News to Me
Does it matter which side I carry my board on ? |
||||
|
||||
| If you can believe it this time around things got started behind the paper
cutter at Kinko's. I struck up a conversation with this guy named Kip and found out he'd
been teaching surfing for sixteen years and runs a combo surf school and beach camp called
Kanoa Aquatics. 'Kooel' I thought, perfect story subject, ...and just maybe
I could pick up a few pointers on the cheap. |
||||
|
||||
| Dru Harrison and John Philbin and in this case 'those who can ...teach.' Dru Harrison gained fame as Boys Champ, Jr. Mens Champ, and eventually Mens Champ. He's further distinguished by holding the title as the first number one rated pro surfer in the history of the sport. If our Dave had showed up to take the pictures I could point you to one, but alas you'll have to trust me that he was skillfully walking the plank more than once that morning. But I did get John on film teaching the moves. Now you may recognize him, he's been in a few movies including Point Break and Spiel- berg's Amazing Stories, but manages to keep near the shore between gigs. | ||||
 |
||||
| Now John is one of those guys destined to be a good dad 'cause he's
patient, concerned and just a great teacher. You know the type, always finds something to
compliment and when things ain't exactly right, says "...think of it this way..."
I stuck with him because while Dru was already in the drink with the second lesson guys,
John was with a first timer. He first asked the newcomer: "Do you skate or snowboard?" presumably because some moves are similar. After getting acquainted he went over a few safety tips: "Put hands in front of your head when you're going down, ...cover your head with your hands when you come up, your board usually comes back toward you." Or someone else's... that's a tip I still employ on a busy weekend morning. John went on to explain some things that surfers instinctively know, but rarely quantify: "...paddling is 80% of surfing..., ...the deeper and more under the board you paddle the better," as well as other little tid-bits. John then started the pop-up training attentively critiquing postures and form from all sides. He calmed some over-eagerness with: "... people put too much pressure on themselves to pop up, keep your center of gravity low." Pretty soon after that they were off to the real thing. I was |
||||
|
||||
| second lessoners Andrew and Phil were catching plenty. I later found
out that executive-type Phil is planning to set up a surf club at his company. Go get 'em,
out of the boardroom onto a board with plenty of room. Now for those wondering, our
title question wasn't made up. While John responded politely I scrambled for a pencil to
capture that classic. Well, someone's got to live east of the 405. Anyhow, two hour
lessons in an adult group go for $40, private lessons are also available. In both cases,
boards and wetsuits are provided. Along those lines I always figured students got those
foam type boards so they couldn't tweak a good one, but Kip has got both kinds and pointed
out that a Styrofoam board is 1 pound density per square foot vs. a regular board at 2½
lbs. per square foot density, that makes it softer (safer) and more buoyant for students. |
||||
|
||||
| for a vacation) brought a couple of New Zealand guards back as instructors for the summer. Brendan and Lloyd are enjoying their first visit to the states and escape from winter in New Zealand where they lifeguard at Piha beach. This beach apparently has super dangerous condition changes where rip tides force moves of thousands of swimmers at one time. They seemed up to the task. When we were talking I got more than a couple of "no worries" from Brendan and asked him if he was from the valley or something, he laughed. The heavy accent just proved New Zealand is really close to that Crocodile Dundee country like my six years of high school taught me. | ||||
|
||||
| Besides being just plenty qualified, instructors get to join in on the
mayhem. From the water they moved to the sand for a little volleyball and a lively game of
dodge ball where I heard Lloyd ask the tikes why they kept picking on him. It apparently
was some kind of elimination game and Lloyd was the kids' favorite target and always the
first to be thrown off the island (yeah, I'm watching that.) Hey Lloyd, we no speaka
d' queen's English here! Welcome to the 'hood. Okay, admittedly it's a nice 'hood and I got an overdue story, met lots of nice folks and didn't have to go to the library to research anything. All in all, pretty dang good, but still... top-able! Turns out Kanoa will be teaching surfing to the blind mid July in conjunction with the Braille Institute. Think of that!! If I'm going to watch the ten o'clock news I'd like to see them lead with that story instead of ...well, you know. Lastly, we wish a speedy recovery to Kip who's got be suffering not being able to break
up the break for another four weeks. Hey Kip, keep that thing outside the shower curtain
and it will all be over soon enough. EP. |
