Surfing

Our surfing class

9/5/10

Day 1- Berry beach south
We arrived at berry beach north but have we had to moved to berry beach south as the beach was to big for those beginner surfer, there was also strong rips either side of where we would be surfing would make it very challenging for any surfer. Berry beach south was a beautiful site with clean large waves and lots of sun and little wind.

We all got up of the bus to be greeted by Shane, Oary and Sheryl, these three looked like they had seen a lot of sun and surf in a good way. They all had thongs, sunglasses and just generally looked like surfer dudes. I was very much looking forward to this day, as i have my own surf board and i sometimes go surfing with my uncle. We were given a wet suit which we put on and we all looked pretty funny, and it was funny watching people put there wet suits on. We where given a board which we carried down to the beach, i was hit with a salty, warm smell, it was really good. We went for a ten minute warm up, which we didn't really need as it was boiling in a wetsuit. This involved stretching your arms, legs and generally the whole body. I was really ready to get in the water at that point, instead of jumping into the water we had to learn the basics like paddling and of course standing up. This was done by doing a push up with your hips on the board. And then then jumping up getting your front foot forward. If your left foot was forward you were natural and if your right foot was forward you were goofy. I am natural, when we finally learned on the things we needed to we were off. The water was awesome, i charged out rather stupidly using a lot of energy, but it was fun. My and Tom were out the back with cam with all saw this wave and we all caught it and all successly stood up( HANG TEN DUDE!!!). Tom and Cam turned out to be really good surfers for rest of the two days. After my initial wave it paddled out to RANGA ( Charlie) and caught a wave with him, he surprised me as he actually stood up! He ended up being fairly solid. After a couple of solid waves i was handed a fibre glass board, 6,8 long it was good and a better challenge.

This continued through out the day with me catching the waves with my friends and having a good laugh when someone fell off or when someone got ran over. I was really good fun made much better with my mates around me.

At 3:30 we started the pack up process it took a long time and was painful watching everyone pack up when i just wanted to go back to camp and chill and get of the sun, as i was sun burnt.

10/5/10

Day 2- Berry beach south

As soon as i wake up to a howling wind i know the weather was going to be really bad and surfing was going to be made harder. We went to the class in the morning for a quick chat then on we went to the bus. We had a bit of a mix up with some people and there wet suits. Finally we were on the road talking and laughing. We arrived at the beach to find a absolutely crap and choppy day it was really bad. We partnered up as we had to share a board because of the bad weather. I went with Charlie and i went first. The weather was really bad and it was really hard to get out to where you wanted to be. Surfing this morning was hard as, we changed over every wave. Finally as the people were leaving the water as they were cold i could get my own board. Shane called me over and me and him caught the rip out along the rocks, this was really fun and very exciting. The first three waves i stuffed up and i was really annoyed with myself. After those three waves others caught on and i was catching the rip out with 5 or others. This was really fun as it was easy to get out the back and catch the big waves. I caught a couple of great waves and i caught the waves all the way in to the shore. Unfortunately the day only lasted half a day as the weather was so poor.

Overall the those to days were the bast two days i have had while being at extended stay and i am looking forward to the next two days very much and i can't wait. I am pumped.

Me above on a small smooth wave. Me below ripping it around the corner

17/5- day 3

For day 3 we surfed at berry bay north for the first time. The 2 instructors names were Owen and Prince.The board i grabbed was a red 7 foot board, which i had last time.This bay has stairs out at the top, below the stairs there are rips either side of them apart hundred meters apart. We started in front of the buses but couldn't help drifting towards the rips .The waves were really fun to catch and i caught some sweet right and left handers late in the day. For lunch i had fairy bread and i didn't get to sun burnt which i was really happy with. There were to groups the one i was in caught the righters away from the buses.The best part was when we were having a quick sesion to show everyone how to catch a rip out and we saw some dolphins jumping out of the waves and riding them. I quickly grabbed my board and paddled out. When i got out there i was right in the middle of the pack of 10 or so. There were 2 babies and the rest were adults. It was the weirdest feeling having dolphins swim under me and then it happened, one hit my board it was coolest thing and i will always remember it. Anyway the waves were alright and i caught some beauties and carved the waves hard. The afternoon was really good and i had a lot of fun. I was out of the water last and i was so tried and my neck really hurt.

18/5- day 4

Today was beautiful weather, there was no wind and it wasn't to hot although very bright. It was beautiful weather. Having friends there made it much better as it always does. The waves were massive and the general day was glassy and it was just wickered. Today the skills i had learnt over the last week really helped. The waves were huge they were around 5 foot said the instructor. The waves were really smooth and i really enjoy today. The waves weren't as good in the morning but still good, i enjoyed catching the smaller waves which were unbroken and i could really turn hard and surf the unbroken waves. In the afternoon the waves were the same but someone it was just better and i enjoy it more. The rip really picked up and we were finally able to catch the rip out the back and in doing so save a massive amount of energy and get out the back to the great big waves. And as well as the rip picking out you were able to catch a nice long right hander towards the rocks. This was got a bit annoying because if you started on the outside of a bad surfer how couldn't turn, then you would have to go straight as well.This was really fun because there was Nick P, the two instructors and paul how turned out to be a solid surfer. Catching the waves today were awesome and surfing in great weather makes it so much better. I stood up a lot today and overall i felt really good about my performance. Although i got smashed a couple of times because i tried to get out the back where the waves hadn't broken and got punished for it.

Overall the four days in the water were really fun and with my surf board i will surf a lot more and i will try and convinence my friends to by a board so i can surf with them. Surfing has been great and has been the best thing we have done