave, I had no problem getting up on the board and riding it in. Now, I couldn't quite say the same for some of my friends - they all were having a great time, but weren't having the same luck. Fahad, a friend from Kuwait, got pummeled so many times by these mega-waves, shame!

Since we were on a beach on Day 2, vs. in a river, you could take a break whenever you wanted, and head back out whenever you wanted as well, without the exhaustion of swimming with just your shoulders. So I surfed for about 2 hours straight! Without the heavy shoulder-paddling, there was nothing holding me back!

Then it was time for an Aussie barbie, which meant sausages on bread with tomato sauce. In the pic, you can see my lunch taking it easy on it's surf board after it caught some huge waves.

I was loving it by Day 2 - I had gotten over the learning curve of standing on the board, and each wave meant the opportunity to surf (even if it was really small). So I surfed another 2 or 2.5 hours, which Tommy said was the longest he's ever had anyone stay in the water. Then it was time to pack it in and call it a day - everyone was exhausted, but I would have loved to stay and surf some more. I can imagine taking surfing trips in the future with Sandra as a family vacation - it's physical activity, quiet, relaxing, and can be social or individual. Perfect way to get away for a bit.

We learned on the way back that it was Tommy's last day for the season, and he was actually headed back to the UK the next day. So we wished him well, and said farewell.

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