My first time surfing experience

[flyjetta]

Well.. I am from WI and it was the first time I ever had been in the ocean.. it was in December and we were wearing wetsuits.. something else I've never done before. My friend gave me a 7 footer and we headed out to surf.

He then showed me how to paddle.. and how to flip the board over and go under it when waves come. It seemed odd though, because the board would smack down on me.. and it didn't seem like a good solution..

Anyway.. he wants to take me out to the lineup.. after I stood up on 2 waves in the whitewash..

On the way out there the waves seem huge.. intimidated I reluctantly paddle along..

As we were paddling out there.. I see my friend yell something to me.. and I can feel like I'm almost vertical.. and all of a sudden.. CRASH!!!

I held onto the board thinking it would pull me to the surface.. meanwhile I got thrashed around like there was no tomorrow.. when I finally got to the surface I didn't know which way to go.. just then another wave came and again.. I'm beat down.. frantically I'm just trying to get up on the surf board.. hoping the wave would push me to shore.. or at least I can stay afloat..

unfortunatly.. my friend never told me to face the board towards the shore and get on it.. so I was just trying to keep the board under my arms.. parallel to the waves.. so I was just getting beat over and over..

the shore looked so far away, and soon it was tough just trying to stay afloat.. much less do anything. All the frantic movements and the raced breathing.. I had no energy.. if I let go of the board I could barely feel the ground.. but since the currant would pull me back after each wave I couldn't get my foot on the ground.. I was too tired to try to swim for it.. I finally go close enough and was able to walk in.. I could barely walk.. my body was jelly.. I kept falling from the dents in the sand.. my friend just laughed at me and said I got maytagged and that it wasn't as bad as I think it was.. and to get over it..

but I think it was that bad. For the rest of the trip I was apprehensive.. I've never felt so helpless before in my life. I look at pictures of surfing and see videos and it makes my stomach uneasy and my knees knock.. and this is while sitting behind my computer miles and miles away.

After that I went after a few more waves that were a little bit more calm.. I always felt super tired.. and scared.. I felt helpless..

I decided that perhaps I should stay in the whitewash a bit more and fool around there.. my friend just badgered me for the rest of the time and called me "pussy" and other things..

am I wrong? I mean.. am I wrong for wanting to be in the soup? How long do you think people learning should stay with the soup? My friend said you can't duck dive a 7 foot board.. is that true? Then what do you do when a wave comes at you.. currently he says you just ditch it and dive if a wave is closing out on you.. but if a wave is coming is there a way to duck dive it with a long board?

Do you guys think I'm being overly sensitive of the situation? I think I can attribute it to larger waves in December and me getting thrashed.. he said he did the same thing but his waves that thrashed him were in the summer..

this was in San Diego by the way..

I feel like I'm really scared of surfing, but something makes me not want to give up on it..

any help and suggestions would be appreciated..

[flyjetta]

no replies? :?

[25thID_Hawaii]

Look man, I'm in the Army and stationed at Schofield Barracks, HI. I HAVE to learn how to surf. North Shore :shock: I've yet to try to surf, but I'm definitely going to. I've experienced much fear in the Army. Stuff I never had to deal with. I always beat my fears, fortunately. Don't give up on it. Surfing can be a real pain the butt to comprehend and master. Basically, it's too cool to give up. This experience is good. So next time when something minor happens you can go "Well, I've been through worse stuff before". I can't wait to surf, but first I need to become a strong swimmer. I can't even swim good so I need to practice. I'll be leaving in a month for Iraq and won't be back for a year. When I come back, though, I will definitely get into it. My boy Fran back in Philly wants to, also. He has some places he could learn on the east coast. Oh, and tell your boy to stop being a b*tch and actually help you out.

[leolivi]

I would say it sould all be about fun. If you want to spend the rest of your life catching white whater its fine as long as you are having fun.

What size were the waves? You should learn to surf on big waves.

Take your time, and think that the next time it will not be that bad because now you know what you did wrong ang how to do it right.

I am just learning to surf and i only get very small waves.

[nz girl]

just stay in the white wash to learn, it takes a while to get the hang of it and going out to the lineup when you can barely stand is plain stupid, sounds like your mate is out to impress and cares more about his macho self esteem then you getting thrashed out there. don't go deeper then you can stand till you have heaps of confidence and know what you are doing out there. also its sometimes easier just to walk your board out to where you want to catch waves and jump with your board over the white wash so you don't get dragged back instead of turtle diving (way too much effort yeah !) it is frustrating and can be scary when you are in too deep and keep getting thrashed, but its totally worth it in the long run. perhaps ditch your 'mate' next time...

[Duncs]

Hey flyjetta

Welcome to our board by the way, i don't know whether anyone has said that yet!

First off i think your pretty brave to do what you did, so don't feel to down about it. The guy you were with "sounds" like a jerk, [i say "sounds" cos i try not to judge people till i have met them], and was obviously being macho.

You definitely should surf in the whitewash till you feel confident standing, and then trundle over to the lineup. Trying to battle huge waves on your first go is making it doubly hard for yourself!

Plus, surfing is about fun, and in my opinion you shouldn't surf for any other reason. So play around in the whitewash and have fun like leolivi said. If getting bashed isn't your idea of fun, don't try it yet, build up some confidence.

Don't give up on it though, not from the one bad experience you have had. It is seriously wicked, and you'll love it.

Hope that helped

[Duncs]

no replies? :?

This board is still growing girl! So try not to :bump: posts only a couple of hours after you posted it!!!

I don't mean to sound harsh :( you just gotta give us a chance to get our lazy butts in gear :P

We are all friendly tho...

[sinistapenguin]

Hi Flyjetta

The key here is, as many people have said, FUN. I read a quote somewhere, may even have been on this site - "If you're not having fun, get out of the water".

BUT - I don't mean you should give up, not at all! My point is you should stay where you are comfortable and having fun. If you surf whitewater for the rest of your life and enjoy it then that's your decision. You don't EVER have to go to the line-up if you don't want to.

My advice is to stay in the whitewater until it doesn't bother you at all. You should be able to stand, turn, jump off and generally mess about without being afraid of the waves before you try for the line-up.

When you do decide to go for it. Pick a SMALL day - about 1 - 2 foot to try, this way the jump from whitewater is not too big.

As regards duckdiving, get the basics down in the whitewater first. Duckdiving is a hard thing to get right and you WILL get hammered when you are trying to learn. I duckdive my 7 ft 5 mini-mal quite easily. I've seen someone duck dive a 9 ft 6 longboard, so it can be done.

If you're getting frustrated and want to get to the lineup, but can't duckdive - try this. Firstly, take time out to watch the sets. You will notice that the waves come in groups of about 3 - 7 waves. Then there will be a lull. Try to be as deep as you can stand comfortably at the end of the set. Jump/ duck the last wave, then get on your board and paddle like crazy to get out before the next set! It sounds stupid but this is what the pros do!

IF you get caught inside, this is my solution. Get off the board and tread water. point the board towards the shore with the fins UP. grab the leash near where it attaches to the board. duck under the wave and pull down on the leash, the wave will go over you, but you won't have much time to get back on and paddle again.

If you need to, just repeat the above til the end of the set, then get back on and paddle like crazy again.

Paddling is the key to successful surfing!!

Cheers

Sinista

[guest]

This probably sounds ridiculous, but what do you mean when you say whitewash? Is that like little waves? Also, is it possible to surf waves in florida, about a foot or two about water level? Thanks

[sinistapenguin]

Whitewash is the churning white-water after the wave has broken!

Cheers

Sinista