Surfing has been on my to-do list at least since I moved to New Zealand, but in
actual fact probably ever since I knew there was such a thing as surfing. My
uncle nearly got me standing on a windsurfing board once, but the rental time
was over before I managed to haul myself on top of the thing and not fall off
again, let alone pull the sail up. But windsurfing is out, and who needs a sail
when a wave will do to.
Finally
last weekend it so happened that
a) it was
the 7th day or so in a row with temperatures above 25°C, which is
very, very unusual in Chch
b) we were
not going to climb any other mountain in that kind of heat
c) all
fruit in the house had been transformed into jam
d) job
applications could wait a few more days
and so we
had time to get a surfing lesson.
We headed
out to Sumner beach, which is Chch’s coolest beach suburb. Every time we’re
there I think “we should live here” but then I remind myself that it would be a
3 HOUR commute every day, so that’s out of the question.
We were
with about 15 other beginners, most in our age-range, one kid. After an
entertaining analysis of the waves we hit the grass for some excercises on how
to get from lying on your belly on the board to paddling with your arms to
standing up. That went very smooth. The next step was already much harder:
putting on wetsuits. Even though the air was above 20°C, the water was not. Then
we took our boards and headed into the waves. I had expected that our
instructors would show us some moves, but they just shoved us into the water
and wished us good luck.
At first,
it was really hard to even get on the board, belly-flop. Then, it was really
hard to keep your balance. But eventually we all mastered this, and then
started looking for waves, paddling, paddling, paddling,
catching the wave …
Waaaaaah!!!! The first few times your board soars on the wave, and you’re still
lying on your belly, you think “Holy Mother this is going suuuuper fast!!!”.
Well, after
an hour or so I managed to semi- stand up on the board on/in a wave. We then
debriefed could use the boards for another 2 hours to practice. We notices that
by now we could hardly lift our arms anymore, all the paddling taking its toll.
But, in the end, I stood up a few times, enough to be exhilarated and wanting
more …
Thomas was less inclined to become a professional surfer,
so we’ll have
to divide time between tramping and surfing from now on. But either way we had
a very good time, and in true kiwi style finished the day with a healthy
portion of fushnchups.
