I had this past Saturday off, and headed out to a village named Titiana to try and learn how to surf. I have a friend Will and Dennis that are staying out there and building some houses for a school. So I bought some mince meat, and a few beers and rode the dirt bike out, and got there for an early lunch. While I think town can be boring life in the village can def be more mundane. Dennis had just finished widleing (no idea how to spell that, tried about 10 times?) a chest board, which defiantly took some spare time. We had the first game on it and I lost.
After the game we started to paddle out to the break, which took about 20 minutes, after which I was pretty exhausted. I defiantly will give surfers more credit in the future, as it takes a lot of work. The problem also with surfing here is that it is all shallow reef breaks, which means when you fall you hit hard sharp rocks. So the first run I just tried it laying down and caught a long wave all the way back to shore, which meant, having to paddle all the way back out!
The next one I got, Dennis told me to paddle really hard, as most people don't paddle enough, I then paddled as hard as I could, and looked back just in time to see the wave break on top of me, I had paddled to hard and passed the wave. So it broke on top of me, and I bounced across the reef a bit, but only got a few scratches, nothing serious. However, when trying to get out of the surf, was hit by a few more waves, which broke the leash off the board (which was borrowed), so I took off to get it. I finally got to it, and Dennis came surfing in to help me out of the waves.
I did catch one more wave in by using my head, literally. So I was told if you feel like your coming off the wave to put more weight forward on the board, so I paddling as hard as I could, but falling off the wave so I put my forehead down and pushed on the front of the board, it worked! I caught the wave and rode it back in.
After the surf I was pretty exhausted, 3 hours of paddling around in waves is defiantly tough. So we came in and I grilled some nice greasy burgers, then headed back home. It felt good that I finally tried it, but I have learned that surfing takes lots of dedication and time, which I don't think I have. I think I might try boogy boarding, as that you can wear fins to help you get out! It would still be pretty fun, as we have some large waves here.
Well I hope you all at home enjoy thanksgiving, its next week I think, and I would love some of that Turkey!
Luke
2 comments:
i wish I could send you some turkey.
are you having any TG celebration?
"whittling" is how you spell it,per your dad. Go figure I never would have been able to spell it either.
Hi Luke, Nick from Oz here (I was there last Christmas - helped with your computers). Try surfing again, but this time don't try to catch the unbroken wave. Wait in front of the break and catch the foam, and learn to stand up after you start moving. This can take quite a while, but it will get your paddling strength up, help you learn to balance on the board, and stop you getting creamed (ahh, like hamburger mince?) on the reef. Good luck, it's a great sport.
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