Everybody's going surfin... Surfin' USA...

I went surfing for the first time earlier this week. Well, more like snurfling. (Snurfling is an activity characterized by spending more time face down in the water than actually standing on the board.) People think that all you have to do is stand up on the board and let the wave do the rest of the work. I am here to tell you that that is totally, one hundred percent... WRONG! Surfing is about 95% paddling with your hands and only 5% surfing. This means that first you must lay yourself tummy-down on the board. Then you paddle with your hands, out towards those tumultuous waves. Once there, you wait until a choice looking wave starts to roll your way. When you decide that the oncoming swell is “the one”, you turn your board back towards shore and start paddling. Yes that's right, more paddling. Once you start to build up speed and can feel the wave breathing down your neck, you stand up on your board and (hopefully) ride the wave until it breaks. Here is where the problem starts for me. Most of my strength is in my legs. The majority of the athletic activities that I engage in are leg intensive sports. Even when I swim, I don't use the crawl stroke, I prefer the breast stroke. Which leaves me with very little upper body muscle and a big problem when it comes to surfing. Since most of the work has to be done using the muscles belonging to the top half of my body, I spent more time fighting the waves than I did actually trying to stand up on the board. I didn't get very far. I just barely made it to standing position a couple of times but I was not experienced enough (being that it was my first time) to actually ride the wave. To my credit, these were the biggest waves that beach had seen for at least two months. My friend said it was not a good day for a beginner. So, it took me ten times longer than the average surfer duuuuuuude to get anywhere. And I never really managed to do anything that would even remotely qualify as surfing. But you know what? I stayed out there for the whole two hours and kept on trying. And I enjoyed it too. Now I know what it takes to succeed at surfing. I think I am going to start working out my upper torso and maybe give it another try next summer. It's good exercise, it's enjoyable and since the best waves are at six in the morning, the beach is empty. Sounds like a win-win all around. One thing's for certain, though... boy am I sore!