We met Wendy's old friend whom she has known since 8 years old, who now lives in San Diego, and she is quite a waterman, or shall we say water-woman. She SCUBA dives, has a motor boat, wake boards, water skis etc., but she has not tried surfing for a long time. Originally, she was going to take us to Mexico for a fun trip, but we did not have time for that so instead I offered her showing how to surf. So I am back at Tourmaline, now with much smaller sets. That was perfect for her. We got a 9'0 BZ foam board and did the standard initiation routine of how to paddle and stand-up on the board, where to stand on the board etc. I thought I did not do too badly of a job, looking like one of those weekend surf instructor dudes at the beach.
We walked to the soup area and I did some pushes, and she caught several waves without a problem, and she even stood up on the board. So as for a new surfer session it was an enormous success. But afterwards she started to feel really chilled. It is amazing to know what the days of surfing at Nor Cal do to your body. I thought that the water in San Diego was so warm that I probably can get by with a spring suit, and I was gloveless for the entire time I was there, but her hand was cold and when we got out, she got a cup of coffee and holding the cup to warm her up.
Teaching surfing is difficult because you cannot surf with the person unless you are really good. I have seen some good instructor surfing right next to a student and either holding the arms or pulling the student up by the collar like a mother cat would carry kittens. Also it is hard to see from behind after I push her to take off.
I must say though she was stoked and said that she will try again. That's great because she knows Baja like a back of her hand so it would be good to twist her arms to come with us for a few days of Baja surfing and diving!
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