Surfing in Santa Cruz

I while ago a couple of us at the Geophysics Department decided to go surfing in Santa Cruz. You can rent surfing boards and wet-suits for very reasonable prices at the Stanford Outdoor Center and since a couple of us had cars it was really convenient to get there as well.

Surfing was definitely on my list of things I wanted to try while being here in California and I’m so happy that I got the chance to try it with some awesome people. Matias, a fellow Swede from Chalmers were the most experienced one in our little group, so he gave the rest of us a few hints for how to get up on the board.

The waves were pretty decent (though of course I have nothing to compare them to), but you had to wait for them for a while sometimes. Anyway, I was a great feeling to just sit in the cool water under the sun with the wet suit on and take it easy. I realize that I do sound a bit cheesy, but that’s how I felt. And to see a wave approaching and then manage to catch it was a pretty amazing feeling.

Beforehand I expected surfing to be much harder than it turned out to be. I definitely did not expect to be even close to standing on a surf board the first day I tried, but I actually managed to do just that (and I was far from the only one). Not that we became great surfers in a day or anything like that, but I’m just pointing out that it’s not as difficult as one might think. And just catching a wave and lying on the board following a wave to shore is great, even without standing on the board.

Since I completely forgot to put sunscreen on my delicate Swedish skin, I returned home with a face the color of a tomato. A few days later I woke up with a new face, but I was definitely worth it in the end. Thanks for the ride guys.