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We’re back in Maui and it’s our final Hawaiian port of call. We’re here for 2 days, 2 night - and we’re going to make the most of it! I rented a car again for me and friends to get around the island with ease. This afternoon, I have a snorkel tour planned and booked for me and another friend, Joey. Jenny wasn’t interested in snorkeling, but wanted to come out for the day. So we decided to go to the town of Kihei where Jenny and Joey would be able to surf and I could hang out on the beach.
I surfed once before, about a year and a half ago, when I was in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa. But I didn’t really have the confidence to go out on my own. At the shop where Jenny and Joey rented their boards, I asked about group lessons, but their scheduled times didn’t work with the time period I had before our afternoon tour. So I was fine to sit on the beach. Except when we went out to the water, I discovered that there wasn’t much of a beach - just rocks and water. I left Jenny and Joey
and thought I’d just go explore on my own for a couple hours. When I returned to the car, there was another surfing company right across from our car. I walked over and asked if they had a group lesson happening. They did - in fact, it was just starting! So in about 3 minutes, I signed a waiver, paid a fee, lathered on the sunscreen, was given a board and was suddenly in a surf lesson! A family had their three teenagers taking a class together and I was the random woman who jumped in on the class!
We spent very little time on land with the board, at least compared to my previous lesson. Then we were out in the water. We had to walk quite a way out in the water to reach the waves, but it was shallow much of the way out. Already it was a totally different experience from my first taste of surfing - J Bay had been cold and gloomy with freezing waves the day I tried surfing there; today in Maui, the sun was beating down, the water was warm and the waves were steady.
My first time surfing,
had not been very successful. I never really figured out standing on the board; I just fell a lot. So I didn’t really anticipate a lot of success today. But wow, was I wrong!
Rick, my instructor, had us one at a time, get up on our boards and then he pushed us into the approaching wave. My first attempt, I totally failed. I was down before I was up. My second attempt however, I stood up and realized, oh my gosh, I’m actually surfing! After that, I rode more waves then I fell!
I’m really glad that I did the lesson today. Jenny and Joey were surfing near where my lesson was, though they hadn’t noticed me until about my last half hour. They asked at one point what my instructor was actually teaching me because I was on my own so much. But my previous lesson in J Bay had focused much more on us independently catching waves. After the first handful of waves, I didn’t need Rick to push me into the waves. I wanted to catch them on my own - and I could! The waves were much easier to ride in Maui, than
in J Bay, so I was able to figure out what I needed to know. I’d ride a couple waves, then go to Rick with questions. For example, I quickly realized that now that I knew how to ride the wave, I needed to figure out how to get out of it, not just fall out of it. Things like that.
By the last half hour or so of the lesson, I was just loving it! I was getting up and riding the waves, throwing my hand around in the air like I had a lasso!
Surfing today was so much fun. And I have a lot more confidence now. I think the next time I wind up somewhere with surfing, I’d be comfortable enough to just rent a board and go out. Now I’ll just need to find another travel destination to get back in the waves . . .
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swills82
Sarah Willett
looks like my surfing experience in Nicaragua. Our instructor told us we would only ever need one lesson in our lives and not to waste money on other lessons. I think the nice thing about having the instructor though, is having them push you into the wave in order to catch it. When I tried on my own, I couldn't paddle my arms hard enough to catch the wave. lol. Congrats on the stand. :)