Hetal Chirag
Ever since I saw professional surfers fearlessly catching gigantic 40 feet waves on TV, I have been fascinated by surfing. I just never had an opportunity to give it a shot. So, I was really excited when I got a chance to go surfing for the first time in Uvita, Costa Rica.
Uvita is a small beach town located on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. It was an ideal place for me to start my first surf lesson since there were not a lot of people who I could bump into in case I couldn’t control the board. The fact that the waves weren’t too big also helped beginners like me.
It seemed really easy when I saw my instructor stand up on his board and catch a wave with no effort. But when I tried to do it for the very first time, I quickly realized that there were quite a few things that had to be taken care of in a split second before I could surf the wave like a pro. In a fraction of a second, you have to push up, jump up, make sure both of your feet are properly positioned and balance your weight while maintaining a flexible stand and low centre of gravity to guide the board.
After getting to a point where I could start paddling, the most critical part was deciding whether to catch the next wave or let it pass. Initially, I picked a few “wrong” waves which took me right back to the shore before I could stand up. It took me a few hours to successfully catch my first wave. That sweet 10 second ride towards the beach was worth all the hard work. After catching the first wave, it became more and more fun as I kept catching more waves.
If you are ready when a perfect wave gently lifts your board, you can definitely feel the connection with the ocean. Just like real life, the key part is to figure out which wave to surf and which one to let go.
