SURF CAMP!!!!!!

Welcome to Surf Camp. I am now at Seven Mile Beach. It is a beach and National Park that is approximately.......seven miles long. Go figure. It is about 2 hours south of Sydney.

I spent 4 days there, and it was a great time. I realize surf camp is not as cool as the record snowfall in Chicago, but I rolled with the punches allright. We had 2 2-hour surf sessions a day, including the lessons. What they taught us probably lasted about half an hour, and the rest of the time was on the water trying to put it to work.

Surfing is tough. Once again my natural athletic ability and balance shined forth, and needless to say, I had more spectacular wipeouts than waves surfed. So I am pretty sore here at the end of camp. It is great fun and great exercise, so I see why surfers stay in such good shape. And I did learn how to catch a wave and stand up, how to speed up and slow down, and how to turn. I am not really good at any of these things, but the waves I did catch and ride successfully were amazing. And wiping out is good fun too.

I will say this, I had never really experienced surf until I hung out on the beaches here (with the exception of the time we were St. Pete and playing in the waves before the hurricane got there.) There was one funny morning on the last day (so we were all really tired at this point), when we got up early in the morning and the instructors were ecstatic the surf was so good for us. Well, it was too good. I started paddling out and the key is to get past where the waves are breaking. Well, I did not make it before I got tossed by one of these big waves and then about 6 more came and hit me in the exact same spot. So I am feeling beat up when I finally get out there. So now it is my turn to try and catch some one of these waves. I catch the wave but get wiped almost immediately, so then you are stuck with the waves crashing on you again until you can get past them. On a whole, the class was not ready for these waves, and spend the entire time getting pummelled. All in all though, just an awesome week and good fun to learn. I hope to continue to surf while I am here, but it will be hard to find an empty, sandbreak beach like 7 mile that is so great for a learner.

Alright, I will post a couple more pictures and give this blog update marathon a rest. Then, I am off to find somewhere that will televise the Cardinals Game and 9:30 in the morning. One can only hope.