What happened to my surf gene?

Feb 10, 2008 by Monica Danna

Posted under: travel

My Dad surfs. My uncle Charles surfs. My uncle Henry is a famous surfboard shaper. Heck, my parents met on a beach.

You would THINK I would be a natural, right?

Um, not so much.

And I’ve got the bumps and bruises to prove it, including a tennis ball sized goose egg behind my ear from when another surfer’s board slammed me in the noggin. Ouch!

I tried and tried and tried to get up. After seeing everyone else in the class streaming into the break, I was getting very frustrated, which I’m sure didn’t help. I switched my lead foot. I tried starting off with one leg up. I tried it all. The only thing I got was some extra attention from the instructor. Which wasn’t all bad. :-)

After TWO HOURS, and much embarrassing encouragement from the WHOLE class, I finally managed to stand on the board, only to fall into the ocean seconds later.

My frustration soon faded as I reminded myself, “I’m in friggin’ Australia, in the Indian Ocean, attempting to surf.” This ain’t Galveston. :-)

Tags: australia, perth, scarborough beach, surfing, travel

4 Comments + Add Comment

drmiggy February 11, 2008 at 9:32 am

You and I have the same camera and yours takes waaaaaay better pictures than mine. What do you think that says?

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cosmopolitician February 11, 2008 at 7:46 pm

well, migs, it’s hard to make a picture look bad when you’ve got this beautiful scenery. :-)

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F. February 12, 2008 at 9:36 pm

Hey, at least YOU TRIED!

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Dr. Ding February 13, 2008 at 10:57 pm

I’m impressed with your surfing fortitude. I’ve always wanted to go to SurfDiva in San Diego, CA to learn, but wow the Indian Ocean…that’s some real surfing! You go on with your badself.

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