There have been so many moments here that I've thought 'don't forget this Laura...don't forget what this feels like, smells like, sounds like...', and I've had no way to capture it except with my memory. I'm hoping that I'll be able to pull these memories up later in life. Writing about them here does help conjure up the old stories, as I've read through posts from our Aussie days.
Edie and I got in for a surf at Sumner Beach this past Saturday morning. We hadn't been out for a few weeks, and the water temperature has definitely dropped. We've been using full body 3-5mm wetsuits and booties since the beginning of April, but Saturday was the first time that I really felt like I needed them. Even with a hood (I've also been wearing a hooded suit since April) I was frozen. Up until this past weekend it was the temperature of the air that made surfing cold- especially after getting out and peeling off the wetsuit. This time it was the temperature of the water that made it uncomfortable. It took some body numbing and some good waves before you could really get into what you were doing and forget about the temperature.
Surfing lifehack that we've picked up: If you're surfing in cooler air temperatures, fill up a 2L milk jug with a 1/2 and 1/2 mix of boiling water and hot tap water, and leave it in your car while surfing (we surf for about 2 hours at at time, you'd have to take the time into consideration). When you are out and ready to peel off that wetsuit, get someone to pour that 2L jug of warm water down the inside of your wetsuit. It makes that awful job of peeling a neoprene suit off of your wet and freezing body, that much more bearable. It's a welcome thing when you come in from the water frozen.
We have been lucky, in that the last 2 times we've surfed we've had great conditions for beginners like us. The waves were probably 1-2 feet nearshore and 2-3 feet 'out the back'.
Sidenote #1: Out the back is the area behind the waves, further off shore where you can catch a wave before it breaks. Out there you can surf down over the wave and onto the wave face while it's breaking, if you're good. It's where you see more seasoned surfers hanging out on their boards waiting for the right wave. In our early lessons we learned how to stand up and catch a wave nearshore. Edie and I go out the back if conditions are such that we can get there- to get out the back, you have to get through the waves that are breaking onshore, and that can be tough. There have been days where I've worked for most of an hour to get out the back and still not made it. On these days, because the difficulty getting out the back actually means pretty great surfing if you can get there, surfers in Sumner will get out the back either by taking a path through the water near the rocky point, where the current is less forceful (so close to the rocks that I find it a terrifying option), or they will catch a rip-tide current. Rip-tides are breaks in the surf running perpendicular to the wave fronts, that pull out to sea. You can spot them as calm areas between wave fronts, and if you happen to be in one, it will pull you out to sea. If you've got something to hang on to, rip-tides are navigable- it will take you out to sea, and then spit you off to one side or the other, where you can then paddle or surf back in on either side. If you have nothing to hang on to, the idea is to stay calm, and let the rip take you out (fighting it will just wear you out), where it will spit you out so you can make it back in outside of the rip-tide area. They can be terrifying, and everyone should have a healthy fear of rip-tides. Well seasoned surfers will use rip-tides to take them beyond the choppy wave-fronts inshore, and peel-off the rip-tide out the back. I'm not ready to do that, but I find the physics behind it compelling.
Back to my original story- the last 2 surfs for Edie and I were such that we could get out the back easily. We were technically in lessons, but Donna, our instructor, lets us go and do our thing while she focuses on surfers needing more help. She'll yell out encouragement and tips to us as we make our way past. She is awesome.
Sidenote #2: If you're ever in Christchurch and you want to surf, Donna owns 'Stoked' surf school in Sumner and her goal is to get people up and going on their boards. She's especially excited about getting more girls surfing.
To get out the back, you throw yourself onto your board, lay face-down and paddle like a demon. I have longer arms than Edie, so I'd paddle a bit, she'd yell at me to wait up, and we'd get out to the calmer area behind the waves, rest a bit and wait for a good one to roll in. Sitting or laying down on our boards out there was so magical. Talking about the last wave we caught, assessing the next one to catch, and taking in the beauty of the surroundings. We happened to be there late in the day one of these days and sitting out there watching the sun go down against the backdrop of the mountain range that runs all the way up to Kaikoura, was incredible. On Saturday past, it was harder work getting out the back, so once we got there we both laid face-down on our boards looking at that mountain range, and just floated. The sky was so blue that from my vantage point, it was hard to tell where the water ended and sky began. Oh man was it good. It must be the combination of physical exertion and the natural surroundings that do it for most surfers, it's incredibly calming. The combination of that plus doing it with Edie, is a feeling and a memory I want to hold on to forever.
Sidenote #3: Celia isn't comfortable out the back. I may have helped perpetuate a bit of fear about larger waves in a boogie boarding session gone wrong. I love getting tumbled by big waves- she does not. She got tumbled one too many times, and has never really trusted the big surf (or me in the ocean) since. She loves surfing with her friends in the smaller stuff nearshore, but her friends haven't been surfing since their afterschool lessons ended in early April. Celia hasn't been surfing since her friends stopped, which I can appreciate. And she's very happy to scavenge the beach while Edie and I have been surfing. She's a real natural, so I hope that she's had a taste for it that gets her back in the water with some surfing pals later in life. I love how well she can hold her ground on such things. No friends, no surf, mom. You are not the surfing pal I'm looking for.
I love all of it.
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