Surf Lesson Tips for a Little One's First Surf Lesson

I brought my friend’s 6-year old out on the water for a surf for her first surf lesson yesterday. The little lady had mulled over the idea for a couple wks and last wk when I saw her she said, “Sara, I’ve decided. I want to go surfing.” I practically did a cartwheel.

In advance of taking her out, I put together a couple notes, some picked up from my surfing and own lessons I’ve taken, most picked up from the fabulous Maddie who has taught every outdoor skill to every group of folks you can imagine. Here’s my bullet points to draw on and refresh on going forward. These are my own personal tips that have helped me, and not an official recommendation to those teaching surfing in any way. My # rule is safety first, fun second. Not the sexiest recommendation but it’s incredibly important to me to keep my people safe.

Prep

Find out how comfy your surfer is with the water — that’s really helpful to know. Can they swim?
Everyone should bring: wetsuit [New England], snacks, sunscreen, water
I brought my 8’ foam top Wavestorm for Ollie to ride as it’s buoyant and FOAMIE.
Sequence for lesson: Quick dry land sesh followed by water time

On land

>Go over the anatomy of the board
>”Whos the best surfer?” [The surfer having the most fun]
>Figure out stance on board [which foot will be first for them?]: Few options here:
You can just have the person fall forward and see what leg they catch themselves with.
You can say, per Maddie, “show me your ninja stance” or “have you ever slid across a wooden floor? show me how you’d do that”
You can hold their hands and pull them towards you and see what leg they catch themselves with.
You can push them lightly from behind and see what foot and see what leg they catch themselves with.
>Pop up practice
>Where the board should be [never between you and wave]
>Safety: Falling: Make a cage for your head; fall to your butt/like a starfish if you fall off the board. Never dive, never go head first.
>I put leash on her. That was something I monitored but for the most part it made sense for her to be tethered to board.
>If they’re nervous, go through what Kerri from Narragansett did — what makes a wave, the journey it takes to get to you, the fact that you alone will surf that one unique wave [helpful mystical distraction and you can both draw in the sand :-)]

In water

>Walk board out together; go over the fact that the board should always be making a T with the beach/pointing either toward the horizon or toward the shore
>Watch waves
>For a little one, you can ride with arms along the length of board and chest on board for a few waves.
>Bellyriding is still surfing. Kneeriding is still surfing. If you ride a wave, you’re a surfer. That’s what I stick to.
>If they’re really really comfy, make sure they’re on the right spot on the board, give them a push, and hoot and holler as they ride.

How to get out
>Best case scenario, your surfer is having the time of their life and they want to keep surfing forever. Three hours in, I found ice cream was a helpful motivator for getting out :-).

Cliff notes

At the end of the day, it’s all about constant communication and gauging comfort level. It’s fairly easy to tell when someone feels uncomfortable. Taking a quick breath or a break is no big deal if someone gets water up the nose or gets wobbled and scared. After a moment like that, whatever you need to do [safely] that lets the surfer feel good about the water, is what you do. If that’s chasing your seagulls off your snack pack, great. If it’s eating Shark Bites [feels a little too on the nose to do that but hey], taking a quick silly selfie or applying more crazy colored Zinc, do it. After a little bauble, we bodysurfed a bunch until she was feeling stoked on the water again. Be confident, be there, and be positive with your surfer and it will go a long way.

Sharing the stoke is probably the thing that is most rewarding in my life. To have quality time with my buddy, sharing something I love so much with her, gave me such a high that keeps warming my heart. Seeing her face when she felt the wave took her and let her ride, was so magical. So many good things.

Workshop Wednesdays Continue: Building my First Surfboard

I’m borrowing Nick’s respirator and IT’S PINK. (c) Sara Dyer

Workshop Wednesday’s at Maddie’s continue this week. It’s been a journey to get here but fuck am I glad I’m here.

We’d started out on surfboard making journey together, hashed out at a Surfrider NH event in the fall.  We’d hit up Dale from Surfrider for his wisdom and taken a trip to his “shop” as he liked to call it. “Foam is your FRIEND,” he repeated, over and over again. I’d spun through Steph F’s collection of longboards, becoming completely and utterly confused, and going back to the drawing board with what board to make.

That phase took quite some time: Maddie and I’d hemmed and hawed [read: agonized] over what type of board to make, pulling out possibly every single board on the racks at Cinnamon Rainbows [bless your hearts], and, upon deciding, hit Book and Bar in Portsmouth one cold winter’s night to order our blanks from Green Light Surf Comp over cups of savory teas.

Then COVID hit. And, stemming from an abundance of caution, I’d decided I’d put my project on hold, nervous at the thought of the two of us working in the poorly ventilated basement together.

Maddie persevered and after seeing her complete her periwinkle purple surfboard, the FOMO set in big time.

With a few months under my belt of weirdo Twilight Zone, and one another being within our inner social circles, I started the project back up.

This week, I used Scott’s orbital sander [thanks Scott!] to try to get close enough to the outline of the board so I can start handshaping. The foam was starting to separate from the stringer at both ends so I added some glue and smushed one end as I only had one “smusher”type thing in my car.

I’d forgotten to pick up a weight or a bungee that would allow me to get close with the sander to the sides so it kept bucking like a bronco.

I think the process is teaching me to just find yourself in the middle of the process. Do the thing and you will have the power. And don’t overthink it:

I found myself in front of 20 different varieties / levels of grit at the hardware store prior to getting to Maddie’s. My head started turning to combust and I was just like “No. I’m just going to grab a couple pieces and see how it goes.” Each sheet of sandpaper cost a buck. I think I can spare myself the agony of a 45-minute brain-melting Google search for a buck.

Having a space to go and be quiet and turn off my phone except for the music and just zone out is truly heavan on earth. Thankyouthankyouthankyou.

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Drawing the Ocean: A Perfect and Strange Morning

The other day, an early morning, before work, I jumped out at Long Sands.

It was a weird day — it seemingly looked a lot cleaner from the shore but paddling out, it was disorganized and strange. It was one of those days where you feel like perfect waves are going by all around you and you somehow keep winding up in the wrong spot. So I settled. I’ll just sit and bob right here, I thought. I stayed around where I was, paddled for what came there and I was grateful for it.

The sun was shining, and there were only a few people out, and I felt so so good, so filled with gratitude and joy. And that’s when I had the experience I’d never had before, of the ocean coming to me. Out of nowhere, perfect rolling glassy waves came through, right where I was sitting, right to me. It felt purposeful and it felt like whatever vibrations had rippled off me, off those feelings of joy and gratitude and acceptance had nudged the water to throw some perfect ones towards me.

It was a perfect and strange morning.