Kyle's Sunrise Surf

Kyle's Sunrise Surf
Surfing has been one of the hardest and most enjoyable hobbies that I have picked up since I have arrived in Australia. Most of the boys around my age surf or body board. The beach is a huge part of the Australian life.
Four months ago I started surfing with an instructor, Rob. He is a really great surfer and has taught me so many things about surfing. I took 4 or 5 lessons from him. At that time I used a form board for safety and better stability in the water. It also made paddling way easier because you float higher in the water. In March, my parent's bought a fiber glass board from Rob for my birthday. My board is about 2 meters long and baby blue color. It is great fun when I'm up on a wave.
Surfing is really fun but takes heaps of balance and practice. It is a very hard skill to learn especially when I don't skateboard or snowboard because these are very similar to surfing.
Each time you go surfing you must reapply surfing wax on the top for grip, otherwise the wet board is much too slippery. That is what the picture above is about.

You can surf anytime you want but the best time is early in the morning. This is when the waves are biggest and there is minimal wind to create a wild sea. Most weekends I will wake up early and my mum, dad or both will go read on the beach while I surf. Some days before school I go surfing as well. I will wake up around 5:40 because the sun doesn't rise until around 6:00 at this time of year. I'll wake up, shove down a quick breakkie, wax up my board to get as much grip as possible and drive to the beach. We live only about 800 meters away from the beach but it is always nice to get a lift home after an exhausting surf. While surfing you are paddling most of the time. When catching a wave you have to paddle especially hard. Then do a push up on your board, drag your feet forward, push back on your board and get in a low stance with your feet spread apart for balance. You will also need your arms out for more balance especially when turning on a moving surface.
The surf at Old Bar in mornings will get up to an 8 foot swell. Plenty big for me, although the pictures here have only about a 4 foot swell. Rob says that some winter days during a storm the waves get up to 15 or sometimes more feet tall. There are many beaches around the area besides Old Bar Beach though. Just a couple other good surfing beaches that are near by are Wallaby Point and Saltwater. Although I do prefer Old Bar over them. When the wind come from the north east I will go to Saltwater to get away from the rough waters caused by the wind and sometimes I will go to Wallaby Point if Old Bar is crowed or there is a surfing competition.
Well I hope you have a general idea about surfing now. I've got to go hit the surf now so I'll catch you later.

~kyle