surfing lesson

On Thursday, February 20th, 2014, I experienced the dream of a lifetime: I took surfing lessons!!  I've always wanted to learn how to surf, and though I'd gotten pretty good at boogie-boarding from our annual beach trips, I wanted the real deal.  hang ten.  catch a wave, shoot the tube.  So it was on our family trip to Puerto Rico that I finally got the chance.  And took it.

We booked the lesson online and then followed our GPS up and down the mountainous roads of rural Rincon, a small surf town on the quieter, northwestern corner of Puerto Rico.

Here's a short clip of my surf lesson.  Our actual surfing was done so far out in the bigger waves that the video camera on land could only catch these first few moments as we entered the water.  At least you get the idea..  here goes:

These waves weren’t like the little bumps in the surf we’ve seen in North Carolina, those mild, quickly crashing, fun-to-boogie board-to-shore kind…  No, these were scary.  Lying out there, what seemed like half a mile from shore, looking  in… those waves had a mind of their own.  It was more like this massive turquoise blanket being raised up from the very bowels of the deepest ocean depths, till this quickly cresting wave comes hurtling up, faster and faster towards shore, and from our perspective, lying on our boards, we’d feel the mighty wave raise us up while still just a swell, then watch in horror as our friend who was at the crest of it with the instructor,  would suddenly disappear behind this big wall of water, and maybe we’d see her rise up, maybe not.  Usually we just waitied till we saw the white longboard go springing up into the air after she met her fate of a nasty spill, the usual conclusion of any of our attempts.  There was one set of waves in particular that REALLY put the fear of the Creator in me…  We’d been hanging out beyond the breakers for quite some time, waiting for the other girl and the instructor to get the perfect wave so she could take her turn.  It was flat for a long time.  Then it came, out of the blue, no pun intended, and seeing the speed and voracity of that wave.. I seriously was wishing I could just be air-lifted out of that place that very second!  How on earth would I be able to make it to shore ALIVE with a monster like that at my heels?  My horror was intensified when I watched how the wind ripped along the top of the wave, blowing a thunderous swoop of mist across this curling masterpiece.  My reaction came out in just two words:  “holy cow!”  ok. I apologize.  Cow was the not the actual word that came to my mind or lips at that second.  This was too real, beyond sense or moral justification of expletives.  I was scared.  But I lived through the moment, no big deal, and I feel stronger today for facing that fear.