A Must Do On Oahu: Learn To Surf

 

 

“You’re going surfing, right?”

The question in response to mentioning I was heading to Hawaii seemed so obvious I didn’t want to look silly for not thinking of it.  “Of course!” came my reply, enthusiastically, but with a little too much hesitation.  There was one big problem with my answer, I don’t know how to surf.

To the Internet I went with my worry of finding a great surf school on Oahu.  I prefer referrals from people I know when planning activities in far flung locations.  This time, Twitter did not let me down.  I shaped my question around my broader need for activites in the islands.  “Looking for adventurous travel ideas for upcoming trip to Oahu, #Hawai’i. Suggestions?”  I asked in early October.  Traveldare replied to my request with with, “www.hawaiianfire.com“.  After taking a look at Hawaiian Fire’s site, they seemed like just the group for me: secluded beach, low instructor-to-student ratio and if something went wrong, I’d be surrounded by firefighters.  A bonus for a geek like me is that their site was also clean, well designed and featured many photos.

The day of lessons starts early to catch the waves before winds make the ocean too challenging for beginners like me.  Sean, a stout gentleman with a clipboard and an eagerness to get to the beach, greets me just off of Waikiki Beach, where I climb into the Hawaiian Fire van and meet the eight other soon-to-be-surfers.  We are whisked off…..into traffic.  It’s Monday and evidently a lot of people wanted to go to work.  Once we are out of town things pick up and we are soon unloaded right onto the beach, our surfboards nicely arranged in a row.

The sun is out to the East over the Pacific and has already brought the morning temperatures into a comfortable 70-80F range.  Slight tradewinds blow into shore as we select booties and shirts.  While also being great for advertising, the spandex shirts remove the worry of getting board rash as we’ll be doing a lot of paddling on our bellies.  You see, our boards have a rubberized decking in place to help us novices with footing.  Later on I’ll become very thankful for this feature as it helps with stability.  Traditional boards don’t have this surface, using wax instead.  Nor do surfers typically wear booties.  These features are specifically used to help lessen the learning curve and for me it did the trick.

First comes the safety talk followed by instruction which is broken down into four parts: 1) Situate yourself on your board correctly, 2) Paddle out to the surf, 3) Three paddle strokes after the instructor gives you a helpful push with the coming wave and 4) Grab the sides of the board and stand up.  It all seems so easy!  In all there will be four instructors in the water while Sean stays back and shoots photos.  We practice in the sand first for about ten minutes until everyone knows what’s expected and then it’s time to get in the water.

Some of us have a bit of trepidation while heading down to the water with our boards.  Amy in particular comments about her worry that she won’t be able to stand up. “You’ll do fine, let’s go!” Lance, another instructor, encourages her.  We will be learning on smaller waves, paddling out approximately 80 yards to a set of pink buoys before turning around to face our fate.

Paddle, grab, stand.  Paddle, grab, stand.  I mentally rehearse the needed steps and watch one of the students catch a wave for about ten feet before falling to the side.  Another student heads towards shore and makes it half way to the cheer of the rest of us.

My turn.

Lance grabs the back of my board getting ready to send me with a good wave.  At least I think it was Lance.  At this point the adrenalin is kicking in and my vision is hyper focused on the shore in front of me so I really don’t remember who it was.  I do remember being asked if I was ready and the instruction, “Start paddling!”  I feel the gentle push as Lance, or someone, launches me with the on coming wave.  I feel the rear of the board start to get picked up by what feels like a monster 40′ tidal wave, but which is probably nothing more than the other calm 2-4′ waves we paddled out through.

 

 

“Stand up!!”  Oh yeah!  I stop paddling and grab the sides of the board even with my chest, bringing my right foot forward.  As with snowboarding, I prefer a ‘goofy foot’ stance where my right foot is forward instead of the left.  It works either way and we’re told to do what feels best.  With my foot under me I lunge into a wobbly stance for a few seconds and then promptly fall forward (off the side of the board) as the wave passes over me.

“I did it!” my mind yells as I climb on top of my board to paddle out.  “I stood up!  This isn’t so hard,” I think to myself while blowing salt water out of my nose.  When I return to the start point, the nearly two to one instructor/student ratio means little waiting before I am beach bound again.  This time, with great exhilaration, I ride the wave and feel it push me forward, back off a little then catch up as I slow down.  Even on these smaller waves it’s easy to feel the rhythm of the ocean.  And when I stop thinking and just go with it, that’s when I did best.

After paddling back and getting set again, I ask Lance, “So, you get paid to yell ‘paddle!’ and ‘stand up!’?”  “And push. Don’t forget pushing,” he points out with a laugh.  “Yeah, it’s a really great job.”

But the firefighters who instruct and run Hawaiian Fire do much more than that.  For one, there’s the beach.  The beach Hawaiian Fire instructs on is about 30 minutes away from the bustle of Waikiki.  We had the water all to ourselves the entire time we were there (four other surfers showed up as we were taking out).  For those starting out in surfing, the lack of crowds, both from an ego point of view and from a safety point of view, makes for a liberating experience.

A natural and easy bond formed as we each cheered nearly complete strangers who had a good ride, people we only met in the van an hour earlier.  Even across language barriers, the camaraderie was prevalent and fun.  With only nine students and four instructors in the water, all of us there to surf, the energy was positive and single minded.  There was no worry of swimmers in the water or other obstructions.  Just surfing.

One day I’ll return and try bigger waves.  I feel I gained a solid foundation and understanding of surfing basics, enough to make me want to try it more.  My time in the waves was fun, safe, educational and exhilarating.  Mahalo!

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