JV Surfer with Varsity dreams

Today I got bounced off the ocean floor.

No, I didn’t fall off my board in shallow water and hit the sand. I found myself on the business end of a large, heavy wave which picked me up and dribbled my limp body on the sand like a basketball. This is not a regular occurrence for me,  but it has happened a couple of times since I began surfing again back in May. The south pacific has been PUMPING. The rainy season is creating storms which are sending significant swell to the shores of Central America. I’ve certainly taken a couple licks in these past couple weeks, but I’m obsessed with surfing and I’m seeing improvements each day.  

In a previous blog, I mentioned my second-hand purchase of a sleek red surfboard. I impulsively bought this board when I first arrived in Playa Samara because I needed something to get me into the water. I remember arriving at my house and thinking to myself: This is either a great purchase or a great learning experience. Unfortunately, the latter proved to be true and the red quicksilver board was not the right board for a beginner to intermediate surfer like myself. So on the morning of May 6^th I woke up at 4:30 am to catch a series of public busses that would take me to Tamarindo, Costa Rica where I would buy myself an appropriately sized board. 

A buddy of mine had recommended I shop at his friend’s surf shop called Cheboards. When I arrived at Cheboards, I didn’t immediately realize the scale of the operation they were running, but I would soon come to find out. The front showroom has a trendy bohemian style with both rustic and modern elements.  Nest chairs and surfboards hang from the ceiling.  The walls are lined with dozens of other surfboards, and coffee table books about surfing and its history can be found throughout the showroom. As I was shopping around, I asked to see the used boards they had for sale. I was amazed when the wall slid open to reveal a extensive factory warehouse where they shape the new boards and store the used boards behind the showroom.  

Juan Diego, the man who runs Cheboards, is a very talented surfer and surfboard shaper. According to their website, he and his team design and shape between 600 and 900 boards every year in their factory warehouse. When I was shopping around for the right board for me, I was lucky enough to meet Juan Diego and shake the hand of the man who essentially created the surfboard I would purchase.

Thanks to Flor from Cheboards and my parents who co-signed the surfboard purchase, I walked out that day with a beautiful 7-foot, steel blue surfboard–“la papaya”–which has more than enough foam to keep my large frame afloat in the water. I brought my baby back to Samara, totally stoked to immediately begin shredding the next day.

So often in life our expectations are far from reality, and this story is no different. My new surfboard did help me to catch more waves, but it did nothing to help my atrocious paddling technique, or my complete lack of knowledge of the ocean and how to read waves. I quickly realized that I had a lot to learn. At the time money was tight (it still is, just not as tight as it used to be), so instead of booking a private lesson at one of the many surf schools here in town, I asked my buddy Junior if he would be willing to give me some pointers. Junior and I paddled out and he told me where I needed to be on the board and how to orient myself in the water to catch more waves. I have also learned a ton on YouTube. An Australian surfer-filmmaker, Kale Brock, produces high quality surf tutorials which have helped me immensely as I seek to improve in the water.

Beyond just knowing how to move in the ocean, a competent surfer must know the conditions he’ll be surfing in. I have dedicated a fair amount of time to learning how to read tide charts, swell charts, and even the waves themselves. When the swell is coming from the south and the wind is coming from the north, you can expect really good surfing conditions here in Samara. I find that by spending time on the beach before I hit the water I am able to anticipate the conditions and feel more prepared for the surf session ahead of me.

Credit: Magic Seaweed

Once I’m actually in the ocean, I’m watching the waves and trying to find the peak. The average beach-goer will likely not notice the peak of a wave, or the right and left sections which come after it, but through my progression as a surfer I have become addicted to trying to find the peaks and sections. The peak is the place where the wave is the steepest and moving the fastest and therefore it’s easiest to catch a wave at its peak. A wave will break when it passes over water that is half as deep as the wave is tall. Some waves break over a reef or on a point that reaches out into the open ocean, but here in Samara the waves just break when they come onto the beach. The waves come in at different heights and different angles which means the peak is never in the same place. Because the peak is always moving, the surfer needs to always be moving too,  so my big challenge right now is building my endurance. As an athlete I have never been upper body dominant; in fact, rather the opposite. But my time in the water is forcing me to train my shoulders, triceps, and upper back in order to perform better on the board.

https://barefootsurftravel.com/livemore-magazine/how-to-read-waves

Even though I am still very much at the beginning of my surfing journey, I find myself enamored with the waves and with the experience as a whole. Even on cloudy days when the landscape isn’t stereotypically pretty, the view from the water is enchanting. If the wind is blowing from the shore out into the ocean it will rub a layer of water off the top of the wave and create a brief salty rainshower behind the peak.  As I paddle out from the beach to the break, I cherish the feeling of getting sprayed by the water. 

Looking south over the horizon I love to watch as the waves from the open ocean build up and crash on the reefs on the north and south ends of Samara Bay. The dark blue waves can reach as high as 10 or 12 feet before coming down on the rocks and I am thankful that the reefs are there to keep all that water from coming in further. Looking back at the palmy beach, I am overcome with gratitude for the fact that I get to live and learn and play in such a beautiful place. 

One of my favorite times to surf is early in the morning. When the tide is high between the hours of 4:00 and 7:00 am the waves are big enough to paddle out and surf for an hour or so  before heading into work. The rising sun hits the water at a lower angle in the morning and creates a glassy mirror on the surface. The reflection of the sunlight on the textured surface almost reminds me of mercury and I can see where the name “Quicksilver” comes from. 

Recently my friend/mentor/professor Dr. Chris Haskett came to visit me in Playa Samara. Over the course of his 7 night stay on my living room floor he imparted a fair amount of knowledge and life advice. Dr. Haskett is one of the few Buddhists I know, and certainly the only Buddhist I know of who also enjoys hunting and fishing. He made one point in particular that stuck with me when he compared surfing to hunting; stating that, “Just like hunting, 95% of the time you’re surfing you’re not actually surfing.” Most of what I do when I’m surfing is paddling out or paddling to get in position. Very little time is actually spent riding the wave. When I realized this, it helped me to be more patient in the water and showed me that I need to work harder to be ready when the right wave comes for me. 

Surfing is my latest obsession. When I’m not working or teaching English online I find myself either in the water or searching for surfing tutorials online. Like learning any new skill, there can be frustrations but I am working to humble myself and keep a learner’s mindset. I’m always watching the locals and other experienced surfers to see how they do it. The OG’s in town, Pato, Samurio, Didier and Choco are very impressive in the way they move through the water with such ease. As the learning curve gets steeper and more intense, so do my wipeouts. But I find that getting slammed by a 5 foot wave is a good thing. If I’m not wiping out that means I’m not pushing myself. As I’m getting tossed around by hundreds of gallons of Pacific saltwater, in the back of my mind I’m chuckling and analyzing what went wrong and thinking about how I got myself into this situation.

Check out this quick video of me on the board. Right now I would say that I am a respectable surfer; not good, but respectable. I hope to look back at this video one day as an experienced surfer and chuckle as I relive my humble beginnings.