Met two guys in the lineup the other day......we got to talking and I found out that they were from Norway....they made a comment that made me think of recurring themes here.....both were in their 30s and both had been snowboarders from when they were in their pre teen years....one said that he'd been here for two months and he'd caught about 5 good waves....the other one was on his fourth sesh and yet to catch one.....they both assumed that their snowboarding expertise would be an asset in learning to surf; actually they figured it would be a piece of cake and the one who'd been here two months expected to get barrelled immediately off the plane.....
....then they both tried it for the first time and found out the reality that gets written about so often here.......it was amusing to hear it coming out of the mouths of those who'd learned the hard way....or in the process of learning the hard way...I tried to help the one who'd never caught a wave; put him on the spot and then told him when to paddle.....his paddling sucked and he pearled hard when the wave came.....honestly he had no business being out back in the first place...anyhow, the point of the story......two longtime/lifetime snowboarders who now understand and embrace the fact that being good at snowboarding does NOT translate into being able to speed the learning curve for surfing.....not in the slightest.
I also told them to change their boards....one guy was a pure viking, looked about 6'6" / 220lbs and was on a mini mal....other one was on a hybrid shortboard that was about 6'8"isn....that day was fat, small, soft and on top of it I was out at high tide...live and learn....