Yesterday I had booked Daniel and I a surf lesson. It was at 11, so at 10 we headed down from our Rv park. The RV park was only a couple miles away from the surf shop we were headed to. We had to sign some papers before actually heading down to the beach. On the phone they told us to arrive half an hour early, I figured it was because we were going to pick our surfboards and whatnot. When we got down to the beach we were the first couple people there. None of the instructors were there. Later I realized it was because they were out on the water. We sat under a umbrella and waited for our lesson to arrive. More people began to arrive. A few minutes before 11 all the coaches came in. They layed out the boards and then pointed us one by one to our fitting board size. We were all given rash guards and then we began our ground lesson.
One of the coaches showed us how to pop up on the board, just so we would have some background knowledge before we went out on the water. There were the same amount of coaches to students so we all got our own personal coach. Mine was very nice and I could tell just by the look of him he was a surfer. He said he had been surfing for many years and that it was his favorite sport. I headed out to the water with my instructor and then we worked our way out to the lineup. There was a pretty major riptide today, even the instructors were surprised, and they must have seen some weird stuff in there years of surfing.
It took a couple waves to remember what surfing felt like. Last year when we were in Maine with my uncle, (who lives in LA and is a really good surfer) we had rented out a board and my uncle had helped us catch a couple. Note: those waves were only a couple feet high. After I had gotten the feel back I caught a wave that I rode all the way in, to the point where I just had to jump off. I saw Daniel catch some great waves too. The lesson was incredibly fun, by the end of the hour I had rode in 2 or 3 waves in all the way and quite a few others in most of the way
Both Daniel and I now felt comfortable riding some waves without a good surfer to help us out, which was my goal front he beginning. We had a few hours to drive, all the way up to Chapel Hill. Phoenix, Oregon was playing there at 7. We made it up North with no trouble, we stopped at a park to make dinner but other then that the drive was uneventful. We got to the theater about 45 minutes before the screening time so we could set up the merchandise. People began to show up not that long after. The theater filled up and most of the people stayed till the end of the Q and A. Tomorrow is a another major driving day, we only have three days to make it from Chapel Hill all the way to Maine. Look on the map on our website (PhoenixOregonmovie.com) to see just ho many states were driving through to get up there. Tomorrow we are headed up to Philadelphia, See you there!
Have to tell you how much fun it is to follow you this way. Thanks for the daily update!
But, hey, a "riptide"??--that's an unusual and dangerous condition that will pull you straight out to sea very rapidly and with extreme power if you get into a certain zone of water. I can't see holding surfing lessons with a riptide alert on. They usually try and keep everyone out of the water then.