A long holiday weekend trip to Amelia Island, Florida, gave me the opportunity to take my surfing to a new set of waves. The Atlantic Ocean proved to be a great place to surf and offered a different set of surfing circumstances. After calling a local surf shop and setting up lessons with local surfer Vince, my friend Robin and I were all set to learn from someone new.

Although Sunday proved too rough according to Vince, Monday looked better and, by Monday evening at 7ish, we were meeting Vince at the beach access #6. He immediately launched into the pop-up portion of instruction. He was the third person to teach us the pop-up, with each one offering slightly different techniques. Robin could still do the pop-up perfect on the beach, but would she return to her old habits of going to her knees out in the ocean (yes, she did…but it works for her). I had my usual balance issues, but my form wasn’t too bad. Vince didn’t try to get us to stand the first night; he had us practice getting comfortable on the board in the water. On Tuesday morning at 8 a.m., we were at it again. He told us to give him five good pop-ups on the beach before going out on the water, which we did. Then he took us both out. Robin was first and, although she went to her knees first, she rode a wave in. I was second. He had me get comfortable on the board again, insisting that I use my feet to turn myself around. He also showed me a second way to turn, which turned out to be much more comfortable for me. Then came my moment of truth. I caught my wave and managed to pop-up and stand. I lost my balance eventually, but I surfed for a short while and it was magnificent. We surfed a little longer before Vince had to call it quits for the morning. (His day job was calling!) I had a blast though, and I can’t wait to surf again. I’ll definitely need my own board soon, probably this week.

“Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.”