Second Time Out: Woolacombe 17-5-09

The day was a good one for me, even though it was a bit windy (would have been more sheltered at Putsborough) and there was a strong current, I learned a lot and surfed my first waves all the way in. The main things I learned today:

1. Feel the board properly catch the wave before trying to stand up (or pop up - as I should call it now that I'm a real-life surfer!).
2. Learning to surf involves a lot of walking. I started to feel like I was on a very wet walk with a stubbornly disobedient dog which leads me to:
3. Don't just drag your board about on the leash. The leash can damage the rail if the board gets tossed about in the whitewater (see my next post).
4. Pay attention to the lifeguards and their flags. They actually drove up to me, as I walked to the water, warned me about the rip current and advised me to keep an eye on the flags on the beach which designated the advised safe area to keep to. At first I thought "yeah-yeah, I'm not stupid y'know" but when I got in the water and felt how strong the current was I was very grateful for their presence. When windsurfing you're not so much at the mercy of the currents and this is clearly another fundamental aspect of surfing to educate yourself about. I think the mantra goes: "respect the ocean".