The following morning I’d arranged to meet Charlie at the Tower to pick up a wetsuit. She walked over to the Pavilion changing rooms with me so I could try it on.
“So I hear you & Mouse are a couple now? Congratulations” I tell her. She broke into a huge grin and nodded her head. She was clearly smitten with him.
“Yes but I’m really not sure exactly where we’re at. He’s off to Bali for a month” she frowned
“Oh no, that’s not good. Have you talked to him?” I suggested
“No, I’m sure it’ll work itself out” she winked
“So anyway, you & Itchy eh? What’s going on there then?” she probed
We reached the locker room and went inside. I changed the subject and we discussed wetsuits and surfing. Charlie handed me the wetsuit and I tried it on. It fit perfectly but as I’d never worn a wetsuit before it was weird. Kind of like the all-in-one leotards I wore in primary school dance class – very snug. Charlie helped me zip up the back and I paraded up and down the locker room like I was on a catwalk.
“Well what do you think?” I waltzed and sashayed away swinging my hips like a supermodel. We both burst out giggling.
“Gorgeous” Charlie winked “It’ll be Itchy that needs a rescue, I’ll keep the Defib on standby” she laughed
“Well I don’t know about that. Knowing my luck I’ll probably knock him out with a surfboard”
We walked back over to the Tower where Itchy was now waiting. I suddenly felt very self conscious in the very tight wetsuit. I pulled and tugged at the knee hems of the wetsuit.
I think Whippet sensed my fear and awkwardness and wolf-whistled. It broke the nerves and made me laugh.
“You ready?” Itchy asked walking down the steps from the front of the Tower
“Have fun guys” Charlie shouted after us as we walked down the steps onto the beach and Itchy grabbed 2 boards which were laid out for us.
“Right now first thing is I’ll show you how to paddle on the sand”
“Why? Do you get many rips on the sand then?” I joked
He laughed.
“No, I’m gonna teach you how to handle the board”
He placed both boards down on the sand by the shoreline. He told me to lie down on the board and showed me how to paddle out. He then showed me how to get from the lying to a standing position. 4 easy steps he said.
After about half an hour of practising on the sand I was ready for the water. I grabbed a board and tried dragging it down to the surf. They were heavier than they look. Itchy tried to grab it from me but I was determined not to be one of those weedy little girls. I threw the board into the water and pushed it through the first set of waves, and then I laid down on it and started to paddle as hard as I could before the next set. I managed to get dumped off the board a couple of times by the first few waves that hit me. Itchy sat up on his board watching and when he realised I was ok started laughing. This made me more determined than ever to get out the back. I made it and sat up on the surfboard. Itchy paddled over to me and sat pointing out where and how to look for the waves to paddle on. He saw one beginning to form and told me to lie down on my board and face the beach. He shouted for me to start paddling and I dipped my arms in and out of the water as fast as I could. As I felt the wave lift the board I became too scared to even attempt to stand up so I just leaned up on the board and rode it in that way. Itchy was right there beside me. He hadn’t lied. He was taking good care of me. I felt safe.
Itchy made me paddle out again and again until I was confident enough to try to stand up. He was very patient, he didn’t make me feel bad about missing the waves.
“What’s most important is that you’re comfortable in the water and with the board” he told me “I have all day. I’m in no rush”
That gave me the confidence to try. The next wave I was definitely going to stand up – well at least try.
I paddled out again and waited.
I saw a wave approaching and started to paddle. I felt it lift up the board and put my hands close to my chest and pushed back, I’d mastered that by now. I pushed up and brought my right leg forward and put my foot on the centre line on the board – just like he’d shown me on the beach. I put my left foot into the standing position on the back of the board and bent my knees, stretched out my arms.
“Yeeeeewww. I’m doing it” I shouted to Itchy who was stood up laughing at me as I waved my hands and promptly fell off.
We went out again another few times and I managed to catch a few waves stood up. I was finally getting the hang of it.
“I’m hungry” I said “Shall we grab some food? My shout”
“Yeah sure, you had enough now?” he asked
We’d been out a good couple of hours now and it was hard work, harder than I’d imagined. It was fun though. I could see why they all loved it so much.
“Thanks for today, it’s been awesome”
“Well there’s just one more thing that I haven’t taught you” he said “Its a very important part of learning to surf”
“Oh right ok” I said. We’d begun to walk up the beach, I had the board in my hand.
“So do we need to go back in the water?” I asked.
“Erm no, it’s..it’s more the rules. Yeah the rules of surfing” he answered.
We got further up the beach and he told me to put the board down on the sand.
He then knocked me down onto the sand and chucked handfuls of soft sand all over me. He laid on top of me to keep me pinned down and piled more and more sand all over me. I was covered from head to toe.
“Breadcrumbing” he laughed “it’s a tradition”
I wiggled about underneath him but it was pretty pointless so I gave in. My wet soggy hair was now covering my face and was thick with sand. He brushed it off my face and looked into my eyes.
Uh-oh those butterflies were back. He leant in and we kissed. Even with the salt from the sea water and sand on my face it was one of the best kisses I’d ever had. I could have laid there forever. He rolled onto his side and we both laid there side-by-side for a minute.
“Well I suppose now I’ve been introduced into that tradition I best go rinse off” I said
I very sneakily grabbed 2 handfuls of sand as I stood up without him noticing, chucked them on him and ran as fast as I could towards the water. As expected he leapt up and chased after me. He caught me just as I was in knee deep water. He grabbed me round my waist, picked me up and threw me into the surf.
We spent a good few minutes play-fighting in the water and washing each other off.
“This really has been an amazing day” I said “Thank you”
We were face to face in the now waist-deep water. His hands were on my hips and I had my arms tightly around his neck. I pulled him in for another kiss.
“Right now what’s that you said about food?” he smiled.
