Surfing in San Clemente

While in vacationing in San Clemente I had chance to give surfing a shot. I have always loved the sport of surfing since I was a young kid. What attracted me to surfing was the aspect of connecting with your environment, traveling to exotic locations and the smooth flow of the surfing style. Now what kept me from pursuing surfing was first the obvious, I didn't live near the ocean growing up in Toronto, second I really sucked at swimming. Two main ingredients to be a good surfer. For me the closest thing to surfing was snowboarding, but in the back of my mind I always want to surf in the ocean. Don't get me wrong I love snowboarding and the mountains and that won't change....it's so much a part of who I am now.

Back to my surfing experience in San Clemente. The first day on the board I was just getting a feel for padding and trying to catch the waves. It wasn't too bad because San Clemente is one of the best places for beginner surfers and the water level where I was was not deep, about waist to should height. Also I read on the net that beginners should start learning to surf in the white waters of the waves, which is basicly the tail end of the wave cycle. I did pretty good for my first day, almost fully stood up and rode away. The next couple of days I did much better, started to get use to popping and standing on the board with a little more confidence in the white waters. One my last day I wanted to try to get more in the wave rather than the tail end white waters...boy was that a mistake. Each time I tried to catch the wave like a more seasoned rider I got slammed by the wave, and let me tell you it was the hardest falls I have ever experienced. The waves energy is really powerfull even if they are not that large. Boy was I hurting the day after.

Overall I was proud of myself for trying surfing even though I'm not the best swimmer and it looks like I will be doing alot more surfing in the future here in BC, Tofino, and in SoCal in San Clemente...my new favourite place. Also I going to take some surf lessons, most likely in Torfino, so I can really learn the fundaments to be a better surfer. If you have the chance give surfing a shot, it's a really unquie experience and it's not as scary as I thought is was going to be.