More Surfing Buddies

Thaila, Rachel and I went down to Durban this morning with two new friends; Lita (middle) and Ciara (right). It was a very good day. Today was perfect for catching open face waves. Dion helped Lita and Ciara, but he gave them stand-up boards to use instead of surfboards. I caught lots of open facies. Rachel and Thaila lent their boards to Ciara and Lita for a bit, when Dion had left. It was a very tiring day. We stayed in the water for about 3 hours.

I saw Colleen, Ariane and Christina there. Colleen is my friend from when I went surfing on my own a while back. Ariane is my dad's friend's daughter, who I introduced to surfing. Christina is my friend that I met when Dion gave me my first or second lesson.

Day 3 Holiday Surfing

Rachel and I went to Durban early in the morning. The waves were the worst that they've ever been. It was very rough and choppy. We got in the water just to try it out. It was pointless. I caught only foamies and was fighting the waves most of the time so we got out. We decided that we would give Umdloti a try. 

The waves looked okay while we were driving along the beach-front. In the water it was quite rough and had quite a strong side wash. We had to keep pushing through the foamies. Eventually I got out to backline but the waves were massive. The few foamies that I did catch were really fast. What I learnt from this is; I need much stronger arm muscles. 

Day 2 Holiday Surfing

I went out to Durban all by myself, once again (Thaila and Rachel have family over). I got there and joined Dion and his group of beginners. Most of them were still catching foamies but Dion told me to go out to backline. The waves were amazing. At first I couldn't get the hang of it and Dion called me back to shore. He gave me a pep talk and made me catch one foamie. Afterwards I went back out to backline and started catching some nice open faces waves. I caught a  few really good ones but i need to practice the way I get up on my board. I met another girl while at backline. Her name was Colleen. She looked a bit older than me and was also learning with Dion.

Tips from the Dion Jar:

- Always surf where the other surfers are catching waves

- Paddle when you see a "wave lump" and only stand when your board has dropped in front off the wave.

- Wave selection is very important (He said mine is excellent)

- Surf more often

I've been looking for a backpack for a while now. I hate carrying satchels or handbags. I finally found one at a Christmas market. I take it everywhere with me. I put all my surfing stuff in it when i go to Durban. The lady that sold it to me said that a towel wouldn't fit...I proved her wrong :)

                                            

My mom and I went and bought my brother's Christmas present. I had to do all the talking while asking about the features and stuff (because my mom trying was a little embarrassing). After looking at all our options and  bargaining  a bit, we bought this beauty from an attractive sales guy at a surf shop.

It's been raining for about a month now but it cleared on Sunday. We went surfing. Dion was there and he gave us another lesson. The sea was really rough so we didn't bother going to backline while we cant duckdive. I always seem to get injured and this time I got cut on my wrist and foot plus a couple of bruises :(

 That's Gaby

After 4 or 5 lessons (6 o'clock in the morning) our coach said we don't need him anymore so we go on our own. We have learnt how to stand up on foamies and now we're paddling out to back-line for real waves. We can't duck-dive with our long boards so its hard to get out at high tide.  Durban beaches have no waves in summer so we're looking for a better one to learn at.

We found an instructor that used to be the captain of the KZN surf team. He offered to coach us for FREE.
Jess (right of me) was our photographer  for the day. Follow her blog here. She made my BEAUTIFUL banner :D

He gave Thaila (left) and I boards (Rachel has her own)

We started off catching foamies

After a while he called us out and told us what we were doing wrong.

Thaila's first time surfing