Surfing

So obviously it would have been stupid to come to coastal Australia and not try to surf, so today, I went surfing for the first time! I wasn't expecting to be able to do very much, since the last time I tried to skate board I couldn't go for five metres before falling off, but I think I did pretty well for a first timer!

My mate Jake offered to take me out and give me some tips, and since he's been surfing since he was about six, I would have been stupid to turn him down! He lent me a board and a wetsuit, and when we got down to the beach he drew a board in the sand and made me practice on that for a bit... I did feel like a bit of an idiot but I knew it would be beneficial to try and get some sort of technique down. After a couple of minutes of leaping up from the sand, we went out into the sea.

I reckon conditions were pretty good for an amateur (not that I'm any kind of expert), and the waves were probably about the right size. After a bit of practice paddling around and ducking under waves, Jake pushed me onto my first wave. I could feel it breaking underneath me, and it was now or never so I tried to stand up, and obviously I failed, but it still felt great!

I went on like this for a while, and after about twenty minutes I'd managed to get up onto my knees, and about half an hour later I was on my feet (even if it was only for about half a second)! I was pretty chuffed with myself, but by that point, looming uni deadlines meant we had to come in.

Massive thank you to Jake though for giving up some of his time to teach me, hopefully, by the end of the year, I'll be as good as, if not better than this guy :p