Surfin' USA. No... Wait, Surfin' in the UK!!!

What is the perfect thing to do in North Wales in the Middle of February? Yeah, you guessed it, go surfing! My thoughts exactly... All week we were trying to guess what we would be doing for OP because it was the first time we didn't have any knowledge of what we would be doing before hand. When Llion picked us up at 9 and said we would be surfing I wasn't quite sure how I felt about that. I was hoping to do something in the water this week but I was thinking something that involved us getting a little less wet... So we got to the Conway center and gathered all of the stuff we needed to go surfing. There was a lot of stuff involved so this took us quite a bit of time. The hardest part was getting into the full body winter wet suit. We were told they needed to be as tight fitting as we could possibly stand... this would help with the cold. By the time I got the wet suit on I felt like a giant rubber band. Then we had to get about a thousand other things including the board! The boards were absolutely huge! They were either 8 or 9 feet long. I felt very intimidated. But we loaded everything up and headed for the coast.

When we left for the coast the sun was shinning and it looked beautiful. By the time we got there, it was cloudy and raining. Not that the rain mattered since we were going to be in the water anyways, but the sun would have been nice. Llion gave us a few pointers and told us to head out into the water, two people to a board. I went first on the board and Eric was my partner. I was actually the first person to "catch a wave" and ride the board on my belly the whole way in. It was such a awesome feeling floating on top of the wave. I had to paddle really hard at first but then the wave did all of the work. I trudged through the water to get back out to Eric to try again, and all was going great. eventually we switched and Eric had good luck on the board too.

Llion called us back in for some more pointers and we all got to have our own board at that point. We were told to more or less make a circle, walk out on one side and ride in on the other so we don't run each other over. This worked well. Again I trudged out (it was a lot of work just getting out deep enough, it was very hard to move in the really tight wet suits). I was floating on the board waiting for the perfect wave to come along and then there it was. So I paddled as hard as I could and before I knew it I was flipped over and going under the water. I got a mouthful of salty water and had just enough time to grab a breath of air before another wave went over my head. I was kind of in panic mode by this point because I didn't know what was up. Right when I hit the surface, my board hit my right in the eye. It hurt so bad because it hit me just right on the bone. I was all shaken up and just about to tears. I wanted to give up. I was exhausted, but I knew I had to keep trying. It seemed like it took me forever to get back out but I made it. After several more failed attempts to stay on my board Llion called us back in.

This time Llion said our goal was to pop up to our knees... yeah right! I couldn't even stay balanced on the board how in the heck was I going to "hop" up to my knees? I was so discouraged by this point I wanted to quit. I didn't want to go back to the freezing cold water and get knocked over by the power of the sea. I was getting really bummed and I didn't like it one bit. I had done so well the two weeks before and I just couldn't get surfing. I was so excited when the day started and because of one good spill I lost all motivation. I was trying so hard to stay on the board, I didn't care about getting on my knees at all. It was so exhausting walking in the water and my arms were so tired from being so restricted by the wet suit. Llion called us back in one last time and made us practice on our board going from laying down to hopping up to our feet. I couldn't do it on land my arms were so tired, there was no way I would be able to stand up in the water. I just didn't have the balance, so my goal was to at least get to my knees. We practiced some more and I still didn't have any luck. I was getting really really frustrated.

We finally took a break for lunch, which was "fun" because of the sand and rain (sarcasm!) After lunch and a pep talk with Riley I regained some confidence and determination. We headed back to the water for another go. Some of the guys were actually able to stand up before we got out there, it was nice to see it could be done. I just wanted to get to my knees. I gave up on thinking I would be able to get to my feet. I was way too tired and I just didn't have the balance for it, and I was scared of getting more hurt honestly. So I trudged back out and waited for some waves... and waited.... and waited.... The water had changed so much in that short amount of time. the tide was way out and the waves were there but they didn't have any force. I tired to ride a few but I just wouldn't go anywhere. Sure, just the time I actually got some motivation, the waves just weren't the same. We were all really cold so we headed in... I was way bummed :(

Then the real fun began, it was so much fun changing out of the wet suits in the back of the trailer along the side of the road with four other girls, haha! Oh well we some how managed. Overall, it was a good day. I learned a lot and had some new experience. I wish I would have been better at surfing, but I guess I can't get everything on the first try. Guess I will have to take a trip to Hawaii and try again ;o)

Until next time...

~Amy