surfer girl

When I try something new, I tend to go all in with it and go big. That is definitely true of the first time I went surfing. We were in Oahu, Hawaii at Waikiki beach and I wanted to try surfing. My aunt, who aimed to please, signed the consent form and I was off to take surfing lessons. I did a group lesson, and was fortunate that there were only 2 other folks in my group, so I did get the attention that a newbie needed.


To start with, we spent what seemed like forever on the beach, practicing standing on our boards. I thought it was silly, but I really wanted to learn how to surf, so I went with the flow. We had to jump around and all sorts of crazy dance moves on our boards. I felt a little odd, but there was a method to the madness of it.

The first thing we learned to do in the water was to paddle our board. In most cases, you will be paddling out to catch a wave, not being towed out. (save the towing for experts). Watching someone do it makes paddling look easy, but believe me, its not! You have to get on a piece of wood in at least waist deep water, keeping your balance. Laying on your belly, you need keep yourself balanced and paddling your board toward a giant wave. Even if it doesn’t look giant from the shore line, when you are in the ocean, believe me it looks huge.

Since waves are continuous, you need to learn how to duck dive. This, for me, was a difficult concept to master, and I don’t think I ever really got the rhythm down. You basically force you and your board under the wave and then let it roll under you. Our instructor spent a lot of time on this, as it is very important to be able to do, and I in turn, spent a lot of time water logged.

“Catching a Wave” is the whole purpose of surfing. In order to do so, you need balance, timing and luck. Basically, you need to point your board to the beach. We practiced for what seemed like forever to be able to feel one with the wave. For me, this was not a natural feeling, and quite honestly, it was a huge struggle. Everything that you are supposed to do to catch a wave is counter intuitive for me. I had perfected my duck dive earlier in the day, but now I wasn’t supposed to, so I was confused. The ultimate goal is to stand up on your board in one smooth, fluid motion. When I tried, I was less than graceful, and I spent a lot of time in the ocean, under my board, beside my board, everywhere but on my board. I wish I could tell you that I perservered and at the end of my lesson I was riding the Pipeline, but alas that would be fiction.

Contrary to popular belief, surfing is not confined to California or Hawaii. In fact, some of the greatest east coast waves are found in New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. I tried surfing at the Wall in New Hampshire, on the Cape, Narangassett in Rhode Island, and Popham Beach in Maine (it actually was all one trip). The best east coast surfing time is actually in the fall, due to hurricane season, and October is prime surfing time in NJ. I never did actually surf in NJ all the years I lived there, but I had friends that did and they swore it was as good, if not better than Pacific ocean waves.