Insight into the mind of a beginner/newbie

[steveylang]

The riding of the board is the easy part, relatively speaking.

It's funny, if you ask anyone who wants to learn to surf they will think the exact opposite- they're worried about if they'll be able to balance and stand on the board. But you don't know what you don't know, until you try it (for awhile.) This is only my 2nd year, but it's hard for me to wrap my head around what I originally thought what learning to surf would be about, vs. what I now know.

There's a pretty good channel on Youtube called 'Surf Insight' I think, the guy said it's called surfing, but what it should really be called is "a lot of paddling, with a little surfing as well."

[kookRachelle]

I have to say, I knew it was a lot of paddling but I underestimated the difficulty of getting out to the line up sometimes! I'm way more used to it now and can deal but thoroughly got tossed, and my soul crushed, every single time in the beginning.

Also, I always assumed the most difficult part of surfing was the "pop up!" I have that down, but I still need to work on balancing. I think timing is hard to grasp at first (I almost have it!), and I know that being able to feel the wave change under me, being able to change position to accommodate it, is probably the hardest part for me.

If it were easy, everyone would do it.