Surf's Up

Never in my life have I had a huge desire to learn to surf. I think it had something to do with the enormous, flesh eating fish that lurk below the surface waiting for the precise time to scare the living $h*t out of you and take a leg while they're at it. Yes, I think that was the precise reason. But there I was on a beach in San Diego bugging the crap out of Scott (boyfriend) to show me his surfing skills. We've been dating for a couple years and while I've heard about this elusive surf/boyboarding guy I had yet to see if for my own eyes. The catch though "I'll do it if you do it". Day one was out of the question, I think subconsciously my little fear of the sharkies caused me to drink myself sick (literally) which got me a "please proceed to the beach you do not have to surf today" pass. We all knew that those beautiful waves along with my already seasick tummy would not have been friends after that and neither would Scott and I for that matter. Point for Scott for letting me bum it out on the beach. I did however get far enough into the water to see the adorable little sand sharks swim about my feet. They were little... like 2' long max and the cutest little guys, I ended up chasing them around trying to get a photo. 

 Yup, resident shark chaser over here. And I managed to get some pretty good shots of the not so elusive surf guy I mention earlier. Turned out to be a very relaxing day at the beach.

Day two, I was in a very different mindset. Fully recovered from my little stint the night before I was watching Scott and his brother walk out to the waves and I was thinking to myself. "Stop being a wuss, you are going to kick yourself in the a$$ if you leave San Diego tomorrow and don't try." So when Brent (brother) came back in I headed out. EEEEKKK. And of course as I'm walking out I'm thinking, "I'm cold, what if a shark swims by, what else is swimming around down there, what if I'm that girl that tried surfing for the first time and got eaten by a shark" HA! Time to silence the mind. I make it out to Scott who is super excited that I've decided to come out and give it a try. I hop on the surf board, little paddle here, little paddle there, I can do this. Now if you don't know me you should probably know that there is a bit of a competitive nature that lives inside me. It is more of a competition with myself; I just want to be good at everything. Half of me is still paranoid and scanning the ocean floor for sharks and the other half me is thinking, I'm gonna get a wave and I'm gonna stand up on this surf board 'cause I'm a bad a$$ chick. 

something like this....(photo courtesy of Apple)

HA! Unfortunately we don't live in these day dreams because this little vision did not come to fruition. This is how it really went... I hoped on the board and paddled myself around to try and get a feel for the board and get comfortable with my balance. We bobbed up in down out there until we saw a good set coming up, Instructor Scotty spotted a good one and turned me around on the board and then pushed right into the wave. WEEEEEEEEEEHOOOOOOO, HOW FREAKING FUN IS THIS!!!!   I ride the wave out, on my stomach of course cause it was only my first wave, and by the end of it I'm stoked. I'm not afraid of sharks, I'm not cold and hot damn I'm ready to do it again. After several waves of basically body surfing I start trying to push myself and lord is it hard. I have to give it to these surf dudes and dudettes they make it look like cake; the wave comes they do a quick paddle and in the blink of an eye they are standing on that board. So after about 45 minutes, I manage to get myself on my knees a handful of times and I feel like I could be out there all day until I get up.  But my poor surf instructor has been in the water now for about 2.5 hours and is starting to get a little chillly and we are needing to close up shop for a family dinner date. I promise Scott that I just want a couple more tries and then we'll head in. On my last try I get up on one knee and one foot, not bad for my first day out!  All in all I would say for an hour and a half in the water I was pretty proud of myself. While I don't have any proof of my adventures, other than my bruise from hoping on the board and this little number below, I did get some nice shots of the boys. Cheers to the next surf adventure whenever that may be. I have a feeling you'll be seeing me on my feet on that board and hopefully I can find some paparazzi to capture it as well. 

Booses, 

Shenine joon