Life-isms : Surf Lessons, Part I

“The thing about surfing is that it is 80% feel and 20% skill.”

This is one of the first things our surf instructor told us on day one of the seven day beginner Learn-to-Surf camp at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp.  It was noontime on a hot, mid-August day on the beach in Tamarindo, Costa Rica.  The sun, directly overhead, had been baking the sand all morning and only a few clouds were entertaining the notion of offering us a shady reprieve.  To get to the lesson, I precariously balanced my large, foam-topped, beginners board on my head and walked across what felt like a bed of hot coals.

Tamarindo is a beginner surfers destination.  The protected, long sandy beach with a very shallow drop off makes for predictable surf.   It was just past high tide and two- to four- foot waves lapped the sand. Later in the week, I learned the strong off-shore breeze was good for surfing, but, right now, it just felt hot, dry and windy.  

Perhaps my discomfort was more about my mild trepidation over this week’s surf camp.

Three months ago, when my plans to quit my job, change my career and go back to school were crystallizing, I booked this trip. I was bent on a big adventure vacation. I had a need for dramatic and symbolic actions.  I wanted to hit the reset button with a little flair and style, if you know what I mean. A two-week, Costa Rican vacation complete with volcanoes, off-roading, hiking, rafting, secluded jungle lodges and this seven-day, learn-to-surf camp fit the bill nicely.

Now, here I was on the beach and those ‘what were you thinking’ voices were chatting me up.  The most prominent voice today was ‘What if you don’t get up in seven days.’  Since the camp guarantees you will learn to surf, I can only assume this possibility was really an impossibility. I cringed to think what exactly it would symbolize if I didn’t get up in seven days. Oh boy, that indeed would be drama.

Had my instructor been privy to my thinking, I am sure he would have been fully unimpressed.  These guys teach gangs of tourists to surf. Three times a day, each of four or more instructors takes two to five people out for lessons daily throughout the year.  So, I am sure he had no doubt I would get up, it was guaranteed.  I am sure he would have been equally unmoved by the 30-something-life crisis that sent me on this trip.  So, despite my unexpressed misgivings, we moved forward with techniques on paddling, catching and popping up on the board.  After a few dry runs paddling hot sand on the beach and popping up on boards anchored squarely to the sand, it was time to the surf.

Still, this advice, complete with a balance of percentages, stuck with me.  While it might have been funny had it been uttered during a Thursday night sitcom, to me, it was puzzling and potentially ominous.

How does one teach something that is 80% feel?  The answer is, you don’t.

On that first day, and the six to follow, teaching technique amounted to less than 20 minutes of our 90 minutes of instruction.  Strangely close to that 80-20 split, right?  Indeed, at least, 80% of the lesson required getting in the surf, feeling the wave behind us, putting our feet on the board and, sometimes, having the water crash over us. But, what he said was true.  You can gain skills on paddling, catching, pushing up, standing, riding, but those skills mean little when you don’t feel it. When the wave is right, when the paddle and catch are right, when pop-up is right, when foot position is right and when the body stance is right, it is all feel. And it feels good.

While all the other activities were nice bookends for the vacation, the surf camp is where the reset button actually did get pressed.  First, a disclaimer, this isn’t going to be a tale of some metaphysical awakening.  That is just too ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ for my sarcastic sensibilities. Besides, not one of you would buy into that story anyway.  I also hold no fantasy that I actually want to or even could live a surfer lifestyle.  Well, that’s a bit of a white lie, I do have a small coveted fantasy about it.  This is so much less hokey than all that.  It is about making life-isms out of surf-isms.   See what I mean, totally not hokey (insert snicker)!  Stick with me on this, it will make sense, I promise.

Perhaps it was simply my craving to get something meaningful out of the trip that led me to latch onto the many surf-isms throughout the week. But, when the flair and style are right, when drama is right, when the suspense is right and when the symbolism is right, it just feels right.  Somehow, all those pieces of seemingly nonsensical surf advice made sense for what I wanted to get out of the week. Lesson #1 set the tone.

Let me tell you, I have mad skills.  I have a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering.  I have a masters degree in mechanical engineering.  I have management training courses. I have experience. I have a portfolio and I have a resume.  I have mad skills and yet, it just hasn’t felt right.  I don’t know what the balance has been, but I know I have opted to tip the scales on the skills side and ignore the fact that the wave I was riding just didn’t feel right.  If I could just get this one more piece of training, it might all just click for me.

Is it any wonder that I bristled at a lesson that told me a ‘feel’ for it meant more than gaining the requisite skills?  This meant trusting an under-utilized part of me, the ‘feel’ part of me, to learn to surf. As it turned out, this was excellent opportunity for me to start trusting and using that ‘feel’ part of me. Now, I know going out on a large, foam-topped board in a predictable surf spot with a well-seasoned instructor by my side isn’t an analogy for this whole quitting my job, starting a new career and going back to school thing, but it set my finger firmly on the reset button.

So, on day one of surf camp, we spent 20% of the lesson gaining a few key skills then ventured off into the water to get a feel for this whole surfing thing.  Sure they weren’t big waves.  Yeah, my instructor gave me a bit of a push. But on day one of surf camp, I lost out on that money back guarantee.  In just a few tries, I was up.  I surfed and it felt 100% good.

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Check out Part II, Part III and Part IV of the “Life-isms : Surf Lessons” series (they don’t even have to be read in order!) and see the related post on Witch’s Rock Surf Camp’s Website.