Surfing 101
Since I am taking a real vacation while I am in San Diego this week (read: no books, bikes, or coaching emails), I decided it was finally time I learned how to surf. I took a group lesson this afternoon and will be returning to Surf Diva tomorrow for another group lesson.

It was a fun day and I experienced all the great aspects of surfing: getting hit in the back of the head with my board, falling really hard on my butt, drinking plenty of salt water, stinging eyes, being thrown around in the wave, and success...in this picture I am paddling (left side) hard before the wave comes. My paddling was a bit wimpy...

My "pop-ups" need the most work. I am adding to many movements rather than just popping up. Hopefully I will remedy that tomorrow.

Because I was slow getting up, I definitely crashed and burned alot...it wasn't so bad as I learned how to fall more gracefully (read: not fall on my butt) by the end of the day.

Once I was up, it was easy to stay up...that's my surf instructor cheering me on in the background. If you look behind her, you can see we had decent sized waves today (4-5 feet). After getting thrown around in one big wave, I stayed a little closer in and worked on the fundementals. Like I said, I'll be be out there tomorrow and hopefully will be much more proficient at "popping up" and riding the wave.