I did it!
Michael Altschul
Skeptical to take lessons, fearful that I'd become the guy in the
Expedia commercial who passed the day watching the hot Indonesian
surfer dude shower some hot girl in the class with water and words of
encouragement, I looked around and found the "Best Lessons in Bali"
for a rather handsome sum: $40 a half day (which is the equivalent of
4 nights lodging at my lossman cheap hotel). I figured that time's
limited and I want to get this surfing thing down ASAP if it's gonna
happen. See, the only beach with sand breaks (dangerous to learn on
reef breaks) is here in Kuta, which I'm a bit wary of. But, having
gotten the lay of the Kuta land, I realized that my current lossman is
pretty ideal because it's a quick walk to the beach and it's off the
many "Hey Mister" paths. For the next couple days, I'll try to get
the hang of things and keep myself isolated to this spot, which is
free of les moustiques (the French word for annoying peddler, my
second favorite expression after la geule du bois). While a part of
me would like to hit up a different area of town to meet more peeps,
I'm unwilling to sacrifice the money and moustique-less walks. Plus,
the reality is that I'm more likely to meet folks who want to do
remote travel where I am than in the other spots.
I digress. I paid the whopping $40 for a lesson, wanting to ensure
that I got quality instruction and didn't form any bad habits early
(as I did with snowboarding). Totally was money well spent. We took
about 45 minutes under instruction, learning how to go from
stomach-side to standing in 3 steps: arch your back, set your back
foot, set your front foot. Then off to the water! Just like that we
had our monstrous beginner surf boards in the ocean and were told to
go catch waves. Initially my bodyboarding instincts took control and
I kept wanting to drop knee, which was horrible form. The instructor
saw me struggling for about 30 minutes then said, "Mike, you might be
able to just go straight to the pop-up." Next wave, I skipped steps
1-3 and just pushed up and landed on the board. "Holy shit, I'm
surfing," I thought. Then my massive board lost speed and I had
dropped off the wave. The instructor was pleased, dare I say
impressed? Wow, that wasn't bad at all. The next few waves I used to
build my confidence. Sky-high, it practically did the swimming for
me. I found myself just outside the breakers and then suddenly a
massive wave appeared (massive is relative, it was really only a 3.5
footer, which was a good deal larger than any waves up to this point).
I paddled hard to charge it, but when I went to pop, I was like that
dead kernel in the kettle that wouldn't burst no matter how much heat
or oil you added. The wave swallowed me, I took the tumble well,
recomposed myself and the instructor told me exactly what I was
thinking: "You paddled too hard, so when it came time to pop, you
couldn't." Precisely. Okay, lesson learned: you need your arms to be
ready to propel you up, so don't exhaust them getting out to a wave
then paddling like mad to catch it...slow down howlie boy. Next few
waves were more modest, but I was getting bored just catching them and
tried walking on the board, old Hawaiian surfer style. And dammit if
I didn't do it! I walked out, almost to the tip of my 8 foot big
board...then the tip went under and I went flying. Duh. Another
lesson learned. The instructor again offered some smart advice: walk
out on the board to gain speed, walk back when you've caught up with
the wave. Tried that, did it, cool! From there I just worked on
cutting left and right, which felt entirely natural, just like
snowboarding. Before I knew it, the session was over and I was
instructed to catch one last good wave. I barely missed the best wave
I'd seen all day, then settled for a slightly weaker one that couldn't
take me all the way to the shore. Pity, woulda been nice to finish
with my best wave, but many more good ones in my future I reckon.
Awesome experience! A Ukrainian classmate congratulated me, but I was
quick to give credit to the ones who really deserved it: the
instructor and, even more importantly, Gold Rush, my beloved snowboard
back home. The transition from snowboarding to surfing is easy (and
vice versa, as I learned from good ol' NTM back home!). Surfing felt
totally natural, from the pumping to the cuts, even the pop-up. I
couldn't have asked for a better first day.
Tonight I'll go seek a decent rental for a couple days and buy a rash
guard. I'm gonna get this surfing thing down before I leave this
country!