Disaster. And yesterday went so well.
The hard part about surfing isn’t standing up and finding balance. The hard part is picking the wave, timing it and having your board at the right angle. When I was in my group class, the instructor did all that work for me. He’d aim the board toward shore, find the wave, and then push me at exactly the right time. All I had to do was stand up, keep a low profile and stay on for a few seconds.
Today I was on my own, so it was my job to find the wave and time it. I failed miserably. I didn’t get a single wave. After an hour of exhausting myself, I decided I needed another plan of attack. Three possibilities came to me.
- Quit.
- Buy more lessons.
- Find something similar.
Quitting now means walking away knowing that at least I tried surfing. Buying more lessons means burning through my Summer of George money while I’ve got no income. That I’m reluctant to do.
The last option is the Similar Strategy. After my wrist surgery, I couldn’t lift weights for a long time. Then one day I discovered that I could do push-ups on my fists and it wouldn’t put any strain on my wrist. This kept my strength up until my wrist was healed.
What is similar to surfing? Bodyboarding. It’s cheaper, can fit in my car, and will provide me a way to build up my swimming endurance as well as learn wave patterns. Good idea or am I misguided?
Legacy Comments
JeSais
Body boarding rocks… Body surfing is also a good way to learn waves, and you can even feel the water right through to your core. It’s awesome. Surfing just takes a lot of practice– I wouldn’t spend any more money on lessons 🙂