Catching Waves in Torquay

*Fulfills exercise 11

Waves crashed against the sandy shores just outside the bus windows as we drove on the wrong side of the road (at least from an American perspective) down the Great Ocean Road in southern Victoria.  The Loyola abroad group was brimming with excitement.  With 100 km (just over 62 miles) of beaches there’s a reason Australian’s call this stretch of highway the Great Ocean Road.  It boasts some of the best locations for surfing in the entire world, including Bells Beach (shown in the movie Point Break) and Torquay Beach.  Can you see where this is going?  That’s right, Loyola abroad was going surfing.

Getting excited on the bus

Torquay Beach, our destination for the day, lay along the section of the Great Ocean Road known locally as the Surf Coast.  The water was already filled with surfers when we arrived around noon and I was thankful they seemed to have varying skill levels (so we wouldn’t stand out as much after all).  This was one of our included trips and none of us had ever surfed before but were excited to learn.  After all, how many people back home could say they’d surfed in Australia?  

Torquay 

Our instructors led us to the parking lot to change into our wetties (wetsuits) and stow our backpacks for the afternoon then it was a short walk to the beach for some instructions while we were still on dry land.  Grabbing our boards and placing them in a semicircle on the sand we listened carefully to instructions on where to lie on the board, when to paddle, and (most importantly) how to stand.  After a couple practice runs of paddling sand out of our way, jumping to our feet and making it one hundred percent unmistakeable to anyone watching that yes we were new to this, our instructors deemed us ready to go in the ocean.

Posing with our surfboards

Let me start by saying that I thought the hardest part of surfing would be the actual surfing part.  I was wrong.  The hardest part of surfing is trying to get out into chest-deep water while the waves crash against you shoving you back towards the shore.  Now maybe this was because the conditions weren’t ideal for new surfers (a quote from our instructors) and the waves were a little “sucky” (again a quote).  Many times when trying to make our way to deeper water we were thrown about and “sucked” back to shore by the waves, but we persevered and one thing is for sure: riding the waves is one of the most fun experiences I’ve had so far in Australia.

Let me just tell any non-surfers that you move a lot faster than you’d think when you’re surfing.  The board skims over the surface of the waves speeding to shore so fast that by the time I looked up, I’d already gotten too close to shore to bother trying to stand half the time.  Nevertheless, after riding in countless waves on my stomach, and three on my knees (not to mention swallowing what felt like a gallon of salt water) I was determined to stand.  Don’t get me wrong even making it my knees was a major success but I wanted to really surf and to me that meant standing.  So I fought my way to the deep water to wait for the perfect wave.  

Surfing on my knees

This is it.  This is the wave, I would think when I saw one in the distance and then it would break and there wouldn’t be time to get on my board and catch it before it passed.  The waves kept tossing me around, trying to force me back to shore but I wouldn’t let them.  Aiming my board into the waves, in an attempt to keep my footing, I was talking to my friends Bianca and Katie when I spotted another wave coming.  This one would be it, I was sure of it.  

Turning my board around and making sure it was pointing straight towards the shore, I quickly climbed on and started paddling.  Then, when I felt the wave touch the tip of my toes, I gave it a couple more strokes before pulling myself to one knee, catching my balance, and (finally!) standing.  Yes!  I thought, throwing my hands out to the sides triumphantly.  I was doing it!...and then I wasn’t.  In total, I was standing for maybe two-seconds before I lost my balance and fell backwards into the ocean.  But I’d managed to stand (no matter how briefly) and just like that I’d accomplished another goal in Australia.

Post surfing group shot