Katie's Travel Blog: Surfin' Safari

I'm a surfer! Those of you who know me may be shocked to find this out, considering my fear of the water and (previously) less-than-stellar swimming skills. Ever since Thunder Bay at Water World in Colorado (getting sucked under that tidal wave was scary! It's the largest water park in the US and it's amazing: http://www.waterworldcolorado.com/) I've had an immense respect/fear of the water. As I've never been a strong swimmer (putting my face in the water... that freestyle breathing.. ughhhh) and I've lived most of my life in land-locked states, I've never really taken to water sports.

Then I moved to France in 2009 and decided I needed to work on this. There was no gym for me to work out in so I took to the pool. Breast stroke I can do for hours, but just one length of freestyle was really hard for me. I'd get halfway down the lane, panic and switch to breast. My first full length of freestyle was an accomplishment. Then I managed a lap. Then two. Then 10 minutes, then 15... you get the picture. It took months of going to the pool every day and talking myself into it to make this work, and it did!

Now that I seem to not only feel comfortable with the crawl stroke (le crawl en français) but also enjoy it, this seemed to be the right time to give into the peer pressure of learning to surf. Ryan & Rachael had been trying to get me to surf for three years, and, reluctantly, I went out with them in August of 2012. And had a blast.

Surfing on the Oregon Coast! All you need is a wetsuit, a board and a sense of adventure.

We went 4 or 5 more times in August and September and it got more and more fun each time. The feeling of the wave taking you, and getting up on the board, the power behind the wave, it's amazing. I also used to see surfing as a snotty kind of sport, like only gorgeous people in bikinis in California and Hawaii could do it, like they would judge others for sucking at their sport. Surfing, as it turns out, couldn't be further from that. The people who surf are stoked (haha) when they learn you've just taken it up. They live to catch a wave and for the fun they have while surfing. They want everyone to share in their passion and they don't care about looking foolish. Everyone falls. Everyone gets rolled. Everyone gets water up their nose. That's just the way it works. Everyone gets a little freaked out from time to time. As Ryan says, "The more you say, 'Oh crap! Oh crap!,' the more you know that's the wave you've got to take."

I haven't surfed since last summer and went out again this past weekend. While the waves were not great, it felt good to be out there again. Dan came out and we spent the weekend in Newport with Ryan, Rachael, Kate, Dave and Emma, surfing, hanging out, cooking yummy meals and grilling oysters on the BBQ. Not a bad way to spend Memorial Day weekend.