I went for my first surfing lesson this week (I'm still aching physically in muscles,and my ego is still recovering.... ). My daughter Jo always wanted to give it a try so I thought why not, the weather is perfect and it will be fun. I was right about the fun and the weather, but I was not prepared for the ' pop-up'. This is the term given to getting ones self from lying flat on the board to standing upright in ONE move. Honestly unless you have tried it you have no idea of how difficult this is (especially if you are over 50 and used to most exercise being soft and slowwwwww). This movement is super fast. Thanks to our great instructor Tom I got up as far as my knees and had a few good waves.
My much younger daughters did get to stand up and surf some waves. And so my ego took a bit of a bashing as I regard myself as being fit and reasonably flexible. It was interesting to watch myself try, watch as I lost hope, regained hope, laughed at my efforts and almost cried with frustration when my muscles just wouldn't do it anymore. Tom says I will definitely 'get' it by my third lesson.
Loving a challenge I have been googling 'pop-up' lessons and you could find me practicing my pop-up any time I have a spare moment. I'm looking forward to surfing a wave like the guy above before too long.