Surfer Dude…?? Me…??

Kitted up and ready to attempt the surfing thing...!!

Surfing has never been a pastime or sport that I ever considered doing…

When Patti suggested we visit Legian on her day off, and that I try my hand at surfing, I immediately thought of half a dozen reasons why I should not try making a fool of myself on a crowded beach…!!

Then a voice told me that I had already made a perfectly good fool of myself in many other situations, so why stop now…!!

We rented a car and drove down to Legian, just north of Seminyak, where Patti and Mikaela had had their surfing lessons the previous week…

We chose “Up 2 U” Surf School, owned and managed by Paul, an Australian who had us kitted up and ready to surf after barely a few minutes of meeting him…

Felix, our instructor took us down onto the beach, lay our boards on the sand and then taught us how to slide up and onto them in one smooth movement, before allowing us to attempt the feat in the shallow waters offshore… We belly surfed for a few minutes until he was satisfied that we could judge the waves breaking behind us, and then got to the part where he showed us how to stand up on them…

By this time I was itching to get out there and attempt to “surf”…

Before my mind could come up with reasons why I shouldn’t be attempting this, I took the first medium sized wave that came rolling towards me, and by sheer fluke, actually managed to stand up and surf it all the way onto the beach…!!

Up at my first attempt...!! Who would have thunk it...??

To wild cries of delight from both myself and Patti, (who had been standing waiting to take a photo of me with a mouthful of sand), I stepped off the board into barely a few inches of water, and nonchalantly walked, and then paddled back out to have a go at “something bigger”…

I managed to catch another two or three smaller waves, before that “something bigger” came along… Up until that point, I had convinced myself that surfing was nowhere near as difficult as I thought it would be…

Patti was also have a grand time of it, riding waves back to the beach…

Not satisfied with the usual "stand up routine" Patti puts a bit of her own style into her surfing...!! She calls this one "Swan Landing", I think...!!

I watched as the last wave in the set came rolling in towards where I was waiting… Brimming with confidence usually associated with only the foolhardy, I got up onto my board, noticing as I did so, that just about every other student out there was frantically trying to pull their boards out of the way of the oncoming wave…!!

As the word “Chickens…!!” began forming in my mouth, my mind went blank and I completely forgot what I was supposed to be doing…!! I have been reliably informed that a sudden burst of terror will sometimes have that effect on one…!!

My board reached the beach before I did, and was in far better condition than I was, I might add…!! I had spent a few seconds trying to keep the damn thing from trying to knock my teeth out, while the world turned blue, white, blue, black and then blue again…!!

I quickly discovered that it is difficult to roll yourself into a protective ball when you have a 9 foot surfboard attached to your left foot…!! Felix had neglected to mention this little fact to me while extolling the wonders and enjoyment of surfing…!!

Felix was quick to notice that my confidence had taken a serious dent, and got me back out to where the waves were building, and while doing his best to hide his laughter, he advised that I should master the smaller waves first before considering signing up for the Gunston 500…!!

Confidence restored, I spent the next hour having the time of my life out there...!!

Paul of "Up 2 U" Surf School poses with Patti and I after our lesson...

Dispelling all dreams of joining the professional circuit, I let Felix concentrate on showing Patti the finer points of surfing, while I got my scattered brain cells back in working order and began rebuilding my confidence…!!

Before long I was back on the board, and enjoying every minute of it…!!

Well pleased with ourselves, we retired to the beach to celebrate with a couple of Bintangs...!!

All too soon, our two hour lesson was up, and we walked back to the surf school, carrying our boards and well satisfied with ourselves…

Amazing what you are able to achieve when you have a positive attitude and put your mind into what you are doing, rather than wasting time telling yourself why you shouldn’t be attempting something that you believe you cannot do…!!

I had been convinced that I would never be able to get up onto a surfboard, and had studiously ignored a number of opportunities I had in the past to try my hand at surfing…!!

Later that afternoon, while watching the sun go down, Patti and I sat on the beach enjoying a few ice cold Bintang Beers…

I was able to reflect on another amazing, and thoroughly enjoyable experience that I had just had… One that I had never planned or even dreamed about…

And sometimes, those are the best experiences you can have…!!

©GBWT 2011