Search

First day of Surfing!

ottokallin
Nov 6, 2016
3 min read

Day 1 – Initial Excitement

I is 5 am when I wake from my jet-lagged slumber to my the jolly melody of my alarm. I do not feel very jolly myself at the moment. But today is the day when I finally get to try surfing and that thought lifts my mood slightly.

Me and Erik are taking our boards to Canggu beach to catch some waves in the days first light. This early the streets are almost empty which is a relief. Once we arrive at the beach I grab my unwieldy longboard excitedly, wanting to run straight out into the waves as if schools out and it’s the first day of summer. But Erik, the man with the mustache, just stands there, gazing out towards the waves.

“Humm...” He mumbles in some to me still unknown dialect of surfer-tongue.

“Is it any good?” I ask uncertainly.

“Yeah, looks decent.. They should be good for you.”

Shortly thereafter I am paddling through the whitewater. The waves that Erik scoffed at from the beach look a lot larger as they wash over me. My board is way too big to dive with so instead of going under the waves I have roll and let them wash over me or tackle them head on which usually ends poorly.

But some time later, breathing heavily with exhaustion and excitement, I join Erik outside the wave break where the hardest part is yet to come – balancing on the surf board while sitting. Erik makes it look easy while I bob up and down like a puffy duckling.

“You’ve got to paddle properly.” Says Erik. Something I will get tired of hearing in the coming weeks. “If you just keep flailing your arms you won’t get anywhere.”

I splash my board around to face him and answer from my wobbly perch.

“I am trying to, it is just that whenever I get the rhythm going a wave comes an-” at that moment one of the afore mentioned waves rolls by underneath us and my board decides to roll with it. I take a plunge and when I come back up again Erik is laughing goodheartedly. I shake the of the salty waters and climb back up.

The sun rises as we sit there waiting for a good set of waves to roll in. And as it turns out - surfing is a waiting game. Waiting for the set, waiting for the swell, waiting for the tide, waiting for the sun. Overall it makes for whole lot of waiting.

“Finally.” Says Erik. “This one is yours.” and he nods towards a hill of water that has begun to build on the horizon. I lay down on my chest and begin to paddle.

“Common! Paddle, paddle, paddle!” From Erik somewhere behind me.

I feel the swell rise and catch and carry me, pushing my board forward and me with it. Without thinking I press myself up standing. A laugh escapes me. I am actually doing it! Half the world away from home, this is what I traveled all this way for. To learn how to ride the ocean.

I had thought it would feel something like snowboarding, like sliding down a moving mountain of water. But I was wrong, it feels more akin to riding on a roaring avalanche.

I feel ecstatic.