Surfing, why would you?

Let´s start at the beginning. Waves are created by wind and tides, which are effected by the sun and the moon. The sun warms up the earth and the movement in between the cold and warm air makes the wind. The moon attracts the water. Full moon means a bigger difference between the tides which in their turn have influence on the conditions of the ocean.

You can imagine that it is quite a privilege to ride the waves that are one of the purest forms of the energy of the earth. Just to ride along this one wave that has travelled miles as swell to build in power and size to finally break on a shore as a wave.

To be a surfer means that if you a truly want to become one. You need to cut in your social life as well as in your profession, and to be searching for every opportunity that comes along to get in the water, even if it is just to go out for a paddle.

Good conditions don’t come often so this is why you should be checking the forecast to see which days you definitely can not miss. Sometimes tough, you might have moments in life that you cannot surf every day. This happened to me last month, where, for some reasons I happen to spend a month in between moving into my new apartment. One month with no place to call home, boards, clothes etc. stored in 3 different places. I can tell you, this is a big influence on your personal life as well on being a surfer.

So, after being in the house for 3 days and having more or less everything in its place, I sat down after a very nice surf lesson on the reef. I made myself a tea and opened up a surf magazine. While I was reading the magazine and saw all these nice pictures of perfect waves, I thought that here we take it more or less for granted and we don’t often meet up early with a group to score the best conditions together. Maybe tomorrow I thought, only I have a lesson at 10:30 so it will be a bit on the time limit. Then, I realized that this morning whilst looking for waves with the students, Lazies was going off, big time!

I checked outside and the sun was low. If I would be quick I would have at least half an hour before sunset. I grabbed my board and wetsuit, jumped in the car and raced full speed over the North Shore track to make it in time.

When I got there, there were like 20 or 30 cars parked, lots of photographers and people watching. It looked like every respected local had came from all corners of the island and now the place I normally surf with 3 others was invaded by 20 surfers who all  were lucky enough to find the time to make it to this spot. The waves where huge, but I know this place so I should not turn my back on it, and just go for a paddle.

The sets where very big and after the sunset, one off the biggest set cleaned out at least half of the guys out there.  I was alone on the right, which now with low tide got pretty deadly. The only thing is that you can only see this if you are riding the wave. So I paddle for this one, catch it, ride it. Then I decide to throw in a turn where the wave decides to throw a barrel. I come down of this vertical drop knowing that that it is only knee deep over the slab.  How I did it I don’t know, but I made it down the face and the wave exploded behind me. This was it, my last wave. I was lucky not to wipe out and get out of the water in one piece.

To be at home with a tea on the couch seeing this nice pictures of sick waves and then to be in a crazy situation at Lazies made me feel good as a surfer. Now the pressure is off, I got my waves, a place I can call home overlooking the North Shore from where I write this. I can say life is good being a surfer, I cannot wait for all there is to come and the friends who come over to share it with.

Stay classic Corralejo,

Oscar Schenk, Hotzone Surfschool

Interested in becoming a surfer? Call 666578284 and we will look for a suitable place to work on your skills.