Surfing at Kahalu'u Bay

On Thursday I joined Larry and his kids for some surfing lessons at Kahalu'u Bay which is located right in Kona.  This is the same bay where Ann and I learned to snorkel, years ago, when we came to visit my brother Paul and my cousin Jason Gratton who were working here at the time.  I always wanted to try surfing but I didn't want to go alone and so it was nice to have Larry and his gang there to give me the boost I needed to give it a try.

We met our instructors right on Ali Drive in front of the bay.  They geared us up with shirts and special shoes and then gave us each a surf board to carry on our heads to a designated spot in the beach.

We were given some dry land instruction before getting into the water. 

There is always a strong south to north current that runs here and so we were told that if you are not constantly paddling you will drift north and that if you get too far north you could get yourself into trouble.  The instructors set up an anchored buoy with a rope for us to hang onto on the south end of our surf zone where we could rest from time to time.

Once in the water, we were told to paddle out to our buoy and wait for our three instructors.

Ann explained how it was difficult to get good photos from shore because she would lose me between the swells.

Larry and I in the center, hanging out at the buoy

Without the instructors to teach us proper technique, I would have been totally lost.  On our first few runs, they took us individually, held the tail end of our boards, watched the waves and then told us when to start paddling.  At the right moment, they gave our boards a push and then told us when to get up.

After getting up and riding the waves with no problems on my first three tries, they got me to try it with the verbal directions but with no push.  On my first attempt, I wasn't paddling straight or hard enough and the front end of my board went straight in and I had an awesome wipe out.  They told me what I had done wrong, made some corrections and it worked for me.

On the next few runs they told me that they would line me up, tell me when to start paddling but would not tell me when to stand.  They taught me how to look for that sensation of the force of the wave attacking the tail of your board to know when to get up.  You can't miss that sensation because it feels like someone attached jet engines to your board. 

"Everybody's gone surfin', surfin' USA"

Laying back down on my board after a good run

These close up shots were taken by a professional photographer who was surfing with us.  He had a camera attached to his forehead.  I couldn't resist and purchased three online photo downloads from him.

I guess that the next step in the progression of learning how to surf would be to know how to judge when to start paddling before a wave.  I would have liked to learn this, but after almost 2 hours of surfing, my arms and upper body were spent from all the paddling.  It really is a lot of work and now I understand why surfers are in such great shape.  Dante, our 53 year old instructor is in fantastic shape.  He is a good natured guy who, when I complained about being worn out, teased me about how my arms are "beebee guns" and that I needed "canons" like his but that it took him 44 years of surfing to get like that.

I had a great time surfing and I can see myself doing it again someday.  Its a great way to enjoy nature's playground while getting a super workout.

Later that afternoon, Larry and I and the boys made a trip to Costco to buy some jumbo prawns and and few other things for a fantastic barbeque at Dargis' condo rental in Kona.  Their condo was on the top floor which gave them private access to a large portion of the roof as a deck.  Kona evenings are simply perfect.  Enough said.

Our gangs, minus Allison who is behind the camera and Claude

Allison caught Claude in this one