Surfcamp Australia, Seven Mile Beach, Gerroa, New South Wales 2534

 

Why are you travelling to Australia if you don't try one of her most popular sport? The beaches has the most beautiful waves of the world and that is why the land down under is also called the surfers' paradise. I couldn't wait to get on my surfboard!

 

On October 20th, 2014 I started the Surfcamp Australia in Gerroa. It was a 2, 5 hour drive with the bus from Sydney to Seven Mile Beach. In the holiday park I was in a small dorm with some friends I met during my first week in Sydney. Andy, Jess, Joana and Samantha - all from the UK - were my roommates for the following 5 days of surfcamp. We arrived in the morning and we had kind of a terms and conditions speech followed by lunch before starting the lessons in the afternoon. We putted our wetsuits (or wetties), walked to the beach, chose our surfboard and met our surf teacher. I was so excited! His name was Sam D. The first thing was to know what our footedness is. This means knowing what your leading foot is on the surf board. There are two stances: 'regular' and 'goofy'. How to know? By being pushed softly from behind and wait for the foot that saves you from falling down on your face. That foot is the one we are looking for! My result was Goofy, so my right foot leads, so right foot in the front of the board and my left foot in the back. I actually knew already which foot led. I did some snowboard before and it is the same idea.

 

After the footedness test we started practising the technique on the beach by drawing a board shape ine the sand: when you see a good wave coming you paddle, paddle, paddle to get some speed till the wave is beneath the tail of your board. Once you feel the wave lifting up the tail of your board, paddle three more times. One, two, three and then put your left thumb under your left nipple and your right thumb under your right nipple and push your chest up in the air with your head right up. Do not grab the rails (the sides) of the board, it will make the board swing and lose balance. As a goofy rider, sweep your left knee through the left rail of the board (or the left side of the board). This is what we call the chicken wing position. After that bring your right foot between your arms in one shot like kicking a soccer ball. Keeping your head right up in the air prevents kicking yourself with your knee. So don't look down while bringing your leg to the front! Once you are standing upon your board, bring your right arm straight forward parralel with your board and your left hand blended with your hand at the high of your chest. Now it's time to rock 'n roll! After 20 minutes practise on the sand we took our board and jump into the sea. After a couple of tries (more likely failures) I could finally stand up on my board for at least... 2 seconds! After one hour, I stood for 10 seconds wich was good enough for my first surfing day! After that we went to the camp, had dinner, socialized with other backpackers and finished with a firecamp on the beach with some people playing guitar!

 

In the morning of the second day, we had to put those wetties back on. There were still wet from the day before and it was a horrible feeling putting your legs and arms in there. Before practising further our technique, Sam D. told us more about the Surfing Check List. There are 3 main things you analyse before hitting your waves. The wind, the tide and the waves:

 

• You have offshore wind (blowing across the land towards the ocean), onshore (blowing from the ocean and onto the land) wind and crossshore wind. Offshore wind is perfect for surfing because the waves break more slowly which makes them well formed. Onshore wind isn't good for surfing because the waves break more quickly with no shapes which means messy waves. Cross shore is pretty good.

• Low tide (when the water level comes up) vs. high tide (when the water level go out sea). There are two cycles a day; low tides and two high tides. During high tides there is more water and that can make better waves. 

• The height of the waves or not measured by inches or feets but wy the heigt of the body. You have waves till the knees, the basin, the head and over the head. As a beginner we stayed at the height of the basin.

 

The surfing went pretty good in the morning. I stood sveral times and began to master the balance on the surfboard. I couldn't stop practising. I discovered my new passion! I was so happy that we had daily two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. But at that moment something bad happened. While surfing in the afternoon I suddenly stucked my toe while bringing my right foot to the front. In the middle of my surf board there was a hole, designed for taking your board easier when walking. There is where my toe got stucked! That was also the moment where my surfcamp adventure ended. I couldn't walk properly, even less surfing. I was so angry! Seems that it happens a lot. Even a teacher got stucked a day after I got stucked. Next time I rent a board, it will be a board without a hole in the middle, that's for sure!