After paintball on Saturday the plan was to go surfing on Sunday. Fortunately I went to bed early so I was in quite good shape though the day before was very exhausting. Sylvain and Frank stayed up late and so they where pretty tired and slept in the car on the way to Torquay. But first things first, we had to get up at about 7:15 and had breakfast after a quick stop in the bathroom. We left the house at 8:15 and walked 15 min to Alba’s apartment where we met the other mates of the surf club. We fixed our boards on the roof of Shiggy’s (a Japanese who came to Australia in the ‘90s) minivan and headed down the coast.
We had rendezvous at a coffee shop in Torquay where we discussed where we want to go to surf while sipping on a hot cup of coffee. We decided to go to Fairhaven, the same spot as last week and jumped back into the cars and drove to the TSA to rent boards and wetsuits for those who have not their own stuff. Though we thought we’d go to Fairhaven the leading car turned at the intersection to Bell’s Beach into the street leading to this famous beach so we just followed them and assumed that they wanted to have a look at Bells before going further south. We stopped at Southside a spot just south of Bell’s beach. As there where only a few people in the water and the waves where pretty clean we decided to stay and geared up for surfing. I waxed my maiden board on was really excited to catch some waves with it. As it wasn’t as messy as last weekend it was pretty easy to paddle out and in addition the swim training at the sports aquatic centre paid off and with some powerful strokes I was sitting in the line-up and waiting for the waves. Actually waiting was most of the part as sometimes there where a few minutes of flat water between two sets and so I began to chat with an Australian architect from Melbourne who enjoyed getting out of the city, too. We talked about going abroad while studying, surfing in Australia and he gave me some advices how I could improve my take-off. After taking some waves in the middle of the peak I changed to the right shoulder because the waves broke over a length of 25m and it was not possible to go right or left. And that was a good decision!
After a nice nosedive and a missed take-off I paddled into a clean wave and was at the right spot. I jumped on the board and turned right and guided the board along the face of the wave and had a nice ride. My first clean wave on my first day on my brand-new board!!! It was awesome standing on the board on feeling how it floated just in front of the white water. Once I was on the wave it was like was time was passing fast and slow at the same time. Though there was the speed of the wave pushing me I somehow remember me having a look first down on the board and then back to the beach and the cliff line.
Stoked after that, I paddle out again and had some more tries but eventually I was getting tired and cold because the water was bloody cool (it gets down to 13 degrees in winter, so right now!). I went further to the inside and had fun in some smaller waves with the other beginners.
When we got out off the water I was happy to have my warm fleece coat with me and a big sandwich because I was staving just like Sylvain, Frank and several other guys (you won’t waste some minutes for eating when you go surfing).
Back in Torquay we did some shopping in the outlets and I bought some booties because the water is getting 'bloody' cold and they provide some protection against rocks on the ground (I had a pair with the rented board last time) and some sneakers since my other pair is already pretty used and soiled from paintballing the day before and they only cost 50$ (less than 30€) though they are from Rip Curl.
Back in Melbourne we ate Pasta and went to bed early because we first were exhausted after this active weekend and because we had to get up early for the final of the EURO 2008.
See you soon on ‘Where the beds are burning...”!
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