Surfing with my son

Saturday was another new experience in our family.

One of my good friends suggested that my oldest compete in a Boland surfing trial. Very simply there are three sets of trials for youngsters who have not competed at any level. At seven, Luke certainly fits into that category and was incredibly excited by the idea. And so it was that we found ourselves on the beach on Saturday morning.

I expected to arrive, watch Luke surf, and be off within an hour. I was a little wrong and so we were totally unprepared for an entire morning on the beach. There are not a lot of under 8 surfers and so it was no surprise that he was the only boy. It was a surprise that there was a little girl in the under 8 category.

This little girl was pretty amazing. She was tiny with shoulder length blond hair and full of energy. I watched in amazement as she picked up her dad’s longboard, which was easily four times her size, and carry it to down to the sea. In the sea she would catch the tiniest of waves with no effort, stand up on the board, raise her arms in the air, and scream in delight. Right up until she daintily stepped off the board onto the sand. Certainly not surfing in the sense I understand but her style had appeal!

This was Luke’s first competition and so there was a whole heap of technical information that he had to digest; including the wearing of a competition vest, understanding the way a heat worked, surfing to the timing flags, and actually surfing for a panel of judges.

He paddled into the sea as his heat got underway. He caught two short waves and started doing a little of his thing. He then got washed into a section of sea where the waves were small and at all angles. He could not catch a single thing and got more and more frustrated. When the heat ended, he was in tears. He was incredibly disappointed that he had not been able to show his best. More than that, he believed that he had been beaten by a girl on a long board!

My heart went out to him as he was absolutely distraught. At school, he is part of an incredibly competitive group of friends and I suspect that the surfing was his way to prove himself. I gave the guy a big wet hug. We were then told that he still had to surf another heat. Personally I was disappointed as I was looking forward to going out surfing myself. He was over the moon, he had just been given another chance. We were also informed that in his age group, I was allowed to go into the sea with him and position him in the waves.

We took a chocolate break. Then he grabbed me by the hand and said, “dad, I want to go practise”. So back out to sea we went and I got him in position for a wave. He caught it and worked it all the way to the shore. The lights were back on in his eyes and we agreed that just that wave would have been a competition winner. Then he went out and caught a whole lot more.

I got him out of the sea in time for a ten minute rest and then we were back out there. This time he was ready to prove himself. I got him in position again, told him to ride it like his competition winner, and he was off. Boy, did he work his magic on that wave and the next four that came his way.

All I can say is that this was one of the most wonderful father son moments that I have probably ever experienced. It was real bonding time out there in the sea. Man, I am proud of the little guy! There were no results as this was a trial, but really results were completely irrelevant!