First time surfing in 25+ years

[scott7mm]

I finally went surfing today for the first time since I was just out of high school. I didn't do all that good, but I didn't get in anyones way, and I had a blast. As a little background, I found a kids bodyboard at a garage sale this past summer and picked it up for my son. After pushing him into waves one day I asked him if I could give it a try. Riding a 2' wave on a very undersized board brought back a lot of memories so I started doing some looking around. I'd sold my surfboards years ago, but I still had a pair of 30 year old Churchill fins that are in good shape. Found a reasonably priced wetsuit, and bought a bodyboard. 5 months of riding the bodyboard helped me re-learn a lot of what I'd forgotten about waves. It also made me realize the differance between 19 and 45 as far as strength, flexibility, balance and stamina are concerned. The first time back in the water I only lasted 45 minutes before I was beat. Now I'm able to stay out 3-4 hours and I've lost 22lbs. (Need to buy a size smaller wetsuit) The funny thing is that as I got in better condition from being in the water, it made me want to work out more to inprove my time in the water. This has lead to running, biking, and core training.
Anyway, I appreciate the tips that have been posted on this site, and have to say that the advice on here has helped me quite a bit. Now it's just practice, practice, practice.

Scott

[torben]

Surfing is for all ages. I started at the age of 58.

[scott7mm]

And just as fun at 16 or 60.

[IB_Surfer]

I boogieboarded till I was 19 then picked up surfing at 33. Some of us take longer to catch on to the stokeness of surfing.