Morning!
The waves were perfect today. Not too big and not too small. I dropped down and turned on all the waves that I caught. There was quite a lot of people there, so we had to keep moving to a new spot and being really careful not to surf over someone's head. 

I saw a guy on the promenade with his surfboard attached to his bicycle with that rack that I want to build.
Oh, and check out my polyvore account please and thanks. 

Beach Bonfire

Hi there!

I've been crazy busy. My school does this exchange program every year where either we host some students from England, or we go there. Right now I'm hosting Tim. And it's loads of fun. I'm hoping to go over there next year. I've taken him to hang out at my friend's beach house and to beach bonfires. 

Today all the English kids and their hosts went to the beach and the waves were massive. There were huge barrels, it was amazing to watch. There were a few of my guy friends surfing but they're crazy. At least they can duckdive.

It's a lot of fun to have him here but the downside is, I couldn't go surfing last weekend. I will be going on Sunday though. Yay! And this time I will get photos of me standing up.The waves are supposed to be amazing because of the cyclone in Mozambique.

I think I'll be ready for a short board by June, so I'm going to ask my parents for a 6 ft for my birthday. Then I'll learn how to duckdive. I'm finding out where the best place to buy a board is and what kind of board to get. 

The Boys

I woke up so early this morning that it was still dark. My dad drove Lita, Ciara, Rachel I down to our usual surf spot. After being in the water for only a few minutes, Slade (Rachel's boyfriend) paddles up to us and we went with him to the pier to surf with Jessie and some of our other guy friends too. Rachel was scared that if she fell then the guys would laugh at her, so she didn't paddle for many waves. I caught quite a few really nice waves. The most amazing thing ever was when I caught a double up. I dropped down onto the wave and then I realized I was on top of another wave so I dropped down again. 

Later on, we went to where the water was waist-deep to teach Lita and Ciara. We'd tell them when to paddle and how and when to stand. I guess we were a little too close to shore because when we were loading the boards into the bakkie I saw that one of my fins snapped off. A new one costs R700. Any donations? 

This is Jason (left) and Slade (right)

This is a surfboard bike rack that I'm going to build with my dad (once he fixes my bike). With this I will be able to ride my bike to close beaches once I'm a confident surfer. Check out how to build it here.

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. 

Board Info

I'm back from Christmas in Joburg and since there's no sea there, I haven't been surfing. I thought I'd give you  some information about our "learner" boards. Mine is 6'6" tall and about 2" thick (surfboards are measured in feet and inches). They are thicker than short boards so they are more buoyant. Being longer and thicker makes it easy to stand on and easy to learn how to surf. Proper long boards are thinner and much longer.

That's mine (white) and Thaila's (yellow)

Steve (Our family friend who is the beach manager/lifeguard) came over today. He asked if he could buy Thaila's board when she's done with it. Apparently it is a 1980's Classic. Nice...and we always made fun of it for being yellow. Sorry Thai.

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.

Day 1 Holiday Surfing

Today Rachel, Thaila and I went down to Durban as usual.. The waves were really good. There was a strong side and back wash though. We didn't catch much. At backline  I was watching the other surfers that had long boards like us. They also can't duckdive so when a wave comes they would flip themselves onto the underside of their board so that the wave doesn't hit them and drag their board behind them (and rip their leg off). I tried it....and got the whole ocean down my throat. Thaila tried it and it worked (because like a normal person she blew out bubbles underwater).  

Afterwards we went to the I heart market.  Rachel bought a present for her mom. We bought macaroons (A cookie made with egg white, sugar, and ground almonds or coconut) EXPENSIVE...but delicious. It was hot so we left early.

Bluebottles

I went out to Durban without Rachel and Thaila today (they were busy). Dion was there and he took my mom and I down onto the beach to show us that it was a waste of time. There was an on-shore wind which brought in truck loads of bluebottles.  The waves were choppy and rough. 

My mom and I left. We just drove around Durban for a while. 

Afterwards we started driving home, but took a detour into Umdloti. We drove along the beach looking at the waves. No one was in the water. It looked a bit dodgy. The waves were rough but better than Durban. I decided that I would just go for a swim first to see how rough it was, and if there was a rip, before I took my board in.

It was freezing. Not too rough and no rip, but still a bit sketchy that I'd be the only one in the water. I would have gone out if Rachel and Thaila were with me.  On our way out of Umdloti we passed this adorable little hippy house.

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

First attempt at surfing.

Rachel (right) and I (left) went out on our own for the first time. We only had my one short board. There were no waves and we didn't really know what we were doing so we gave up and rented bicycles. We rode up and down the promenade. I hate bicycles. We also visited the old amusement park on the Durban beach.