I have always loved water sports. I was a swimmer in high school, a rower in college, and a scuba diver since the age of 12. Surfing has always had a special allure, but I had yet to try it. Thankfully, my friend Noah happens to be an excellent surfing instructor with a 100% success rate…no pressure at all for his newest student! The stars aligned so that he was vacationing in Nags Head at the same time as my family.
The first few days of our time at Nags Head there was almost no wind
and the water was completely flat; something I have never experienced it in our many years of vacationing there.
The smooth water was great for my nieces and nephews who were just
becoming acquainted with the ocean, but not ideal for surfing lessons. It looked like our plans would be foiled.
Finally, on the last day Noah and I would be in Nags Head simultaneously, the winds
picked up and we had waves. The water
was choppy, but we had waves so I wasn’t complaining!
After a 5 minute sand-side lesson…
…Noah took me straight to the water. Thankfully his wife Jamie was an excellent
photographer.
After a few wipe outs and missed opportunities...
I worked up to a kneeling position.
After lots of patience waiting for good waves and a few more
tries, I worked up to a standing position.
Finally, after playing it safe for far too long, I bit the bullet and forced myself up on the board before I became
fully comfortable in the wave, and released my arms to enjoy the ride. After several failed runs, I got one great, long ride. It was sweet success. We dubbed it my Blue Crush moment. Jamie was able to capture the last 4 seconds
of it:
(Sorry...not technologically advanced enough to figure out how to rotate this one.)
After 2 hours of surfing and fighting the waves, I was
exhausted, but loving the new sport and super happy to maintain Noah’s perfect
teaching record.
Thanks Noah and Jamie!
