Surf Camp Australia: The 2 Day Surf Spectacular II

Note: Please scroll below and read Surf Camp Australia part I before reading the following. 


All of us campers were divided into groups and assigned a surf instructor; we remained together at each lesson. I believe there were about six of us in my group: myself, Aubrey, our Norwegian roommate, and three lovely girls from Germany. Our surf instructor was Saxton. First of all, great name. Saxton. It has a surfer ring to it, doesn’t it? Now let’s play a game. What comes to mind (as in a visual image) when I say “surfer”? Got it? Whatever you envisioned, Saxton is. He is exactly what you imagine a surf instructor to be: bronze skin; blond, lengthy, tangled hair; and a perfectly chiseled body. I may have drooled once or twice. Did I mention that he is also a model? No? Well he is. When I told him I was from New York he said that he had been there once for work. I thought he meant for surfing, but he said that it was for modeling. I assumed that it was modeling for some surfer company, like Bongo or something. Wrong again. Calvin Klein, he told me. Yes ladies, an Australian, Calvin Klein model was my surf instructor. You have my permission to be jealous. The level of truth behind this claim has not been determined; I am perfectly content taking his word for it.

My surfing group. Can you spot Saxton?

To be fair, all of the surf instructors at camp were super cool and abnormally good looking. They were a bunch of nice, talented, funny guys who made my experience at surf camp extremely enjoyable. I didn’t catch the names of most of the other surf instructors (but they didn’t know mine either because we weren’t in a group together, duh) except for Shane and Bull. Shane was sort of like the head surf instructor and camp counselor. He was in charge of making sure everything was running smoothly, and would jump from group to group sharing his surfing two-sense and hyping up everyone to surf. His energy and enthusiasm for surfing was contagious. This was true for all the surf instructors. Their love for the sport was so evident, and it was nice to witness their passion for the sport and their job. Bull was the designated surf camp photographer. He spent the entire surf lessons taking pictures and films of everyone surfing, or attempting too. These we then looked at after meals, but more about that later. Now, back to the surf lesson.

Shane and Saxton

At the first surf lesson, Saxton began by teaching us how to simply ride a wave lying down on the board (as oppose to standing). Step 1: Get on the board. Hop onto the board on your belly with your toes touching the end or dangling off slightly. Step 2: Thumb and nipple check. Place your hands on the board so that your thumbs are directly under your nipples. DO NOT grab the sides of the board. You will tip over. Keeping your hands in the center maintains your balance on the board. Step 3. Push up. Straighten your arms and lift your chest off the board. This position resembles the Upward Dog pose in Yoga, if you are familiar with that. After practicing the three steps in sequence on our boards on land, we headed to the water to put practice to action. The water was C-O-L-D. Even with wetsuits on, it felt freezing. However, riding the waves lying on the board wasn’t too challenging. It was actually quite fun, like riding a big body board. Once mastered, we retreated back to land for the pivotal second lesson: standing up.

The starting position

Lesson 2: Standing up. Step 1. While lying on the board with your chest up, slide your right heel up to your knee. Step 2. Place your left foot in between your two hands on the board at a 45 degree angle. Step 3. Stand up, keeping your knees bent and looking forward.  Saxton made us draw a surf board in the sand and practice these three moves over and over and over again. Once it had been drilled into our brain, it was time to hit the waves and give it a go.  Of course, doing the motions on sand was easy enough, but doing the same in on a moving board in icy water was another thing. Crashing was inevitable. And crash I did. Actually, I didn’t crash so much as just repeatedly wobble about on the board and topple into the ocean. Still, it took many failing attempts before I successfully lifted myself onto my feet on my board as it (and I) glided across the water on a wave. In other words, I surfed! This moment was exhilarating. Riding a wave was such a high. In that instant I felt on top of the world. I totally understood why people love to surf and do so religiously; I wanted to keep surfing so I could experience that feeling over and over again.

Step 2: Standing! (aka surfing)

 Slowly, however, my state of euphoria began to fade as my body was overcome by cold. I became aware that I could no longer feel my fingers or toes. Each surf session was 2 hours long. That is a long time to be in freezing cold water. My displeasure was enhanced by the fact that I have renauds (spelling) disease. At least I think I do. It has never officially been diagnosed by a doctor, but my mother has it (if not, sorry mom for this falsification) and so I reasonably assumed that I had inherited this (algo about disease, like “likelihood to lose circulation”). Regardless, mid-way through the first surf session all of the blood had drained from my fingers and toes, which were ghost white and completely numb. The inability to feel your toes makes standing on a moving board rather challenging, and I became frustrated as I found myself falling off the board more than standing on it.

My frustration increased when it was finally time to go back to camp, because I had to drag my massive board back to the storage trailer, this time without feeling in my fingers.  I remember thinking how so very glad I was that I had only signed up for the 2 day surf camp because I couldn’t fathom doing this twice a day for four days. In those 2 hours my spirit had soared and then rapidly sunk down to a sourpuss mood. I just wanted to take a hot shower, bundle up in warm clothes and eat. Following surf lesson # 1, we had lunch, and then came the communal photo viewing session. As part of the surf camp itinerary, after each lesson Bull was to show the photos he took of us attempting to surf so that we could learn and laugh. By viewing the photos, they could point out what we were doing wrong so that we could fix it next time and improve our surfing skills. Really though, it was just a time for the instructors to laugh at how silly we looked. They said so themselves. “We’re laughing at you, but only so that you can get better. It will be fun.” I was dreading it. 

Body still thawing, I sat in the pavilion preparing to see photos of myself flailing all over the place, looking like a fish drowning in water. Bull started the photo slideshow, stopping on every other photo to critique it. “I’m not picking on you guys, I just want to show you what you’re doing wrong so you can fix it and become better surfers,” he assured us. He continued clicking the film. Then a photo of me below popped on the screen. I was glad to see that I was actually standing on the board, and surprised. I had only actually caught a wave a couple of times and somehow Bull managed to capture it on film. Bull then stopped on the photo shown below. I was bracing myself for the worst, ready to hear what I was doing wrong. “This,” he said, “this is really good.” What? Did I hear him correctly? Did he just say this picture of me was an example of good surfing? That couldn’t be. I shook my head to see if I had water stuck in my ears. “Who is this?” he asked. “Sarah, is this you?” I looked around perplexed, wondering “Are you talking to me mister?” Indeed he was. I was in such shock that I could barely form a response, but managed a nod “yes” while muttering “I think so.” Bull continued. “This is where we want to be,” he told the group. “See how she has turned the board and is riding along the wave, rather than forward? We don’t teach this until the fourth day usually. How did you turn the board, Sarah?” “That,” I stated, “was a complete accident,” The group laughed including myself. “Well that’s good,” he said. Then he moved on. 

My accidental "Good" surfing example

I felt rejuvenated. My confidence in my surfing capabilities had been restored and my spirits were once again high. I was eager to hit the waves again.