Sunday, August 19, 2007

Surfer Girl

This post has a soundtrack.

As it turns out, I really, really like surfing. After last week's successful lesson, my friend Katie suggested we get a group together to go down to San Onofre and spend the whole morning in the water. She said the beaches there were beautiful and the waves were a little more manageable for beginners.

So totally against my nature, I got up at 5:30 on Saturday morning to meet up with the girls. We met a few guys down at the beach but for the most part, this was a girl power outing.

We loaded up the trucks with all the gear and headed about an hour South.


San Onofre is the only beach left in Southern California where you still park right on the sand. When we pulled up I sort of felt like we'd landed on the set of Gidget.

Surfboards look awesome even when they are just laying there.

And frankly, so do people in wetsuits. You know something really fun is probably going to happen.

So we got out into the water and there were surfers EVERYWHERE. Which I'm sure once you are a really good surfer is kind of annoying...but when you are brand new? It's actually pretty fun. Which leads me to a short list of reasons I can't wait to do this more:

1. I LOVE being out in the water. Even just sitting on the board, watching the waves and waiting for a good one, is me getting to interact with the ocean. As much as I love sitting on the beach, I love being in it more.

2. Catching a wave is a huge rush. I only got up a few times but the waves were pretty slow and rolling so I came close a lot as well. I can't really describe it but maybe something about having to wait and be patient for a good one to come along makes it all the more exhilarating when you catch one.

3. I really enjoyed all the chatter in the water. People were pretty friendly and super encouraging to the newbie. And quite frankly, even though there were plenty of girls in the water, this is still a male dominated sport and I am never going to complain THAT.

You can't really tell unless you know where to look but this is me in the water. I'm in the middle, my board is pink.

These are two of the other beginners, Kellie and Kristen. We all managed to stand up at some point. Probably because Katie is a really good teacher.
I'll confess that part of the reason I had so much fun was that I knew we got to use the outdoor shower afterwards to rinse off. I am slightly obessed with these. And the fact that this one looks like a jungle shower made it even better.
Then we went to Pedro's for lunch. Trust me, you don't ever want to go to San Onofre and NOT go to Pedro's. Carne Asade to die for.
And here we all are, still smiling after four straight hours of surfing.
I am going to have to overcome my deep aversion to getting up early because this is ridiculously fun.

8 comments:

Kristy Mouti said...

I'd move to California just for a day like that. And I've only seen surfing in the movies, but I thought girls were s'posed to wear bikinis when they surf.

TUG said...

Having Boggie-Boarded for the first time last week and having felt the joy and frustration that comes with catching a wave, I can only imagine how great this must have been

Katie said...

That looks SO awesome!

I loved surfing too. Unforch, my back got so sunburned when I went. All that laying around on my stomach and offering up my white, unexposed back to the sun was not a great idea.

But sitting on a board in the middle of the ocean is an experience EVERYONE should have!

Laurie said...

Ooh San Onofre! NICE choice!

If I were living there now, I'd SO request to be in on the next outing.

Seymour Glass said...

i hope you got the potato taco at pedro's...it's a winner.

Tannertrue said...

While I am not experienced with surfing... I am experienced with taco eating.

...

Maybe if I worked a little less on my taco eating abilities my surfing abilities would increase exponentially.

jennyd said...

katie, i hope sometime you get to surf in Hawaii or somewhere where you don't have to wear a wetsuit(flattering though they be) and the water is warm and clear. i think you would approve.

surfing in that kinda spoiled surfing in the cold, sea weedy, not-very-clear waters between Oxnard and Santa Barbara for me. and the idea of sharks. but maybe with frequency i would get over my fear of sharks (thank you Shark Week and Open Water and sinking of the USS Indianapolis and Reader's Digest stories). or maybe surfing with a big group of people would help me feel less anxious.

Kev has absolutely no fear of sharks. sign.(as we speak, Kev and 2 of the kids are on their way to a 3-day surf trip in the Channel Islands).

(hence me sitting here w/ lots of time to ramble)

k8 said...

yikes! someone posted this entry on some surf blog and now I think i'm getting trashed over there for being a nerdy beginner surfer.