339. Learn To Surf

I have always wanted to learn to surf. Actually no, that’s a lie. I have always wanted to be able to surf. I’ve never been disillusioned as to the fact it is a fairly hard slog until you get the hang of it, which is perhaps why it took me until I was 23 to give it a go!

Just as expected, it was really difficult! I was determined on day 1 to at the very least get up on the board, and spent almost all of the 5 hour lesson trying, until finally I was there, standing almost upright, gliding along the waves, feeling all triumphant. For all of about 1.5 seconds before I was face first into the ocean.

I was meant to do three days in a row, but at 5 long hours each, it was a gruelling slog! By the end of it I’d had enough after 2 days, was able to report back I’d stood up a few times and got the basics, but very much of the opinion that the effort to reward ratio of surfing is seriously off. For all the time you spend bobbling in the ocean, battling your way out and getting slapped in the face repeatedly by the waves, when you finally get an acceptable one you really only get a good 10 seconds riding the wave before you have to do it all over again.

Perhaps, as the instructor lamented, the surf was crap when we were there, or as the other students lamented, the instructor was crap. I certainly wouldn’t mind giving it a go with some friends who knew what they were doing, where I could potter around in my own time and have some regular breaks, but I can definitely conclude that I’ve given it a go and surfing isn’t really for me!

256. Inner City Surfing

In the middle of Englischer Garten is a man made standing wave in the Eisbach which has been a popular surfing spot since 1972

Stumbling across a bunch of surfers in the middle of an inner city park surely is a perplexing site, but most entertaining. Especially as most of them were really talented – there is even a sign that reads: “Due to the forceful current, the wave is suitable for skilled and experienced surfers only”