Hawaii, August 2011

It's January 2023 and why do I have this blog entry from August 2011 in my drafts? I don't know. Let's put it out there for the pure joy of thinking about me having a cute surfer boy tow me out to the break with his big toe twelve years ago in Hawaii.

I arrived in Honolulu a few hours before my BFF, so I took a shuttle into town, dropped my stuff at the hotel, and went across the street to Waikiki to rent a board and paddle out.

I ended up mostly paddling; I think I went for two waves and caught one. It was very small (2-3') and it was packed. Maybe I was at a break called Pops. I could have probably gone for it a bit more, but I find it so hard to dig into small waves (read: weak!), and the reef was freaking me out. Here in God's Country (Oregon), the ocean has a smooth, sandy bottom. In Hawaii, the ocean is sharp and scary and ready to eat you up. The reef is why the surf is so consistent there. And it's why I immediately felt disappointed knowing I wouldn't feel safe just renting a board and doing my thing there. Sucks! Luckily, I have no shame, so I called up a local surf school and scheduled a private lesson so I could at least get some time in the water.

A few days later I was meeting Ray, 38, from Rockaway Beach, NY, for my lesson. He was so great and our time went so well. We paddled out around Publics, (I'd just like to say: holy hell, paddling! Wellllll over a quarter of a mile, I'm guessing.) They'd had me self-assess my skill level, so we were going to take some white water waves first and then see if I could try some green (real) waves.

I don't know what to say. It was *so* good. It was a fairly sizable day to be at a new break, maybe 5-6', and Ray just *got* it. He watched me a few times and then said he liked my pop up, I had good form and I looked comfortable, but he said I had a mental block about the drop. I couldn't have said it better myself.

I took a couple of rides in the white water and then Ray pushed me into a few small green waves. Let me tell you - you ride a LONG way in when you start 1/3 mile out! I thought I was going to get tired of standing! Of course, at some point on the first ride in it occurred to me that I would be paddling back out after each gorgeous, lengthy ride, but it was worth it. Crazy long rides. Ray actually would catch a wave in after me, give me a bit of feedback about my ride while I was climbing back on my board, and then we would paddle back out together. And after a while he started giving me a little tow - hooking his foot on the nose of my board to help me out. (He did tricks when he would catch waves in to meet me - one time he surfed in while doing a headstand :>)