I arrived back in Colorado late yesterday afternoon. The weather was reporting snow in the mountains so I was stoked about riding today. However, much to my surprise, the A-Basin website isn’t reporting any new snow. With everything I need to get done now that I’m back in town, I decided to pass on boarding today. I think more snow is suppose to fall tonight, but I’ve got a 2:00 conference call tomorrow. No matter how hard I try, life still gets in the way of living.

While checking the snow report, I noticed that A-Basin closed their back bowls. I suppose it is getting late in the season, but it still made me sad. It really is coming to an end. I learned so much this season and I was just starting to figure some things out. I suppose there’s always next season!

In just two days, I got a lot of good rides in. I rode a 10′ board most of the first day and an 8′ 6″ board most of the second day. The 10′ was much easier to sit on and to paddle on; but the 8′ 6″ was easier to control once I was standing up and generally speaking – more fun to ride.

For the first time, I kind of feel like a ‘real’ surfer! I’m not sure how to describe the difference. In a nutshell, I know I can catch a wave now. I’ve got so much to learn, but I’ve got a handle on the basics now. I have no idea how long it will be before I can ride again, hopefully not long.

Beyond surfing, Sayulita was a good time. Good friends, good food, and lots to see and do. I see lots of trips to Sayulita in my future.

I think it was about 2003. I was at a friend’s house when her sister from California arrived. I was a snowboarder. She was a surfer girl from Santa Cruz. I didn’t realize it, but I’d just met my surf instructor.

We’ve gone on surfing trips together a total of four times now. The first trip was to South Padre Island. We brought a dog and camped on the beach. The waves were small, but I managed to stand on one and ride it. Our second trip was to the same location; only this time, it was during hurricane Katrina. The waves were very sloppy and I was never able to catch one. Still, I had a lot of fun splashing around in the water. These two trips taught me an important lesson about surfing – paddling is a lot of work.

I want to talk about paddling for just a moment. First of all, it’s about technique – just like snowboarding. Before you learn to properly carve, you spend a lot of time fighting the mountain. Even once you have the technique, you’ll tire yourself if you’re afraid to ride at high speeds. Once you develop a better technique, you can ride much longer without wearing out. That’s exactly how paddling is. The more you learn to keep your balance, not fight the ocean, and steady your pace – the longer you can keep paddling. And if you’re learning to surf, you will be doing a lot of paddling.

Back to the story… My teacher decided I was ready for a real surf trip, so we filled a couple of backpacks and headed to Sayulita, Mexico. This was my first ‘good waves’ experience. Mind you, the waves were no more than a couple of feet high. I struggled with my paddling. I couldn’t keep a good balance on a glass board and I could barely push through incoming waves on a floaty soft top. Somehow, I managed to ride a few waves before the trip came to an end. My favorite was a wave that rolled me without losing me; I managed to get back onto the board while still being pushed by the wave. I even stood up. You’d be surprised how hard standing up can be!

Most recently, my teacher took me to her home town of Santa Cruz. Suddenly, everything I thought I’d learned changed. First, the water was cold (~54 F) so I had to wear a wet suit. Between the cold water conditions and the extra weight of the suit, my paddling arms gave out easily. The first day she took me to the beginner’s break called Cowell’s. I was a newbie among many. I road her Velzy Surftech. It was huge (10′), like a small island; and it seemed unsinkable. The waves were good, but a bit mooshy and choppy. They were also bigger and meaner than anything I’d ever tried to catch. These puppies got up to three feet tall! I never stood up. I never successfully caught one. Mostly, I was pearling on that uber-floaty board. She was riding a smaller, lighter board – and I was trying to copy her. I should have been riding further back while trying to paddle in. Still, I had fun.

For our last two days in Santa Cruz, she took me to her favorite spot – Pleasure Point (38th street). This was not a beginner area. Some of these waves were being beautifully ridden. They were bumping up as much as six feet tall. Still, there were a handful of beginners there. We hung with them over on the shoulder, where the waves were much smaller. The waves were bigger and faster, but they were cleaner. I caught several, but stood on none. The first time I tried to stand, my arms gave out. They were so worn from paddling, I couldn’t lift my body. Another time I stood and was on my way up when my foot slipped. I laughed as I fell back into the water. Finally, my best ride of the trip came when I only managed to get to my knees while popping up. I went ahead and rode the wave for a while, kneeling down.

I’m finding learning to surf to be very challenging. I see my teacher catching wave after wave, and I start to get discouraged. However, catching a little bit of a ride is a huge rush and fills me with enough energy to paddle out for another attempt. I’m contemplating another trip back to Sayulita. It would be the first time I stepped down to a smaller wave. Maybe I’ll find myself more confident?

I can’t thank my teacher enough. I don’t see myself snowboarding forever. In fact, I can see another 10 years of good riding and then I’ll probably start to back off. By then, I should be just about finished with the hard landings and big bounces. From there, I see myself growing old in the ocean. Surfing requires a lot of physical fitness; however, it doesn’t tend to bruise you the same way. Getting worked in the ocean is rough, but at least your not landing head first on hard packed snow and ice. That’s the future I see; but who knows where life will take me.

Before I compare and contrast, it’s only fair that I describe my surfing conditions. I learned to ride a long board in Texas. Even though South Padre Island boasts the best surf in Texas – it’s still Texas. I learned on waves no more than a couple of feet tall at best. I know not the joy of surfing in places like Santa Cruz. Maybe some day I will.

First, the overlap. Both sports involve balance, and once you’re up and riding it is a similar balance. Both are driven by external forces, in both cases you riding along on another energy flow. The margin for error – in other words, what it takes to fall down – is relatively the same in both sports. In their general nature, you’re doing the same thing…

Oh, but the contrast are many. There is a gap in effort versus reward. The mountain waits on you. First you ride up in the comfort of your lift chair. Then when you’re ready to fly, you stand up and take flight. Your terrain is static and you are in control for a long ride. The ocean, on the other hand, laughs at you. First you paddle out through oncoming waves on your narrow wobbly boat. This alone will wear you down to jello. Once you make it past the breaks and are ready to catch a wave, you have to wait until the right moment. When that moment comes, you paddle hard and drop into mother nature’s furious arms. If you can pick your moment and lift yourself to your feet, you’re suddenly riding a dynamic flow of liquid. It’s a lot to keep up with and goes by quickly. It’s a rush, a well earned rush.

In just two trips, I’ve already seen that surfing is more than just a sport. For many people, it’s a way of life… or perhaps a way of understanding life. Though I dearly love snowboarding, I’ve never spent a night in my tent listening to waves crash on a snowboarding trip. There’s something about being near the ocean that feels empowering and uplifting. There’s something healthy about having sun and salt water on your body. You can see it in the smiles of other surfers. It’s a wonderful thing.