First time SURFING!

I am in Miyazaki where is in Kyushu area, still Southern Japan. I went to surfing for the first time yesterday after arrival. A good friend of mine was a great teacher. I learned the basic movement to dodge waves, puddle, and balance. The water felt really cold when it touched my feet....and my stomach! PHeEEEWWWUuuu!! I cried out but was having fun at the same time. I can't remember the last time I went to the beach feeling ocean with my whole body. Once you got in completely it was not cold anymore. I just enjoy being in the ocean and feeling the energy making waves from far far away. I enjoyed diving into the water to dodge the waves. Believe me, I am not a super swimmer. I am more like "Well, I can swim but I don't like swimming in the ocean." Usually as soon as I can't feel the bottom I start feeling anxious. But the surfboard is floating, holding my whole body, swinging between the waves. What a nice feeling. I was not scared at all. Yesterday I spent all two hours to get used to the waves and the board. After having an advise from my teacher picking up a good wave to ride, its timing, and paddling like a crazy woman I caught A wave!!!!! I can't discribe it. It just took off, carried me all the way like flying! I already enjoyed riding a few seconds everytime wave hit me, but it was totally different. I knew I could not ride like a sufer on the TV or on the picture on a magazine so I did not expect anything or did not understand what really "ride a wave" means. Of couse I was not be able to stand up, I was just holding onto my long board shouting "Yeeeeeeeeepeeeeeeeeee!!!"

Today was off. So I went again with more people.There were three more people today who had not done surfing. They tried and loved it! Thanks to the teacher, everyone got a few rides and felt the great flying sensetion! I was so happy to share the feeling that I felt yesterday with everybody. We did not have enough boards for everybody but we took turns and had so much fun. I got swirled and the wave took me several time to under the water world. Surprisingly, I am still not scared of ocean. The surfboard is so reliable somehow. I have a leash on my right ankle. I dive to dodge if it is too late to get ready for a ride and the board will be taken a little so my ankle being pulled. I got out from the water as soon as I hear the sound of wave is gone and pull the leash. Today, there was a time I had to repeat this so many times because a set of waves kept coming and I did not have any time to turn around, get on the board, paddle! It made me really tired. But still, I wanted to catch a wave. I got a long nice ride since another wave catching up carring me further, well I felt that way. It was GREAT! With more explaination from my friend and more carefull observation of the ocean, it started to make more sense for each movement. I start feeling comfortable on the board when I am riding. So I started tring to stand up. I kind of kneeled on the board for a few moments which felt fine (and exciting!) before I made up my mind to actually stand up......I stood up and immediately lost balance and fell into the ocean. My body was not with the board, the board was going forward so quick but my body was not. So it makes sense why I fell. My back hurts because of that, but I learned I guess. I tried a little bit later, same thing happen. I need more practice to actually stand up and surf. This is really hard excercise so it is good for me. I needed to build more muscle on my upper back, according to my chiropractor. Paddling is great excercise. I am sure I will have sore muscle tomorrow though. Anyway, I had so much fun playing with ocean, laughing, shouting "Yeeeeeeeeepeeeeeeeeee!!!" all the time. I think I was the loudest and the most enjoyed person on the beach.