I set out writing this blog saying to myself… ‘ if I start this I’ve got to stay at it.’ Come  September 9 just over a week from this writing I’ve been at it 17 years.

Over the years I’ve always been interested in people’s story of how they came to surfing. So if I can brush my shyness aside and get a chance to ask someone about that I will.

A couple weeks ago I did just that. At the beach and walking to my van I got the opportunity to ask someone when they started surfing. You’d see this person every morning very early going out to surf at the point. A lot of times he’d be the first person in the water. I was curious to know when he got started as I’ve been able to see his progress for some time. He introduced himself and said he started 2 years ago yesterday….

I haven’t been able to talk with him since but I’ve got to say, knowing the exact date you started surfing sounds like planned determination. If you want to surf it does take determination for sure. As a matter of fact, determination could be the first ingredient to learning how to surf.

Paddle for a wave… miss it, paddle for a wave… miss it, paddle for a wave… miss it, paddle for a wave catch it… fall, paddle for a wave catch it… fall. Until you finally get to your feet for a spilt second. The reward finally comes and that feeling never leaves you.

Determination and repetition. You finally catch more waves than you miss. Get to your feet without falling more times than not. Until you catch almost every wave you paddle for and make a larger and larger percentage of the waves you catch without falling.

Now the ingredient that helps the learning curve… you’ve got the surfboard attached to your ankle. You fall but the board stays right with you. Climb back on the thing for a short paddle back to the line up and repeat. The repetition aspect is amplified.

I learned to surf via surf lessons. Briefly mention here…

https://drsurfboards.blogspot.com/2006/09/my-story-post-1-my-story-well-at-least.html

Learning to surf over 60 years ago was different. The surfboard was not attached to you ankle so when you fell your board could very well end up all the way at the waters edge and you had to go get it. First the swimming then more paddling to get to the line up, and getting more of a beating because you had to get back through the breaking waves.

But we didn’t know anything else… and learned to surf with that same determination.

D.R.