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I never knew what surfing was when I was still living in Germany. All I ever saw was the sails of the windsurfers racing over the stormy waters of the Baltic Sea, where I grew up. I used to love the water, be it just playing around in the local lake on a hot summer’s day or swimming in the Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean or the North Atlantic, snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, even the public swimming pool wasn’t safe from me.
Checking out the wild surf at the Baltic Sea, Summer of 1969
In 1994 I migrated to Adelaide, South Australia. The first time I ever heard
about surfing was from my then-boyfriend Ron. He used to rave about it, what
it does to your mind and body, how challenging it is. I never really understood
what he meant, not until February 22, 1997. We went down the Southcoast, to
Chiton Rocks. It was a hot summer's day and the water was nice and refreshing
when Ron suggested I should have a ride on the board. I layed down on the board
and Ron pushed me onto a wave. Boy oh boy, what a rush! I squealed with delight!
Feeling the wave picking me up, hear the water rushing underneath me and then
the speed! I had a real blast. All of a sudden, in the middle of all this fun
I heard a whistle blow, which meant only one thing: Shark! I couldn’t believe
it! The first time in the water with a surfboard and I was about to become sharkbait.
Everybody raced out of the water as fast as their arms could paddle, Ron of
course first, using the board, me desperately swimming for my life, trying not
to think of razorsharp teeth and big fins sticking out of the water.
Well, we made it alive, and it turned out that the fin that was seen a bit further out at sea was actually a seal. Phew! So much adrenalin rush for the very first surfing experience. A couple of weeks later we happened to stay in Coffs Harbour, NSW, for a holiday when we decided to take a little detour on a daytrip, ending up at the home of the Longboard, famous Crescent Head. We scrambled into the water, which was very warm, approx. 24 °C. I was splashing around in the shorebreak, diving under the waves etc. All of a sudden I saw Ron whizzing past me, standing on the board, surfing! Eventually I was allowed to try myself. I was very unsure in how to handle the board, but I tried my best, which wasn’t very much. In the end, Ron decided to paddle out at the point, where all the other surfers were and try to catch a wave in. And so he did! I was impressed. He could really surf!
We decided to give it a rest for the day and returned to our apartment, indulging in our day’s surfing experience and soothing my 3rd degree sunburn with a litre of after-sun lotion. We decided there and then that we should buy another surfboard and I would take up surfing seriously.
I got a chance to enhance my surfing abilities two days later, after I had a rest from my sunburn and the sore muscles (muscles which I thought never existed) when we made a trip to Byron Bay. We had a look at the surf at Watego’s Beach. Off we went, Ron first, of course, paddling out, and while paddling he was also drifting, but not in the right direction. He was actually being pushed further away from the break, slowly moving out of my sight. I got a little worried, what would I do, where would he end up? Just as I was considering getting a rescue helicopter organised I saw a figure popping up around the corner, clambering over the rocks, carrying a surfboard. I wasn’t quite sure what to do, so I slowly approached that figure, which to my delight was Ron. He’d ended up amongst the rocks, got tangled up in his leg-rope, almost drowned and cut his feet, trying to scramble over the sharp rocks, carrying the board at the same time. So we decided Ron should have a rest while I attempted to catch some waves myself. I was standing in the shorebreak, trying to manoeuvre the big board, look for a wave, jump on the board, paddle and catch the wave. Not as easy as it sounds. But I did get a few rides, and I liked it. Then Ron turn went out again. He caught a wave, tried to get up, slipped and fell on the board. When he came in, he was bleeding (sharks!) and holding his mouth. I thought he’d lost some teeth but he only had his lip split in half. So we packed up our gear, and got some painkillers from the chemist. Ron informed me that that wouldn’t stop him from surfing though!
When we returned to Adelaide, we got serious. We got the local papers and started looking for secondhand surfboards. Every time we went to look at it, it was a disappointment. On June 14th I saw an ad in the paper for a Malibu. We came, saw and bought. It was a Cutloose 9.2-ft board with a bright red stripe in the middle, only 6 months old, including legrope and boardcover for the bargain price of $ 350. Now all I needed was a wetsuit for myself and a wave to learn on.
I wanted to go surfing, but I had no idea when and where. Ron advised me that the best place for a learner would be Surfers, which is a beach break near Middleton. So we went there one day in the middle of winter. We put on our wetsuits, waxed the boards, put the legropes on and walked into the water. It was a funny feeling, the water was cold and I could feel it creeping through the openings in my wetsuit, but it wasn’t as unpleasant as I thought it would be. Ron was busy riding waves while I was busy falling off because I had no idea how to sit on a board, let alone how to turn it around. We were just having fun in the whitewater. It was certainly an experience. Little did I know what frustrations I was to encounter along the way and what challenges lay ahead of me with regards to learning how to ride a board!
The photographer
bravenet.com