Surfin' USA

In the past two years that I’ve lived in Rockaway, I’ve spent a lot of time watching the surfers on the beach, my little heart filled with envy. They always look so cool and like they’re having so much fun. (Especially when they’re hoisting their surfboards through the subway car on their way to the beach, and I’m dragging my tired self to work. But anyway…)

Ready to ride the waves!

On Saturday my friend Andrea and I finally joined them! We took lessons with Locals Surf School on Beach 67^th Street.  Our surfing may not have been as effortless or as pretty as the real surfers' looks, but we definitely had our groupon's worth of fun.

We started by learning the lingo and practicing our moves on land. Apparently my “pop ups” were sub-par and I was told I would “wipe-out.” Luckily we also learned an acronym, “CRAWL,” to teach us how to fall off the boards – pretty much what I got from that lesson was to cover my head right away and hope for the best.

Once we got in the water, I continued to wipe out. I’m pretty sure I got close to "popping up" a few times, but I never actually stood up before I fell right off the board. Oh well!

 

These surfers are not me. But maybe someday!

What I did learn, though, is that I am obsessed with surf culture and surf attitude. No matter how quickly I fell off my board, every time I paddled back out to the instructors, I’d get a high five and a little pep talk as they pushed me back into the wave: “I know you’ve got it! This one’s gonna be your wave.” Then, I’d wipe out again, but somehow, I felt so good about it!

The lesson ended with a talk about surf etiquette. How to know when it’s your turn to surf, paying respect to more experienced surfers, things like that. And we learned that the most important thing to remember in surfing is to “Smile. Have fun. Put good vibes out there and they’ll come back to you.” Words to live by if I’ve ever heard them.

 

I’ve got the good vibes part down, even if my pop ups need some work. I definitely want to try again – next time, I’m pretty sure, it really will be my wave!