Who Wouldn’t Want Personal Surf Lessons?

One of the main reasons we settled in on going to Oahu was so that we could see my good friend Wave Hog. We hung out a few times while where on the island, but my favorite part of the visit had to be the personalized surf lessons we were able to get on Friday morning.**We grabbed our beach gear and hopped in a Lyft to go about a mile down the beach to the Duke Kahanamoku statue where we caught up with James. We helped him unload the surf boards from the illegal parking zone, put on our booties, and hauled them down to the beach. It was another beautiful day on the beach. After James parked his truck, he walked back and joined us on the beach. He started off with some on shore lessons for Crosby to teach him (and Korey and me for that matter) what to expect. Here were the four main lessons we learned:

Start on your stomach **about a third of the way down the board and paddle out.

2. When you feel the wave start to grab the board, you do a push up to raise up on your feet

3. Despite what you see on TV, the best arm position for beginners is perpendicular to the board. It may not look quite as cool as front to back but does provide much better balance.

4. When you need to end your ride, it’s best to do more of a flop because the coral on the bottom of the ocean is sharp.

Crosby wanted to go first, so I helped him paddle out there on the big board. James had me go back towards shore a bit so that I could catch him. I had no idea how this was going to work so I went what I thought was a good ways away and waited. It didn’t take long until there was a good wave coming. James had hopped off his board and was standing there to push Crosby’s board to get him started. James gave a him a big push, and Crosby caught the wave perfectly. Just as we were instructed, Crosby popped right up and took the position. And he did awesome. So awesome in fact that he went flying way past me. I started frantically chasing after him, but he hopped off and was just hanging out waiting for me. We paddled back out, and he did it several more times — all really well, but none quite as long as that first one. He was having fun, but eventually wanted to go back in.

After we got back in, Korey took her turn while I stayed in with both kids. We could see her a little bit, but I couldn’t watch too much since I had to keep an eye on them. From what I saw, she was doing pretty well too. Then it was my turn. I have only tried real surfing one other time (and that was in California with John Abbott). I never did very well there, and all I remember was a lot of paddling. I’m not sure if it was better instruction, better waves, or just better luck, but I did much better this time. I still probably didn’t do as well as Crosby did, but I later learned that was almost to be expected. The bigger the board, the easier it is to catch a wave — or more accurately, the bigger the ratio is of the size of the board compared to the surfer, the easier it is to surf. So the fact that I’m five times bigger than he is means that I’m at a severe disadvantage. All that aside, we all still had a blast (and no one got hurt). Thanks again James for an awesome morning of surfing!