Date of adventure: 07/24/2021, 08/01/2021, and 08/13/2021
Location: Beach 69th, Far Rockaway, NY
Surfing is a water sport in which a surfer uses a board to ride on the forward portion of a moving wave. The sport originated in Hawaii.
Surfing was the new adventure on the list for today. How did we ever get into it? My son’s friend had a birthday party at a Surf School and adults were welcome to join. I, the expert at adventure, decided to give it a go. Only three fathers (one of which was the birthday boy’s dad) and I the only mother were brave enough to try this adventure. Unfortunately, Sheldon, was not able to join that day. However, he came along on our second surfing trip. I went a total of 3 times with my kids and my son’s friends and their parents.
There are many surf schools in the Rockaway area but the one that we purchased lessons from is called the NY Surf School. They offer various packages. Of course, the more lessons you purchase, the cheaper the price per lesson. They also offer group discounts. A minimum of 6 people is necessary for a group and the bigger the group the bigger the discount. We were also able to apply a first-time promotion code. Each time we went surfing, someone else would purchase the tickets for everyone, which allowed us to use the promotion code each time.
The surf school offers a two-hour package, which includes about a 15 min lesson on the sand explaining basic surfing techniques and terminology for beginner surfers. Students gets to practice to “pop-up” on the sand. After the lesson, each student takes his surfboard and enters the waves.
Instructors are waiting for students in the ocean. There is an approximately one instructor per four students but can be a bit more or less, depending on how crowded the session is.
The surf school provides a thermal top and has very limited number of full body wet suits that are small in size, mostly for children. If you are prone to getting cold, I strongly recommend a full body wet suit. Even though it was in the 90s the first time I went, I still started shivering toward the end of the session. Most of the kids did not last beyond an hour or hour and a half.
The second and third time around, I begged for a full body wet suit and was very glad to fit into the small size available.
This is an interesting experience that requires strength, balance, and focus. Similar to other dangerous sports such as skiing, be prepared to get a full body beating. First of all, the board may hit you on the head. Second of all, you will fall numerous times. Third, you will be fighting with the strong force of the waves.
Sheldon got hit with the board over the head pretty badly, luckily toward the very end of the session. During my third surfing lesson, I fell off the surfboard on the sand and hurt my elbow pretty badly. Luckily, there was no serious injury but today is about 6 months post injury, and my elbow is still not back to full function.
Sheldon gave up on surfing after trial one and I said enough is enough after attempt number three.
Overall, surfing is definitely fun to experience but the beach is way too crowded with surfers, there are not enough instructors per student, and you end up standing on the board for a few seconds before falling. Unless you are young and want to learn to be a pro surfer, I would say one or two attempts is good enough. For folks in their 40s, like Sheldon and I, surfing poses too much risk of injuries on bodies that don’t heal as quickly as they did 20 years ago.
