The perfect 5 minutes
The last three days have been really bad for surfing. The wind was blowing from the wrong direction so that any attempt to even get half a wave failed miserably. This morning I woke up early and instead of the usual 20-minute walk to Tallow beach with my surfboard tucked under my arm, I decided to go for a short run and check out the waves. After having dragged my body, which was still half asleep, up two steep hills I arrived at the beach and yes, surfing seemed possible. All over sudden I could feel this rush inside, adrenaline started pumping through my veins - I ran back to my house, had quick breakfast, took my board and set out.
When I arrived at the beach, the water was already well-crowded. Feeling a bit more comfortable on my board, I decided to walk up the beach and find a more remote surf-break. The first contact with the water made me realise that it was still morning and that I only wore a springsuit (short arms and legs, 2mm). An hour into the surf I paddled a bit further out to get out of the zone where the waves break and where you do not want to be unless you want to get on the wave. After a little while I spotted about ten dolphins at a distance of approximately ten metres which I had done before. What made this time different was the fact that the dolphines were swimming not alongside the beach but towards it, keeping their distance though. Then I lost their sight but not for long. Out of the blue (literally) three dolphins appeared inbetween me and the beach, right in front of my surfboard. They were so close that I could almost touch them. And the beauty of it was that I was alone in the water. All the other surfers were 'fighting' for the waves futher to my right. For these 5 to 10 seconds the world to me was perfect. The encounter with the dolphins had already made my day but more was still to come...the next wave I attempted to take, I paddled really hard, positioned myself well, mounted smoothly on my board, took all the speed of the wave down to the bottom of the wave where I did a smooth bottom turn and surfed up the wave, turned my board again back down the wave, regained new speed down to the bottom and surfed the wave across until there was only whitewater left...it almost felt like I was one with the wave for this ride. As an experienced windsurfer, skate- and snowboarder, I can tell that this feeling was unique as in no other boardsport I do there is a constantly moving element. But at the same time the feeling was familiar in a sense that one only truely appreciates these moments as a beginner when they happen for the very first time, be it the first time that you glide in the footstraps as a windsurfer, or nailing that trick you have been practising for months as a skateboarder or be it the first time you drop into an untouched field of powder snow as a snowboarder. For these moments everything makes sense and you leave with this glow in your eyes and a big smile on your face...
Aloha, Seb.
When I arrived at the beach, the water was already well-crowded. Feeling a bit more comfortable on my board, I decided to walk up the beach and find a more remote surf-break. The first contact with the water made me realise that it was still morning and that I only wore a springsuit (short arms and legs, 2mm). An hour into the surf I paddled a bit further out to get out of the zone where the waves break and where you do not want to be unless you want to get on the wave. After a little while I spotted about ten dolphins at a distance of approximately ten metres which I had done before. What made this time different was the fact that the dolphines were swimming not alongside the beach but towards it, keeping their distance though. Then I lost their sight but not for long. Out of the blue (literally) three dolphins appeared inbetween me and the beach, right in front of my surfboard. They were so close that I could almost touch them. And the beauty of it was that I was alone in the water. All the other surfers were 'fighting' for the waves futher to my right. For these 5 to 10 seconds the world to me was perfect. The encounter with the dolphins had already made my day but more was still to come...the next wave I attempted to take, I paddled really hard, positioned myself well, mounted smoothly on my board, took all the speed of the wave down to the bottom of the wave where I did a smooth bottom turn and surfed up the wave, turned my board again back down the wave, regained new speed down to the bottom and surfed the wave across until there was only whitewater left...it almost felt like I was one with the wave for this ride. As an experienced windsurfer, skate- and snowboarder, I can tell that this feeling was unique as in no other boardsport I do there is a constantly moving element. But at the same time the feeling was familiar in a sense that one only truely appreciates these moments as a beginner when they happen for the very first time, be it the first time that you glide in the footstraps as a windsurfer, or nailing that trick you have been practising for months as a skateboarder or be it the first time you drop into an untouched field of powder snow as a snowboarder. For these moments everything makes sense and you leave with this glow in your eyes and a big smile on your face...
Aloha, Seb.
posted by Sebastian at
7:40 am
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