Surfing with the Fowlers

May 31st 2010

Surfs up Dude!

Bank holiday Monday, and everybody immediately thinks bad weather.  ‘It’s a bank holiday the weather’s gonna be awful’ people moan to one another.  And we had planned to surf, on bank holiday! Well thank God the weather was wonderful.  It must be global warming!

The sun was up and waking the world at half past eight as we drove down the motorway, headed for Saunton, ready to ‘ride ‘em waves’!

 We parked and unloaded the cars, all ten of us carrying everything you could imagine, from surf boards to tents, to pots of Pringles and bags of spare clothes.  When we found a place to ‘settle’, the tents were up and blankets arranged in a matter of minutes, all eager to get into the sea and get on the surf boards, which are huge by the way, and we didn’t even have ‘large’ ones!  Flip flops, hats, sunglasses, and clothes were thrown down and wetsuits and sun cream was slapped on.  Preparing for the trek (literally) to the sea, (surf boards are really quite awkward to carry).  

We passed Jordan and Ethan trying out the skim boards, they were doing really well, skimming along the wet sand, the waves lapping at their feet, making it look so easy!

We eventually reached the sea.  It was freezing!  But that didn’t stop us from wading even deeper.  We attached the surf boards to our ankles and the adventure began.  Once you’d been in the water for a while, the feeling began to come back to your feet and you warmed up.  

It took me a few attempts to get the hang of surfing.  I’ve never done it before and watching everybody else doing it made it look so easy, after swallowing about a gallon of sea water, you learn, it isn’t that easy! After awhile though, I got the hang of it, I was getting to know where about I should put my weight and when to pull myself up onto the board.  And then I did it, I was flying above the waves, standing on water if you will.  The feeling is amazing, the wind in your hair, and the sea ahead of you.  I was pretty chuffed with myself, I was a real surf dude now!

Ellie and Jordan could surf really well, to my annoyance; they were up and standing in no time at all, riding the waves until they landed on the sand.  They did really well.  

Before I knew it we were making our way back for lunch.  We flopped onto the sand, exhausted but satisfied, building up our energy before we went back out there.

Leah had given up revising and was now studying this week’s issue of O.K, Dad was asleep in the chair, Mum, Jordan, Ethan and George were making a sand boat and Ellie and Nicky were making a sand mermaid, a competition was emerging.

The weather held out and the day was wonderful.  I managed to stand up on the surf board at least twice, before we had completely exhausted ourselves and we all made our way back up the beach for the last time, for some more food before we packed up and went home.  Just before we left the beach we played Jordan and Ethan’s sand made crazy golf which was a lot of fun and I’m pretty sure Uncle Jim tragically lost that game!

We loaded the cars up and went down for an ice cream, (which I dropped on the floor, why do bad things happen to good people?)  before we headed back home.

You can see by the pictures what a great time we had! It was one of the best Christmas presents, and hopefully we can do it again sometime soon!   

Beth.