I shouted to my friend Ian, who was about ten feet away on the same wave, ‘It ain’t pretty, but it’s surfing!’ It wasn’t, actually, since I wasn’t standing on the board. I stayed on my knees, but I lifted my arms. There was no way I was paddling fast enough when I caught my first wave. But when you’re learning on a longboard, it’s all about paddling. True, skilled surfers know how to drop in with a quick burst of energy. When you see video of surfers, it’s typically from the moment they catch the wave. We had been told that to catch a wave you have to build up speed by paddling toward the shore as it approaches. We paddled out, which took about five minutes and left me exhausted. They surfed alongside, stabilizing the child whose feet appeared firmly planted. Online images for the Richard Schmidt Surf School showed instructors holding children up on their boards using harnesses. Too far forward and the nose submerges as the wave takes shape. Most important was the placement of one’s body on the board. He went over vocabulary, pointing to the rails, the deck, and so on. The instructor had us all lie down on our boards. The lesson started on cliffs overlooking Cowells Beach, a typical beginners spot with an easy longboard wave. It was cold and grey when we arrived in Santa Cruz.
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