Surf's up!

Surf camp….it was great fun, but such tough work!!  I don’t remember surfing being so tiring in Panama, but then again, I don’t have the best memory.  Plus, there were only 2 of us, so Ricardo helped a lot more (in terms of catching waves and paddling).  Sunday night, before we left, I wasn’t so sure if it was a wise decision.  But, now that it’s over and I’m back in Sydney I’m so very glad I did it.  It’s going to be so weird to not see Zoe and Jennifer anymore though – we’ve become pretty good friends.  Anyway, back to surf camp.  As I said, it was very hard work.  I’m so battered, bruised, and sore.  Monday we had an afternoon session with low tide, so it was pretty hard to surf.  Tuesday morning was our first full day and in the morning the tide was rising, so it’s much easier to catch waves.  Then our afternoon session was low tide again, so difficult.  Most of us were starting to paddle out and trying catching our own waves by Wednesday, so that was super tiring.  Having a desk job does NOT prepare you for surfing (just in case anyone was wondering).  I can definitely say though, that by today (Friday), I’m in dire need of a break. Definitely tweaked a muscle in my shoulder and did something to my hip. Quite a few people only went to the morning sessions because the waves were “softer” and easier to catch, but I paid for surf camp and I don’t live near the ocean so I made myself go to every lesson.  By Thursday morning I was doing pretty well, I think.  But then Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, the waves were just not so great and it made it really hard. 

When we left this afternoon Natalia (one of my group’s instructors – and one of the better ones, in my opinion) told me to keep surfing because I’m good.  That was really nice of her to say, and very encouraging.  Makes me think I should do another camp sometime.  I think I heard somewhere at camp this week that it takes about a year or 2 before you’re really, truly able to surf.  So I’ve got a long way to go, but at least I know it’s something I can work towards.  I have no intention of joining the surf community though, at least not after Jordy’s description of them.  Maybe that’s just my fear of commitment kicking in – they live and breathe surfing and that’s their main priority in life – it’s basically they’re drug.  Anyway, I don’t really have any photo’s of my own – Jennifer did take my camera down on the last two sessions, but the waves weren’t great so she couldn’t get many photo’s.  There are photo’s and video’s on the surf camp’s facebook page though,so feel free to check that out (see if you can pick me out – everyone starts to look the same in a wet suit).