s BIG ADVENTURES ON A SMALL ISLAND
All at sea
Everybody’s gone surfing, apart from Oliver Smith who is terrified of the sport ever since he was rescued by a lifeguard in Cornwall. He rides the waves for the first time in a decade @OliSmithTravel
PHOTOGRAPHS: ROMARJ/GETTY IMAGES, DMITRY_TSVETKOV/SHUTTERSTOCK, ANNA.ZABELLA/SHUTTERSTOCK, ADRIENNE PITTS/LONELY PLANET, SHUTTERSTOCK, PADUNG/SHUTTERSTOCK
PICTURE THIS HAPPY SCENE: IT’S A
sunny afternoon on a North Devon beach. A labrador is chasing a frisbee. Out on the waves, the Littlest Devon Surf School is getting a tutorial. And I am also on the shore, wetsuit-clad, board in hand, in a state of paralysis at the thought of entering the waves. Strange, because once upon a time I was actually a surfer. Or rather, my friends were surfers, and I was an apprentice. Together we surfed distant corners of the world: from Morocco to Mawgan Porth. In minor ways I joined the fraternity of surfers. They taught me about the ‘surf stoke’ – ,-2 130Ě,% 2-)#Ƥ-,Ƥ 0#,2Ć 32 2&# ',"#Ě, *# 388 -$ " 71 #7-," 2&# breaks. And other things that made 130Ě,% %0# 2ĆĄ 1 ," ', 7-30 & '0 2 bedtime, and beaded necklaces. 32 5 1 *3"'!0-31*7 "Ć&#x; 30Ě,% $-0 me was a kind of lateral drowning action. Catching waves was only an unintentional consequence. While my friends were riding tubes, I did my best to remain inconspicuous, mostly being submerged, scraping along a reef with a John Dory up +7 5#213'2 1*##4#Ć&#x; &'*# 2&#7 ĚŽ 3,2#" their skills, I lay in a sandcastle moat in the recovery position. , 1.0',% ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝ďż˝Ć +7 130Ě,% ! 0##0 ! +# to a head one day at Constantine Bay in
Cornwall. We all paddled out among mighty, watery ranges. And one-by-one, the other guys inched out of sight. I was alone and panic set in. Rip tides (more correctly ‘rip currents’) are dangerous currents that drag swimmers out to sea – the key lesson is don’t paddle against them, but paddle sideways. A helpful analogy is breaking down on a motorway – pull in at the hard shoulder, rather than doing a U-turn back to the nearest Welcome Break. I paddled against it, exhausting myself quickly. I was cold. I took a pee in my wetsuit, and warmth dispersed across my torso. For one happy moment there was the snug sensation of being by the Ě0#1'"# 2 &0'12+ 1 $2#0 2&# 3##,Ć°1 speech. Then I was cold again, drifting 2-5 0"1 12,#2Ć & ,,-, ," '280-7Ć&#x; HOOOONK. The RNLI lifeguard on the beach sounded his alarm, and began charging towards me. Salvation came in 2&# $-0+ -$ +7 $0'#,"1Ć 5&- Ě1&#" +# out. I spent the rest of the holiday indoors, doing a jigsaw of kittens in 1)#21 ," ĚŽ',!&',% #4#07 2'+# 2&# *-ĚŽ31&#"Ć&#x; & 2 5 1 +7 130Ě,% ! 0##0 -4#0Ć&#x; Until now. I waded out, breathing steadily, slowly accustomising myself to the salty slosh of the sea. After half an hour out on the swells, I spied a dark
+ 11 -, 2&# &-0'8-, 2& 2 2&-3%&2 +'%&2 be Lundy island. It loomed closer, and it was clear this was the wave destiny had dispatched to me – the one upon which I would glide silkily to shore. Paddling frantically, I caught it, slicing manically 2&0-3%& ĚŽ-2'** -$ ',ĚŽ 2 *#1Ć&#x; Even for a novice – crashing about like a teddy bear in a washing machine – 130Ě,% '1 1.-02 *')# ,- -2&#0Ć&#x; 2 & 1 venue like no other: no-one stares at a tennis court or a football pitch the way 2&#7 *--) 2 2&# 1# Ć&#x; 30Ě,% '1 0'23 * that was holy to Hawaiians, practised in communion with the ocean, the gravity of the moon, the rotation of the Earth. And on the board I remembered those sensations that tug at surfers’ hearts, like outgoing tides. The weightless rush of being propelled by water; the homecoming feeling as ice cream vans, parasols and dunes hurtle towards you. Back on the beach, I walked tall past the students of the Littlest Devon Surf School, sitting on the sand eating Dairylea Dunkers. I was off to buy beads. The trip in statistics 3 hours deciding whether or not to go surfing 30 minutes surfing 7+ days bragging about going surfing For this adventure you will need 1 surfboard or bodyboard – resist the
temptation to pay for cheap polystyrene bodyboards; rentals of quality boards are easily available in surfing hubs like Croyde 1 wetsuit (NB: never pee in rented wetsuits) What I’ve learned
Conquer your fears and become a stronger person for it. Unless you’re really bad at surfing, in which case it might be safer to stick to sandcastles.
April 2020
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