The best surfer in the water is the one having the most fun.

Surfing is cool… and hard work, and fun. I never expected myself to type that up for a blog but I have come to learn that the varying degrees of all three depend on their order and dedication to each of them. I'll call it the circle of fun :)

I wanted to surf and be cool long before I realised how much fun it would be. I also didn’t know how much work it would take and still takes to have all of that fun.

But forget all this mumble jumbo and allow me to get straight to the point. Put in the work, with the correct gear and guidance. Be the surf nerd for a while and you will have more fun than all the “wannabe cool” surfers out there.

Once upon a time, I started paddling out into the waves at Kleinmond (Western Cape, South Africa) with my brother and some friends. On those days we travelled down from Pretoria to the coast for the December holidays to enjoy the sun and sea, hang out with our buddies, and live out our concept of freedom during those long summer days. Some of our mates were locals. They surfed and I wanted in; I claimed my piece of the paradise beach in those dreams. I begged for and borrowed boards and wetsuits wherever possible and paddled into the waves. Straight into them, with no idea what size board I was on or how to duck dive under the wave. No clue how to read the ocean or, if for luck’s sake, I caught a wave, how to begin standing up on the board. I was taught a few “techniques” but today I know even those were a bit skewed. This wet dog was paddling, not surfing.

Fast forward a few years, I stood up for the first real-time on a longboard in Newquay, South West England. I caught some waves and immediately thought that I could now progress to a small board. I still had no idea how to surf.

Forward some more… I was fortunate to travel to gems like Indo and the Philippines, hanging out with surfers and living the surfer lifestyle but still did not understand surfing. I knew how to put wax on a board and where the leash should be fastened, how to get up and stand on a board but I had no idea how to ride and optimize my fun. I didn’t even know how much fun I was missing out on.

In 2012 on a break in Jeffreys Bay, everything changed. I paddled out for yet another spaghetti arm session. I was fit enough but endured all the sore arm agony because my board was too small for me. I was catching waves and enjoying short rides but I was catching fewer waves than others in the water and my board was sinking too deep, especially as the swell wasn’t big. Something was not making sense.

During that session a friend of mine (still a friend to this day) unstrapped her board from her ankle, pushed it toward me and told me to give it a go. Her board was double the size of my dark blue toothpick, but she had given me only good advice up to that point and I floated my board over to her.

Recently my surf coach described the moment when the wave starts to push you as: “that moment when your world drops”. In many ways, when I paddled the bigger board during that session in 2012 and felt what surfing was for the first real-time, was when my world dropped. It was easier to paddle into the waves, the board was stable and I had more time to think, stand and position my feet, angle the board to the open wave face on my right and surf a break called Phantoms as my first true wave. I will never forget that wave, the feeling and that day!

“Everything is as it is”. I’ve started using this line I hear from motivational speakers to remind myself we can’t change the past. I do however want to influence how future surfers will think about their past. Hopefully, you can someday look back and say you prioritized smart work and progression and listened to more experienced surfers to help you with choosing gear and taking the right steps to progress faster. I hope this because I don’t believe in regret and I love having fun. If you line it all up correctly surfing will be one of the coolest things you ever do.