August 4 - Surf day at Carrapateira

Looking out over the backside of the beach from the surf shack

Surfs up!

Halfway into the wetsuits

This is what the beach looked like mid day, when we were trying to surf....  Not sure which was more dangerous, the waves or the number of people in the water with surf boards!

This morning Katie and I went to the bread truck, and had to wait in line for a while (it didn’t help that some grandma was trying to cut in front of us in the line). We battled it out with the grandma, then finally beat her and got our bread. We had to pack our stuff up quick, because we were leaving soon to go surfing.

We arrived at ten thirty but the class started at eleven thirty, while we were waiting we got our wet suits and put them on. Because it would be uncomfortable if you had the wet suit entirely on, we put them all the way on, then pulled the top part of our suit down over our waist. Finally everyone arrived and we got to grab our boards. The beginner boards are different than the normal surfboards because they are taller, wider, thicker, and have a grippier surface. We then had to carry the boards all the way across the beach to the spot where we would surf.

The class started off with exercises (running, swinging arms, touch your toes, etc.), then our instructor, Joao taught us the parts of the board.  Next we had to go in the water and jump waves to get used to the wet suit being wet and the water temperature.  Finally, we got to take the board in to the water and ride the waves (lying on our stomach on the board).  Then Joao taught us the steps to get up on the board and we got to go in the water and try it out! Once we had waited for a wave we liked, we would lie down on the board with our hands pressing the middle and our feet over the edge on the tail of the board.  We had to wait for the wave to push the board and while we were being pushed, we would stand up and get “tiny” to balance.

We had to take a lunch break, but after that we got to try again. I was surfing where the water was up to my knees, and on one wave I stood up and rode the wave for 9 seconds! During the lunch break, Ryan  told me that he didn’t see me stand up, so I wanted to show him I could stand up (he didn’t see me ride the board for 9 seconds), so after lunch I went deeper to find a good wave. I saw one I liked, but I laid down too early on the board,  my board turned to the side and the wave pushed me side ways. There were flags with the logo of the school that we were using in the sand. I thought it was to show swimmers that the water we were in was for beginner surfers only, but later I found out that it was dangerous outside of the area. So while the waves were pushing me side ways, I realized that the water was way over my head by a foot.  I was past the flags, and I was in a riptide and going farther out. I was barely on the board and the waves were tossing me around so I started yelling for help. Three people started coming to me, one of them thinking I was yelling "yay"! Our instructor started coming to me because some swimmer told him what was going on. He swam all the way out to me while 2 of the three people swam back in. When the instructor finally reached me, I was off the board and he was yelling at me to get on my board. His accent was so strong and my ear was so filled with water that I didn’t understand him until he forced me on to the board. Lucky for me a big wave came just after I got on the board, so it pushed me in very far in, and more after that. The water was at my shoulders when a big wave crashed on me and ripped my ankle strap off, and my surfboard went away towards the beach. The big wave had pushed me in towards the beach and the water was now at my waist so I just walked in and grabbed my surfboard.  I was really shaken up and glad to be out of the water and waves.

Apparently one of the people that came to help me had gotten stuck in the riptide also so Joao was going after him which I found out from my mom and Siobhan, the lady who thought I was yelling yay. Siobhan’s boyfriend Justin was the one in the riptide. My mom was freaking out more than Siobhan because she didn’t have her glasses on and couldn’t see what was going on. Apparently Justin had recently learned how to swim, so that scared my mom even more. Justin ended up getting saved though. After all of that, I didn’t go out much past my knees and just let the waves push me in riding the board on my tummy.

 Back at the house we had happy hour (soda, cheese and crackers), and then ordered Indian food. We had the greatest dinner and I found out that I love Indian food. After dinner Ryan, Katie, Dad and I played foosball at the bar next door before coming home and going to bed.

Trevor