miz_ginevra

but I need more.

So I’ve never been surfing before. (Dad, stop reading this now.) It’s always been something I wanted to do – I read a lot of skate magazines as a kid, and they’d always have photos of surfing spots. I had a big crush on Taylor Knox. I taped up photos of waves to the walls and wished for the day when I would live in California.

Well, is Pacifica is California, even if it’s 50 degrees and raining, and there we were, with rented surfboards that were as unwieldy as elephants. The only lessons I got were from EHow, and the sage words: “hold your breath.”

Yen already wrote about the whole day, so I will just tell you about how I bit it instead. I remember trying to get through the breakers, and thinking I was through, then following the rest of the crowd and sitting on my board. (Mom, you should stop reading now.) five foot waves don’t sound that high, but when you’re looking at them from below, they sure seem big. That’s right when a wave came crashing over me, while I was

a. facing the wrong way and

b. not paddling at all, but fortunately

c. holding my breath.

Note to self: paddle! Face away from the wave! Hold your breath!

I crashed into the sea floor, watching sand swirl all around me, being dragged by my (still topside) surfboard. I spat out a mouthful of grit and then found my way up towards the light, taking the biggest breath I have ever taken.

Maile’s husband Gary was there when I finally surfaced and said “that’s not how you do it!”

No. I guessed not. What with the lack of hanging ten and everything.

It was really inexplicably fun. Ridiculously so. Once that spectacular biting of sand was done, nothing else could really spook me. I’ve never been so scared that I made it all the way past fear and right into blanking it out, and going on anyway. It’s lunacy. It’s fun. It’s nothing like snowboarding, unless you happen to snowboard where the mountain grows right in front of you, then slaps you in the face. This weekend’s trip to Tahoe is going to be a cakewalk in comparison.