“You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”

Our first impression of Newquay was gloomy, it didn't perk up very much the next day as the rain came down. We were both nervous about our first lesson but also very excited. Getting into wetsuits is quiet an adventure, not one we were excited to repeat over and over again, but thank God for those suits and the little booties on our feet. Once we made it into the water we barely felt the cold at all and it was actually quiet pleasant. To be honest the water didn't feel much different from the ocean off the coast of Maine in the beginning of the summer. The weather was what you would expect in England, gloomy and rainy. We actually didn't even notice the rain while we were surfing because you're so wet anyhow.

Ellie managed to make it up on our first day three times with the instructor steadying the board behind her as she went, I didn't quiet manage that far so it's good we had a few more days ahead of us. I could get to my knees on the board but would lose my balance when I tried to shift to my feet. Thankfully I'm stubborn and very determined to get up. By the end of the first day my arms can barely lift me on to the board and when they do they refuse to go any further to actually get me moving on the board, two hours is definitely enough to begin with in the ocean.

Our group on the first day was two loud Canadians, very nice girls, and three British boys, the youngest being probably 12 or 13, he, of course, picked it up right away and was off in no time.

The whole thing is nice and relaxing, there isn't tons to do in Newquay since it's the very beginning of the season, most shops are closing by 6pm. So we have a relaxing breakfast down in the bar of the hostel watching the ocean, and relaxing dinners moving slowly as we are tired from our lessons. The rest of the time we read, watch some movies and wander around town a bit. A very nice way to spend a few days.

The second day was a much smaller group, just Ellie and I and this guy Kit from our first day. We had a different instructor, Mike, who apparently was once the 9 year running undefeated surf champion in South Africa. I really liked his way of teaching, he was very encouraging and I managed to ride 5 or 6 waves that day, 2 of them on my own. It didn't rain at all but the wind made it much colder then the first day and by the time we were done we could barely get out of our suits because our hands were so stiff.

We grabbed hot showers and then met Mike, Kit and some of the other people who work for the surf school at the bar in our hostel for a drink. Than Ellie, Kit and I headed to a local pub for some dinner, it was a place Ellie and I went our first night too, good food and fairly inexpensive which is good because the hostel has no kitchen for us to make our own meals in. Dinner was good and it was nice to have some extra company along, Kit was on holiday by himself so I think he was glad to be hanging around too. After dinner Ellie and I settled into our familiar routine of relaxing with a bit of tv and reading.

Friday we decided to take a walk around to the other beach in Newquay. We walked along the coast for it, it was a good stroll along the cliffs with the blue sky and ocean crashing down below us, pictures just can't seem to capture how lovely it really is. Third day out surfing was a very large group with 16 students and 3 instructors. Luckily since Ellie, Kit and I had been at it for a few days we got an instructor to ourselves since we were working on different things than the other group. We began learning paddling. You have to get it just right where you paddle until after the wave has caught you and you give yourself enough momentum to carry on with the wave so you can stand. I managed it a few times, just once or twice by myself, but the big problem today was that there were so many people in such a small space of water and none of the other students seemed to realize that you needed to get out of the way of people who were surfing so I had to bail out a few times so I wouldn't hit anyone. All in all it was a good day, fun as they have all been. Since it's a Friday the town has gotten more crowded with people coming in for the weekend and a start of the season party on Saturday night. It's noticeably louder and more crowded as we walked around for dinner and the bars are more crowded for sure.

Our coastal walk:

Rows and rows of crazy little beach huts that people rent out during the summer

Our fourth surf day, Saturday, was insanely busy. It was a group of about 30 students and 5 instructors. The waves weren't that great but it was nice to just sit out in the water talking to Mike about tides and swells and such. He's a very fascinating guy. He comes from South Africa and was at one point the 9 times undefeated surf champion from there. He's been surfing for 30 years, painting for 20, sponsored by Santa Cruz surf company, very intelligent and helpful and on top of all of that a genuinely nice guy. Saturday night he had the opening of his first exhibition of some of his paintings and he invited us along to that. The work is really amazing, it's just fascinating how much all around talent he has. After they shut the gallery down we all moved upstairs to the bar below our hostel to grab a few more drinks and test out our dance moves. It was almost like a weird time warp as hair styles, clothes and music all came out of the 90s. It was really great to be included so quickly in the surf community here, being with Mike and the other instructors did a lot for us social wise to get included.

Sunday morning, day five of lessons, we had a morning lesson. It was another group of 30 students but nicely we've been grouped with the advanced students who stick with Mike, he has really done a lot to take us under his wing that he didn't need to do. It was a bad day for me, I was frustrated, only managed to get up once and on my first wave of the day I wiped out and jammed my leg into the floor of the ocean hurting my knee, not very smooth of me. The lesson flew by quickly though and before we knew it they were telling us time to catch the last wave and head in. Once we were done we had the whole day ahead of us so we grabbed some lunch and settled on the beach to soak up some of the sun and enjoy the nice day. Another relaxing day.





Yesterday was our last day, it was so sad to end it but at least we ended on a good note. We had a morning lesson, just us and Mike. It was amazing. Ellie and I both hit 95% of the waves, I even ended up paddling onto two by myself which is hard to do with the fat waves. It was the perfect day to end on and we both had to suppress a groan when they said it was time to come to catch our last wave in. We grabbed lunch at the bar in the hostel with Mike and then walked into town with him to say our goodbyes before he headed home. Ellie and I bummed around town before catching our train home.

Ellie, Mike and I

It was an incredibly long train ride home and we didn't want to see it all end. We're already planning our trips back to surf with Mike some more, he has told us about a good competition coming up that he thinks we should come back and watch, it's a night competition so we could get our surfing in during the day and watch everyone surf that night. All in all one of the best trips I've ever taken.

Pictures of us surfing:











Surfing is such an amazing concept. You're taking on Nature with a little stick and saying, 'I'm gonna ride you!' And a lot of times Nature says, 'No you're not!' and crashes you to the bottom.
Jolene Blalock