Surf school: Soft board provides hard lessons

By TERRY TOMALIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 27, 2000

BONDI BEACH, Australia -- The 14-year-old sitting next to me in the lineup pointed at my surfboard and laughed.

"Somebody lose a door, mate," he said, just loud enough so his friends could hear.

I mustered a smile and thought about paddling over, sticking my arm down his throat and ripping out a lung. But he was half my size, a third my age, and most important, he was right.

"I know I stink," I said. "I just can't get the hang of this board."

The big, soft, foam surfboard I had rented was ideal for beginners playing in the breakers on the beach, but I had the massive plank outside the sandbar, where the chest-high waves swatted me like a bug.

"No worries," the boy said. "We all have bad days."

But it was my own fault. I should have known better. They offered me a nice, sleek, fiberglass board. But I wanted the foamie, just like the rest of the students at the Let's Go Surfing Surf School.

"This is really an ideal day to learn," said Brenda Miley, the local dean of surf. "Most people pick it up in one or two lessons."

Geez, I thought. I spent six months flailing in horrible winter waves before I ever stood up on a surfboard.

"It doesn't have to be that difficult," Miley said. "We take some of the mystery out of it."

Surfing always has been a solitary sport. Those who knew how, surfed. Those who didn't watched, or struggled to learn on their own. But five years ago, Miley, a physical education teacher, bought a couple of surfboards and began giving lessons out of her van.

"It just took off," she said. "We had tourists, school kids and locals all wanting to learn."

Miley's opened-minded approach to the sport is nothing new. Eighty-five years ago, an American Olympic gold medal winner named Duke Kahanamoku gave the residents of nearby Freshwater Beach a surfing exhibition.

"He invited one of the local girls, Isabelle Latham, to ride the board tandem with him," Miley said. "She became the first Australian surfer."

Since then, Australia has contributed everything to the sport from world champions to innovative technology, such as the short board.

Surfing always has been a part of Miley's life. She took her first ride on her father's back when she was 3, and by the time she was 10, she was paddling out on her own.

"We probably put at least 300 people through the school every week," she said. "Once they come by and see, they think, "Maybe I can do that, too.' "

The surf school's instructors start off by showing the students how to loosen up properly to avoid injury. Then the students spend a few minutes learning how to read the water.

"It is a lot more fun once you learn how to stand up," said Jason Melton, a 24-year-old investment banker from Houston. "It is harder than it looks and definitely not for lazy people.

"But once you feel that wave catch you and you start to go ... there is nothing like it. It makes it all worthwhile."

The big foam boards float high in the water, which allows even those with limited athletic ability to ride small waves. And because the boards are soft, they are not as dangerous in a wipeout as a hard-shelled fiberglass board. But after 15 minutes of playing in the slop near shore, I wanted to paddle my fat foamie out through the whitewater to where the big ones were breaking offshore.

After several failed attempts to get the board to perform, I spotted a wave that God obviously had sent just for me. I paddled hard to my right as the big wall of water started to break and felt the board begin to pick up speed.

I popped to one knee, then my feet, but I was too slow. The wave picked me up and sent me tumbling over the falls. Disoriented, I surfaced sneezing just in time to see my little Aussie mate giggling.

"Why don't you just shut up," I said.

The lesson on surfing etiquette would have to wait.

-- Planning a trip to Australia? The Let's Go Surfing Surf School is at 128A Ramsgate Avenue, Bondi Beach, New South Wales.

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