Surf's Up, Dude!

Saturday morning called for some spontaneous surfing. So, we hopped into a VW Chico with the three guys from Liverpool who live down the hall from us, drove to Muizenberg, and hit up a surf shop for some very stylish wetsuits and surfboards. (I've got pictures, but my camera is currently under the weather. Hopefully, I'll get it fixed this weekend.)

Seeing as I'm from the Midwest, and can probably count the number of times I've been to the ocean on once hand, I decided that it would probably be a good idea to start off my surfing career with a lesson from a real live surfer. This ended up being a fabulous decision. Donovan, our surfing instructor, had all sorts of pearls of wisdom to share with us like: if you fall off, just put your hands over your head like this. (Sorry, if the camera was working Figure 1 would be here.) Donovan started us out on the beach and had us lay on our surfboards and then jump up really fast and assume a surfer pose. It was hilarious and wonderful and I think it actually helped my surfing.

But, my favorite part was after we actually got into the ocean. Donovan had us lay on our boards and would push us when a wave would come so that we could "catch it" and try to get up. (Note: emphasis on "try." I probably made it to standing every third wave. ) I can't say that I'm a surfing prodigy, but overall it went better than I had hoped. And it was AMAZINGLY fun!!Maybe I'll move to the coast when I get back to the States.