Sunday, October 26, 2008

Sayulita and Surfing Lesson

Here I am in middle of pic coming up off surf board to stand - that is Oldest Son in front watching me as he paddles out.

We took our 2nd outing to Sayulita yesterday. The goal this time was surfing lessons!

Other American Family and their 3 sons journeyed with us. They showed us a camping area on the beach where we can park. (Note to Self: Bring pop-up-camper back here for our first camping outing.)

Other American Dad arranged a lesson for Oldest Son, Other Oldest Son, me and him. It included surf boards and a surfer dude who went out with us. I vacillated and Other American Dad convinced me to go for it.

The two boys had surf boards that were 6 foot and mine was 8 foot. Other American Dad had his own board. We had our ankle straps attached. We all paddled out.

The gentle, 4 foot waves were breaking over a rocky reef so you had to stay on the board to prevent your feet from getting messed up. We explained very, very clearly to the boys that they could not dive off board but must hit water "flat" so not to crash into underlying rocks. The rocks made Other American Dad and me nervous the entire time.

Surfer Dude sends Other Oldest Son first. Up he goes quickly. Success.

Surfer Dude sends Oldest Son second. He goes up more cautiously and slowly. Up he goes too. Success. Surfs all the way to beach.

Surfer Dude sends me third. Like Oldest Son, I go up more cautiously. Up I go! I was more surprised than anybody! Success. I surf quite a ways before toppling over.

We stayed out for an hour. We were each able to pick up several waves. Timing is everything. If you start paddling quick enough and pick up the wave, standing and riding the wave is really not so difficult. However, it was exhausting for me. Paddling out was hard for this 43 year old who is not in the best cardio shape. (I am very sore today especially in upper chest.)

Oldest Son was excited for himself and and for his Mommy as well. I felt I had the ultimate compliment when Other Oldest Son says "Mrs. American Mommy, you are doing pretty good." and Oldest Son responds "Yeah, Mommy you are."
Here I am in middle of pic standing - wave does not look like much but I really am moving forward on it!

6 comments:

Bob Mrotek said...

American Mommy, you always make me smile with "Oldest Son" and "Youngest Son". it reminds me of the old Charlie Chan movies..."Numbah One Son" :)

Unknown said...

Keep practicing, surf is great! I´ve been learning for the past months and its an unbelivable feeling. Sayulita is a very good learning spot, cool!

Steve Cotton said...

Good job! This comes from a man who has trouble keeping his balance when he puts on his socks. I am impressed.

Frankly Ronda said...

B - Yes I think about that too! I wanted a way to know in the reading of posts which was which son so there you have it!

I - I agree it is awesome. We hope to go out past Punta Mita next time. Would like to get away from rocks.

S - I actually do not have great balance. Forget riding a skate board. It is actually pretty steady once up.

VisitLaManzanilla said...

American Mommy, this was great post! Those boys are lucky to have such a cool mommy!

MoLangley said...

Thank you so much for sharing your experience!! Trying so hard to find some form of exercise that I might actually enjoy, but wasn't sure if I could participate in surf because of my weight,feeling much braver now!!

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