So guess what, after living in Cornwall for my childhood, and living in Devon for the rest, and at the grand old age of 28 I finally went surfing yesterday!
Ollie suggested we went out to North Devon, as he knew the surf was fantastic and he managed to get the day off work. So we headed out early and was at Croyde by midday. He wanted to surf the reef first, so I followed him along the cliffs and rocks with my camera and telephoto lens. I sat/stood on spiky and very uncomfortable rocks for the best part of two hours, taking lots of photos of the waves, surfers and of course my man surfing. He eventually came out and we walked back to the van to get some food and get me ready to hit the waves. I was so excited, after seeing him surf and all the surfers in the water.
After some refreshments, we packed the van up and headed round the corner to Saunton Sands where the surf was better for me to start with. I got in my wetsuit and we headed out to the sea. I wasn't so much nervous, just cautious about how cold the sea would be! Being mid October, and knowing how much of a wimp I am, I was fearing the worst. Yet I started to walk in and I was pleasantly surprised at how warm it was. Okay, okay, so not bath temperature, but in a full wetsuit it was absolutely lovely!
So we walked out to chest high water, and I got on the board and practiced paddling. Man was that hard, the hardest part of it all together. I got used to smashing over the waves as I waited for a good wave. Ollie told me to start paddling and I was off on my first wave. I was shooting across the water to the shore line. That done, the next stage was to catch a wave then kneel up. I got myself ready and caught a wave and got myself on my knees fairy quickly, and easily to. The next wave was to kneel up with one leg but stand up with the other. I was off on the wave and did that without an issue. It felt great, even before I stood up.
Ollie then took the board to show me the push up to standing up as he caught a wave next to me. Hmmm, yeah right, just like that, easy peasy! I certainly wasn't as confident about that as the other stages. Yet I got myself ready to catch a wave and I was off. Seconds later I had nose dived into the wave and was sucking up the ocean. Fantastic, my first experience of crashing out of a wave. I surfaced laughing my ass off and grinning like an insane person. Ha, on to the next wave. I needed to line myself up better on the board and put my hands further down the board toward me so I didn't push the top of the board into the water. I got that even before Ollie said it. So I was off again on another wave, and this time it felt right, I was comfortable to push up and swing my legs through to stand up when I realized a sea kayak was heading straight for me, so I had to bottle it before I attempted to stand up as I would have gone straight into him. Arse, I thought as I surfaced again, it was perfect, and felt perfect, and fairly sure I would have been on my feet.
Right onto the next few waves, and I very nearly got on my feet, but alas they were not quite right. So Ollie took the board out into the big waves to catch a wave back in. I was determined to stand up, even for a few seconds. So when he returned I got myself on the board and prepared for my best surf of the day. I set myself up on my own this time, picked my wave and started paddling...I was off, line perfect, I pushed up, swang my legs through, a bit messily but still, and I was stood up, both feet, hurrah I thought as I fell into the surf. I came up elated as I knew I had done what I wanted, my first surf lesson and had stood on the board and surfed. Whoop! Go me.
After we had changed back in the van, I felt that unbelievable feeling you get post-surf. A warm, exhausted yet contented feeling that is hard to put into words. And even today, after an amazingly fantastic sleep, I feel refreshed and alive again.
Although we are heading into winter, I knew I wanted to carry on surfing. Last night Ollie said to me "you shall have to look into getting a winter suit". So yeah, onto the winter months of surfing....can't wait!
Here's a photo of the surf I was in at Saunton Sands....
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