| First Wave // Session 26 September 2009 By: Alison Cassidy Location: Northern Beaches Having been a paddle surfing widow for about a year I decided it was time to give it a try. I'm a bit of a wimp really when it comes to the ocean and the secret life that swims below, not to mention sea weed and waves that dump. When I was ten, I was having a ball riding a boogey board at Sydney's Whale Beach when I got stung by a blue bottle and dumped for what felt like 10 minutes all in one hit. There ended my boogey boarding career. When I met my surfing obsessed husband to be I gave it another try but again it ended in tears - it didn't help that he dragged me out on a freezing cold, rainy day with a thumping shorey - oh yes, I have learnt all the lingo over the years. For the next little while I spent my time on the beach behind a video camera - what a nice girlfriend. The novelty soon wore off and I left him to it. That was 15 years ago and now I'm trying again. What changed? There's something about paddle surfing that draws me in. It feels like a more accepting kind of surfing, I can go out and make a fool of myself and everyone thinks I'm fantastic for giving it a try. Maybe it's the grin on my husband's face when I told him I wanted to give it a go. Maybe it's the fact that I can go out with my whole family and we can have fun together. Maybe it's the fact that you can get up on flat water and feel like you've already achieved something. Or just maybe, it was a conversation I had with a certain female paddle surfer competing in the Snowy McAlister event at Manly earlier this year - you know who you are JB Mel. I came away feeling so inspired. Inspired to conquer my fears of all things lurking under the surface, inspired to just get out there and have a go, inspired to not care what anyone else thinks (no matter how stupid I look), inspired to just give it a go and have fun. So that's what I'm doing. Having mastered paddling on flat water (well I'm ok at it), I decided it was time to try and catch a wave. Of course I felt inspired in winter not summer so the first thing I had to do was get a really warm wetsuit - I knew I'd be in the water much more than on the board. After trying on numerous hot, sticky, sweaty-making steamers I finally came away with a beautiful specimen with gorgeous aqua blue patches down the sides - the colour was quite an important part of choosing the right wetsuit. I was amazed by the whole process actually, I was expecting to feel fat and disgusting in a wetsuit but they're fantastic, they're like those suck you in undies but all over, they're almost flattering! Well, perhaps not but not nearly as bad as I'd feared. Then we had to wait for the perfect day. At this stage, I have to admit I'm a fair weather girl - it can be cold as I have my special steamer to keep me warm but I'm not too keen on going out in the rain. I also need perfect conditions in the water. Not too big, not breaking too close to the shore, not too choppy, not too full, not too windy, not too crowded and there needs to be a nice channel for me to get out in. Not asking too much am I? Well, as you can imagine, it took several weeks to finally find the perfect day.  The sun was shining, the waves were small and there was no wind, this was it, it was really going to happen. So we loaded four boards and four paddles on to the roof of the car and one very excited husband, one extremely nervous wife, two happy kids, four towels and four wetsuits into the car and made the trek to a protected corner which is apparently a great place for beginners. You can imagine the car attracted many stares on the way and we caused quite a stir when we pulled up in the carpark and started unloading all the boards. It's amazing what a husband will do for his family when we're there giving his favourite sport a go. We got all the boards and paddles lined up and ready to go then all four of us struggled into our wetsuits - there's quite a technique to putting on a wetsuit, especially when a crowd of onlookers have gathered around to see the spectacle of a family of four paddle surfers. We got a few comments about how great it is to do something together as a family, which of course is very true. The four of us looked like pros as we picked up our boards and paddles and walked down the sand together, shame that only one of us was any good at it. There wasn't much of a wave that day but that was good as there was also nobody out, a very good thing for my first wave catching attempt. We started off gently with some paddling out the back. Well, up until that point I'd thought I was a good flat water paddler. What a shock, it was very different, so much harder not to get the death wobbles even in those calm conditions. I finally found my feet and we paddled up and down the beach, over to the rock pool and out to the southern most point. I really had to steel myself to paddle out there with the deep, dark, frightening water below and I was praying the whole time that I wouldn't fall off. But, I made myself do it and felt proud of myself for it.   So, now it was time to try and catch a wave. I had loads of advice on where to position my board and when to start paddling. I struggled with keeping the board on the right line. I didn't realise that to actually get onto a wave you really need to paddle hard at the right time, not just a regular old paddle but an almighty push. And I certainly didn't expect the wave to be moving so fast. Many a time it zoomed right underneath me and I ended up flying off the back of the board. Once I ended up lying flat on my back, still on the board, but despite all the falls I was having such a great time. I just kept on laughing and I'm sure I was providing plenty of entertainment for the Sunday crowd on the beach. Even just to be on a wave for a second before falling off was such a thrill.  When I was starting to tire and think about heading in I finally caught that elusive wave. Wow, what a feeling! I had the board in the right spot and I paddled as hard as I could when I heard my coach yelling. The wave grabbed me with such speed but I managed to stay on, even managing to switch from paddle stance to surfing stance. Of course I did the very girly thing and screamed all the way in, but I didn't care. In fact, I wanted everyone to watch me catching my very first wave - I was so proud of myself. The kids, who were by now mucking around on the beach, looked up and shouted out encouragement. Our interested onlookers started clapping and cheering. If only it could have lasted longer. A more elegant dismount might have been nice too, but hey, I did it! What a moment - one I'll certainly never forget. | |
