Session Number: 2

Time: 1 hr 30 mins
Surf: 4 times

BIG SURF!!!!

I went surfing tonight with Malcolm and Peter down at Manly. The surf was big and they appeared to be a little nervous about getting out – it didn’t help that there were lots of surfers hanging back in their cars.

We headed down to South Steyne where the waves appeared to be a bit smaller, but in fact were just as big.

On the way, Malcolm made a joke about us being a posse. I suggested that we needed nicknames and put forward “shorty” for Peter as he's be over 6’ 3” and “giggles” for Malcolm as he never stops with the giggles.

Malcolm, being slightly cruel, called me “running bear” and I immediately took him to mean that my body looked “bearish”. I do have a belly that extends from the top of my ribcage down to my pubic bone. I never use to have it. A wetsuit really shows off all the curves...so there it was – the belly.

Anyway, it was all laughs as we walked along the sand – it was so much fun hanging with the boys.

I had Malcolm’s 9-foot board and wore a steamer wetsuit.

As we waded out, a woman’s voice came over the loudspeaker, “The Life Guards are now leaving the beach. The beach has been closed all day. Any people entering the surf now do so at their own risk.” Malcolm made a wise crack as per his nickname.

The surf is strange because a person standing on the beach can’t ever know how powerful the waves are until they feel the full weight of the water pounding down on their body.

As I sit here now typing this, my left shoulder feels like it has been pulled out of the socket and my fingers are numb. I have red scratches on my arms and a wetsuit rash on my neck. When I got in the shower before, I emptied a bucket of sand out of my crotch!

I have no recollection of being injured, but I was dumped three or four times by the biggest waves.

I’d line the board up and paddle hard until the wave picked me up. My speed would pick up and then I’d realise that the wave was still growing. Somehow, in all that churning water, the board would then start to nose dive. It was then all over before it started as my body got flipped off the board and I tumbled over and over again in the murky water.

As I went under, my main thought was about grabbing the board before it hit someone and not getting hit myself. There was so much energy in those waves!

After I’d been churned enough times I decided not to paddle out the back with all the experienced surfers, but to stay closer to shore and catch the foamy dregs.

Peter gave me a tip on ridding the board and after repeated failures which gave the woman next to me a few laughs, I was able to finally get up on the board. Not once, but four times!

At last I was surfing!