Surfin’ US-Hey…this is tiring.

Last week the ship was offering a deal on surfing lessons to the crew. We’re in Hawaii, right? That means we should probably surf!

Mike, Piero, Deanna and I signed up, along with two other crew members. Look at those surfers ride those waves! This should be fun! And easy! And graceful!

Well. We got our boards and a quick lesson about where to stand on the board, how to maneuver the board when sitting on it and such. The six of us headed out with our instructor. All paddling out together. I remember that first time paddling out. It seemed pretty easy.

Once we got out there it was just a matter of waiting. The instructor wanted us to go one at a time with his help before we went on our own. We were doing this all in Kauai in a place that always has waves, yet the equivalent of a bunny hill in ski terms…a good place to learn.

I finally got up for my time to shine. “Make sure when you fall, you fall flat. It’s shallow out there.” says the instructor. Moments later he shoves my board forward and says “GO! GO! GO!”

I kind of did it that first time. But it didn’t last for long. I fell…flat, as instructed, but still managed to scratch up my hands on the coral and rocks below. It was only two to three feet deep. I stood up and yanked on the bungee cord connecting my ankle to the board. I only had a few moments before the next wave came and if I wasn’t back on my board I would be rolled around in the coral.

Now, you would think the hard part would be getting up on the board. I say that is easy…compared to attempting to paddle back out. He told us to paddle AROUND where the break was happening. So, we would have to paddle to the left a bit and then head out. I remembered him telling us that so I paddled left for what felt like 100 feet. As I then started to straighten out and head to deeper waters I got hit by wave after wave. I would paddle about 10 feet and get knocked back 5. Very tiring. I didn’t understand why it was so difficult this time and so easy the first time. I looked back at the shore and realized that the current and wind was also blowing me back into the wave zone.

I think my second time up was possibly the best. Still only up for a few seconds, but at least I got up. I didn’t even make it all the way out for a good third run because I couldn’t get around the waves and was tired.

Overall Mike was definitely the best of the four of us. I was second best and worst was debatable.

By the end of it all the four of us were a collection of soreness and cut up hands and feet. We’re glad we surfed. We don’t need to do it again.