Surfing at Ala Moana 2

A chronicle of my attempt to learn this most Hawaiian of sports.

Episode 3 - Catching the Wave

It's all about timing, but then again it's all about a lack of timing. It's a truism that some waves are going to take you with them, whether you are ready or not, and some waves are going to leave you alone no matter how hard you paddle. I suppose the skill is to judge which is which, and to take your board to the exact break point of the wave, and I am learning both these skills. Surfing instills patience. You can spend hours trying every single wave and you will certainly catch at least a few, or you can sit on your board and stare at the mountains in the distance and not be upset by any but the most freakish breakers. This is a contrast between being adventurous in the face of uncertainty, and being tolerant of just staying put, and the contrast occurs in every minute of every hour in which you surf.

I have been paddling around in the white water for about a week, learning to stay on the board, building up my strength, and getting used to the feeling of surfing. Today when I went out beyond the reef, there were some very large waves. Paddling out further and further towards the break, you watch the blue build and build and charge you down, and you think to yourself: "This is it". Then you see more and more waves building up behind each other. It's breathtaking. You struggle to get beyond these breakers, and you're surprised at how calm the ocean is when you manage to swim beyond them. Exhiliration reaches a peak when you know that you've passed the breakers, that you're done paddling out, and that it's time to catch a wave!

Where I'm surfing there's both a left and a right break, and the reef is cut by boat channels and storm damage so the breakers are very irregular, there are a number of spots to catch waves. They have names like Old Man's, Panic Point, and Soup Bowl. The most popular spots are obvious. I stick to the less popular ones. I'm not confident catching waves in a crowd.

You have to paddle hard to catch the wave. You have to keep your weight in the right place on the board. If you can manage to do both (at the same time!) then catching waves is no problem at all! I have been carried two hundred feet by a wave, and very quickly, it's like manning a small power boat and you can feel the ocean slap at your 'hull' just like in a speedboat. Standing up is a little trickier, and you need to take it slow at first. However if you have a long board with a width of 22" or more, it really is like standing on your dining room table, and you wonder what the fuss is about.

Episode 4 - A Board of my Own

Taking Kurt's board every day made me want to buy my own board. The thought of people coming to visit, and having a board which they could use, made me determined to get my own board. It turns out that surf boards are quite expensive so I have ended up with a less-than-perfect second-hand board, which is really very old and tired. My board is 6’9” and 21” in width with a really pointy nose, which makes it good for steering in the water. It has a lot of water damage to the foam and many cracks in the fibreglass coat. When I took the board into a store to buy fins and some repair materials I got some funny looks, and lots of people wishing me good luck from behind quirky half-pitying smiles.



Looking after the dents and scratches is fairly simple. I bought some Solarez, a fibreglass filling gel that sets in UV light and is recommended for boards. You fill the hole and stretch cling film over it, to work it and to get it flat, then you expose the repair to sunlight. In three minutes it’s done, a rock hard repair. I enjoyed working on the board and learning how to get a good finish with the Solarez, and I felt better about buying the board once I realised I could fix it.

The first time I took the board out I was glad to see that it floated. I had seriously considered that it mightn’t! Paddling around was harder on the shorter board and it was easier to fall off. However I did manage to catch a wave and the board handled well. When I got home I saw that several breaches in the resin had caused the board to take on water and that it would need to dry out and be repaired again. No more surfing for a few days!! Ellen has bought me some more resin and a paint brush so that the board can be given a whole new coat.