Make-A-Wave… what a difference it makes

MAKE-A-WAVE.. WHAT A DIFFERENCE IT MAKES

Last year Make-a-Wave got my surfing going again. I did surf everyday of September but honestly I was disappointed in my improvement. I had some good days but really I spent a lot of time watching other guys catch waves.

Basically I have no good reason to keep surfing. I started when I was 27 but just used to copy other guys on big days and would only get waves if there were more waves in a set than guys in the line-up.

Once I started a family, business and bought a home in one year I had a decade off but I'd always wanted to be able to surf. By my late 40's I was surfing more often and improving a little but in late 2020 my leg and elbow needed some repair work and two surgeries had a greater impact than I expected.

I complained to my wife Denise about how poorly I went even when I surfed every day of September and she got Christian from surfshuttle.com to coach me in his spare time. By now I was fifty and if I wanted to be a better surfer it was now or never.

Christian said I needed to do 1000 pop ups until my feet would land reliably in the right place on my board. I did 20-40 a day for three months. Here's the spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mQ6V5wojGxzXtTnUhS3m_NxkoGyuLnbY_8XwGjmstgQ/edit?usp=sharing

What I didn't know I was going to learn was how to read a wave and paddle on at the best spot so I could start to make my own decisions rather than copy others. All of a sudden any size surf was good for me and I got way fitter in the water.

Now I'm in the situation where I get quite a few waves every surf and sometimes lots but I know I've still got a long way to go. Now I can get myself into good spots on a wave and then be lost when I get there so I'm going to work on my angled take-offs and wave riding skills this Septemeber. I did a little video intro for 1 September. Not sure if it will upload. If it doesn't you can see it here on you tube

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