Surfing

It's been an age since I have written an update on my blog. I know all you people at home have probably been on the edge of your seats wondering if I was still alive. Keenly watching the news to see if there were reports of a lone British tourist kidnapped for a huge ransom. But no, I have just not been very busy blogging. Why? I don't know really, maybe it was a lack of motivation, maybe writers block or I might be starting to fully embrace the sedentary nature of this temporary lifestyle. Maybe it's beacause the last few weeks have been a bit more social in the evenings. You see, the evenings are when I tend to write all this nonsense down. I have a few tins of lager which tends to lubricate the creative side of me. And lately I've been enjoying my nightly ration in the company of others so don't generally feel like writing later at night. But you'll be glad to know I am fine and enjoying life.

I promised myself I would give surfing a bash but if I'm honest, it didn't grab me as I hoped it might. I haven't given up altogether yet, I am just temporarily not enthused by it. It wasn't that I was crap, it wasn't that I made no progress. It was.... just well... many things. Firstly I think that learning on your own when everyone else around you is competent is uninspiring, also I wasn't expecting how annoying and frustrating paddling out is. I am told it is not always that hard, I just chose days when the tide, current and surf were parti9cularly relentless for the beginner. When you can surf, you generally use a shorter board. This means when you paddle out and the surf is trying to wash you back to the beach, you do this thing called a duck dive. Weight on the front of the board, push it, and yourself down and under the surf, pop up the other side having probably lost no more than a meter or 2. The beginner however has a board the size of a small airfield and as buoyant as a blow up dinghy. You can't duck dive (well I never managed it anyway) so each wave that has broken in front of you ends up pushing you back 10 metres and giving you a good pummeling with it. By the time you've got your 10 metres back, yes, you guessed it, there's another one ready to do it again.

Fair enough, I could do with a bit more upper body strength and fitness for paddling but it really shouldn't ne that hard. I was just ill-prepared for the disparity between the amount of effort and the rewards. The days I went out in Imsouane, there was a terrible current due to the direction of the swell. You were literally paddling as hard as you could just to stay still in some places. By the time I was in a place to even try to catch a wave, I was too knackered to paddle to get on the wave.

I will have another go, I think I just need conditions more conducive to a beginner. Being an ex skater and snowboarder, I feel at ease once stood up on the board and surfing. And I can pop up to my feet quickly and relatively easily. I got out of the water several times quite happy in my thoughts that I was done with surfing and it was not for me. But then you sit and look at the waves and you can't help but throw yourself back in for another dose of punishment.

And I don't fit the surfer mould either. Surfers have long hair and smooth skin. I have a smooth head and hairy skin. They have washboard stomachs, pectorals that could almost benefit from a bra and they have no legs. I have a modest beer belly, no pectorals and all my muscle is in my legs. Not much use to the budding surfer. I don't wear flipflops either. Every person here wears flipflops but I just don't like them. I forked out 3 euros for a low quality pair and well, you just can't beat the feeling of socks on your feet.