I decided to start my surfing journey on this foggy, lazy Sunday. A perfect Sunday. I woke up feeling like I may be wasting away this Sunday, by going for a surf that I had planned earlier in the week. Luckily I was proven wrong.
After much effort to get the boards into a car not designed for three 8 foot boards, Katie, Jordan, and I embarked on our hour and then some drive to Jordan River. The conditions were looking pretty good, and I started to feel more of the surfing excitement as we approached. As usual, there was a good struggle getting the wetsuits on, (did it without assistance though! That’s a start) but we persevered. The struggle continued as we loaded boards into our arms and carried them to the beach. Unfortunately my arms were not designed to carry the width of a board, so I had some assistance (thanks Katie). By the time we were in the water, I was excited to have crossed the many obstacles leading up to the actual surfing process, and begin to catch some waves.
There were only two other women out there, who turned out to be very supportive! At the beginning of the session my confidence level was standing at a solid 5/10. Kind of unsure, but kind of excited. I caught a few non-crashers, but not many, perhaps 3. Jordan crept out into the ocean’s intimating vast body inch by inch, pulling me and Katie along until I realized I had never been so far out at Jordan River before. The bravery that she had began to rub off, and having the, both close by, gave me the courage I needed to begin trying to catch some non-crashers. I tried, and failed. I almost got one, and then got scared. But finally, after hearing a voice, a rather familiar one, telling me to “keep paddling!” I let the wave push me hard, while I kept paddling, shouting “WOOOO”. Alright, I thought, now I gotta stand. I managed to get up, maybe not gracefully, but stable enough to stay on the wave. I was able to steer myself into the wave, riding it until it died out. This, I thought, is how I want to feel all the time. After catching that wave, my confidence had a major boost, landing at about 7.5/10.
I caught one more very similar, as the sun set, giving us a reminder as to why we live on Vancouver Island. Drained, hungry, and feeling a sort of calm you can only achieve when exasperating your body in the elements of nature, we all high fived and struggled immensely to get our wetsuits off (I did need help).
In conclusion, it was a good day. The question is, will my confidence remain the same in my next session, or will I lose my courage and have to regain it?
Overall Confidence : 6 /10
Conditions: 7 foot swell
Busy: No
Best Wave of Session: Small non-crasher
Length of Best Wave: approx. 10 seconds
Session Duration: 2 hours
