Surfing Envy

[Sar]

After a few beers - just felt the need to share....

Went to Oz for a Holiday recently and went to Manly beach surf school to try and break my endless pop up problems.

Went out and was having an ok, tho a fruitless attempt at surfing.

This other lady who was in the group who has never tried surfing before seemed to be doing very well, the instructor, quite rightly suggested going out back to catch an unbroken wave. I watched, and she pearled on the first wave though it was a good attempt. There was a nice wave stacking up so the instructor pushed her into the wave, after a quick paddle she caught the wave and, no tricks but rode it perfectly.

This was after about 45 mins of surf school!!!! Damn it!! I have wanted to surf for years, finally plucked up the courage to try it and after countless attempts I am still rubbish.

The real stinger is that afterwards I thought she would be completly stoked, but no, she was mopey and said she was in a bad mood!! Jesus, i was pleased that I managed to pop up once to step off my board rather than falling off.

She was an acomplished snowboarder and very fit (I dont just mean aesthetically guys!) which Im not but that barley softens the blow!
Ramble mode disengaged.

[isaluteyou]

What can i say everyone learns at a different pace. Oh and nothing is linear meaning slow starters dont always take ages to get going once you catch the wind you are unstopable. Heres a little story based on my own expereince which you may find usefull.

I started out bodyboarding some time ago and it took me bleeding ages before i even plucked up the confidence to wear swim fins. Then t took me absolutely ages to learn how to duckdive. Evently after about 2 weeks+ i made it out to the line up where it was a complete disaster i couldnt ride at all ( cmon this is bodyboarding why was it so hard for me - thats what i was saying to myself) any way after numerous bundled wave attempts I eventually caught my wind and suddenly my confidence and learning powess went into overdrive withing a week i was trimming right. A month later i was doing 360's, cutbacks. 2 weeks later i did DK and the rest is history really i went from zero to hero so to speak.

Then when i started surfing I thought all my dking would make it easy for me. Wrong. I felt like a n invalid again I couldnt popup properly well i couldnt popup regular and i had an entire week of 3 hour rubbish invalid sessions. To cut a long story short it took me an entire month of 2-3 hour sessions every day to even make it out to the lineup. It took me about 2 weeks before i was actually then catching unbroken waves but just going straight. Then after 2 weeks of that i managed to trim and take an angle. Then suddenly i got some wind and my progress has galloped after four months of surfing i have surfed 12ft+waves done cutbacks and am very confident in the water.

Now although it may seem my time frame is short remember im in everyday for at least 2 hours. (which is about 240 hours of surfing in total)

The moral of this story is i struggled in the begining where others seemed to get it easy but in retrospect i have left them in the dust preformance wise. Nothing is linear. Sheer determination won the day for me and the fact that having so many hours of water time and constantly bundling made me learn quick.

Oh ya if you get that wind im talking about (im sure others can relate to what i mean) Then extract every ounce of inspiration it gives.

Finally dont look to others just ignor it and go at your own pace thats the best way forward. See it, Think it, Do it

[libby]

YES YES YES YES YES YES!!! I totaaaaally get surf envy, very VERY badly. Like you endless pop up issues meant that it took me months even just to get to my feet, and likewise, i know lots of people who after there first lesson have just picked it up straight away - makes me want to cry sometimes.

Now my surf envy takes a different form - people who actually get a chance to surf. What with final year uni, the fact that i dont drive, thefact that i am currently winter wetsuitless and skint means that my surfing has been stopped in its tracks.

Never mind, going to beg my mum for a winter suit over the christmas holidays and try to get in the water a bit and then hopefully once i graduate i'll learn to drive and then the surfs my oyster so to speak!

But as for the original topic- surf envy exists and it HURTS!!

[mostyn]

In away, youve got to feel alittle sorry for these people. We had a skater come surfing with us this summer. Within half an hour hes up, cutting left and right, by the end of the day he had almost mastered 360`s. The thing is, as good as he is , the challenge he was hoping for wasnt there. We may see him once a year, but hes just not bothered. His mate on the other hand hasnt stop phoning.

[Sar]

Cheers guys, feeling a better about it now. I just didnt realise that these people existed - bit wierd imo

[gdude335]

the two people that learned fast in this post were snowboarders or skaters.
That really helps to jumpstart. It really makes a person gain balance and confidence because these people know the challenge.
I feel so bad now that i got up and stayed on the wave withouht falling in the first hour of my first lesson.
watch you guys blow me to dust in a week!
Determination and wanting to surf is a big thing too.
I was at a camp to learn and some people took 2-3 waves per session (one hour and a half). Others took as many as they could!!
Bodyboarding helps for timing catching a wave.
Also i do have some background that helped me:
snowboarding, a bit of skateboarding, agressive inline before, bmxing and boogyboarding and bodboarding.
It really helps!!!

[surferdude_scarborough]

i have to admit im one of the people who picked it up really quick. i was up and riding waves to the beach in about half an hour without any lessons. no skateboarding or snowboard experience either. i was just lucky i guess. im not sure about the lack of challenge thing i love surfing just as much as anyone else.

[tomcat360]

I picked it up quick, but then I hardly improve because I hardly get to surf. So I've definately got surf envy of those who get to surf whenever they feel like it.

And it kinda makes me mad when people constantly complain about waves(like, constant....) , but they always get more than me (a pond)

[pat42]

tomcat, are you Tom from the Globalsurfers forum??

[tomcat360]

nope, just this one and swaylocks, sometimes silverfish

[pat42]

The 'Tom' on Global gets so much sh*t

It's so funny!!

[Sar]

I feel the need to update this - a friend bought round an Indo board for me (for FREE - to keep!!) and Ive played around a bit and Im not as bad as I expected. But my boyfriend, WHO DOESNT EVEN LIKE SURFING is good at it!! He just had a go with a pint in his hand a didnt spill a drop!!! despite that "bad knee" that prevents him from doing stuff around the house
....cheeky sod did it cos he knew it would wind me up and it has!! ARGHH!!

Matt, thanks for the board and everything and you did say you accepted no responsibility for damage to household items and family pets but I dont remember you saying anything about damage caused by plate throwing fights caused by other half being better at 'Indo Boarding' than me!!

There is true discord in the Sar household

[kitesurfer]

There is true discord in the Sar household

That would be the god aweful noise that i could hear last night then!

[drowningbitbybit]

The real stinger is that afterwards I thought she would be completly stoked, but no, she was mopey and said she was in a bad mood!!

What is it they say? The best surfer in the water is the one who was having the most fun.

Therefore, she should be envious of you.

[Otter]

Wow, never realized that such feelings existed. I learned to surf in about 6 months, of course, I'm still learning. There's always something new about each and every wave you ride, that's one of the reasons surfing is so unique and so much fun. It's never the same!
Even with my 40th anniversary of surfing happening this year, there is still nothing I would rather do than surf. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! That includes drinking, getting high or having sex. NOTHING, what's more, it's been that way since I first smelled surf wax!