Surfing

Surfing

Surfing was a sport I have always been wanting to pick up, however have never really managed to do as I do not live near the sea. However in the summer I thought that it would be fun to drive down to Cornwall in south west England and to surf for a few days. So we planned our route and our accommodation and we went down there and learned to surf. It was immensely fun as the waves were especially good the days we were there and the weather was amazing. The activity I saw as a action activity due to its physically demanding attributes, especially from your arms and back due to the hard paddling you have to do to pick up on a wave. We surfend for 4 days for about 5-7 hours each day, so it took endurance and at the end one was fatigued beyond ones wildest imagination of exhaustion

Objectives

My objectives for the 4 days were to learn how to pick up on an incoming wave, being able to spot good waves and then to stand the good waves. I thought these would be fairly reasonable objectives as I had been skating for a while before that and the balance skills do correlate a little, however the balance on a surfboard is quite a bit harder. However when I started learning these things I noticed I needed to learn the technique to stand up and the positioning on the surfboard before I could learn to surf properly.

Reflection

After being down in corwall for 4 days and having surfed everyday for 5-7 hours, I must say that I have been able to tick off all of my objectives that I set myself and also achieve these well. I first set out to just look at the incoming waves and get a feel for the good waves. After being able to see good waves, I set out to pick up on these, which was done by lying on your board and padelling in the same direction as the wave, however this took a lot more strength and endurance than I had ever expected, however after a while I managed to pick up on these waves and first I just cruised along them whilst lying on my board and got the feel of being on the wave and it was amazing because one picks up so much speed in next to no time, until now I must say it was one of the most enjoyable CAS experiences. After getting that feeling I set out to start standing up, however this was even harder than expected. So I first took a cheeky sneak peak at the surf school lessons and stole the technique. After getting the technique down it was a breeze and I learnt the ability to surf a wave, I then learnt to surf along the wave and pump into the wave to achieve greater speeds and length of surfing. All in all I must say it was an amazing experience for myself and an successful CAS activity. (Photos coming in future)

This is a pic of me (on the right) surfing with my friend (on the left) 

Continuation

I was in Cornwall again for 5 days this time, drove down on the Sunday and came back on the next Friday, we surfed from Monday to Friday and waves were great. My aim this time was to catch the big waves and surf under it while it breaks, however this was a little ambitious for me. We rented a the boards on a beach near new quay, we were a little edgy whilst walking the 3 km to the beach with boards, as two surfers had died just the day before on the very beach we were walking to, we had heard that the waves were on an unbelievable swell for the day, however my feelings were mixed, I was excited to catch big waves, however I was not experienced in waves the size of 3 meters, towering above you, before that the biggest had been 1 and a half meters with which I was still struggling at times. Nervously walking to the beach I was imagining what the waves looked like, so after actually walking over the hill, that was hiding the beach, we saw the waves that everyone was talking about and rumors did not do them justice, they were magnificent we really had came down on the right day to new quay, however my excitement was short lived. Once putting boards down and getting our wetsuits on to prepare for the freezing water, we dared our first try. I ran towards the water and waded in until it was hip high and then threw myself on the board, I then started paddling forgetting about my comrade behind me. However I did not notice the oncoming already broken wave, it hit me frontal and took me right off the board and held me under water for good 15-20 seconds. This was frightening to me, as I was not used to such a long wipeout, however I kept at it, this time attempting to dive under the barriers of broken waves hitting on us, just trying to get out to the monster unbroken beasts that would carry us along the beach. It really was one of the most difficult and strenuous activities I had done in a while, everytime a wave came, diving under for 10 seconds, surfacing and having to dive again, the waves were relentless. Finally after 15-20 minutes I had managed to get out to the surfable waves, I let a few pass me before I attempted my first one of the trip, I saw it come orientated myself correctly and paddled as hard as I could. the wave picked me up and I felt the raw power under me, a lot heavier than last time I surfed, however my board was jittering all over the place, I could not control it, then trying to stand up on this beast I pathetically wiped out, the wave dragged me under again. Its a very powerless feeling to be in the midst of such a wave, one has to just let it drag you out until its finished, then just surface. I surfaced and took a deep breath after being under water for maybe half a minute, I tried a few more times to get out to the waves, but me and my friend called a break after just an hour, the waves had battered us and the first time in my life I started to understand the respect one has to have for nature, we called it a day at that beach and packed together and went to a beach more local to us.
This is where we spent most our time surfing, here we caught a lot of good waves, the waves were not a powerful here in carbis bay as they were in new quay, however we had learnt not to complain about the wave size, here we learnt our balance and our feeling for the boards once again, however I knew that we had to try new quay waves again before we left. So we surfed Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at Carbis Bay, it really developed our eye for the waves and our timing, we noticed where we had to be floating to get the wave, to paddle on it as when a wave broke it was useless. In this time we developed our basic surfing skills and really enjoyed our time in nature being from London. The weather was aweful, foggy, rainy and cold, however we did not care, we were just floating all day in the water enjoying it and that is what I felt I learnt about surfing, it was not only about being on a wave, but about being amidst nature and enjoying it with the people you are with. Friday was upon us and we had planned everything for that day, it was New Quay day, again my feeling were mixed, partially excited, however I was a little anxious and fearful. That morning we drove up, wetsuit already on and kitted up, we took surf boards out and had the dreading 3 km walk to the beach again. Again I was wondering how the waves were looking like, even bigger? I did not know, however I was about to find out. As we had stumbled over the hill conceiling the beach, there was an awe of disappointment. It was flat as anything, waves in the thames could have beat what we saw there. This was a real disappointment to our trip, we drove 6 hours in silence thinking of what could have been if New Quay beach was alive that day.
All in all I had not reached my goal of surfing the monster wave I had hoped to, however I had learnt more about surfing than surfing any wave could teach you, the respect for the ocean, we have no power of what it does to us and I feel like this has lit an incentive in me to keep on surfing where I can and I doubt it will stop anytime soon.