A Surfer on a mission

The very beggining

Kelly's P.O.V

Hi I'm Kelly, I live in the north coast of Australia and I am a surfer. Forever and always! Ever since I was tiny I have been able to surf, but let's go back to the beginning, the very beginning.

I was only three years old when my big sister decided it was time for me to follow the family tradition, you see my whole family surfs and I wasn't an exception! My family could never get me out of the water once I was in that was it! So at three years old my sister and I loaded the car with my bright pink foamy board, her fibre glass and mums long board. I was ecstatic that day, I can still remember it like it was yesterday,wow I sound old! Anyway we drove to the local beach and I screamed in excitement as soon as my belt was off my car seat I ran towards the water.

"Kelly come and put your sunscreen on!" my mother yelled at me, I was so eager to hit the water, I didn't even have my swimmers on yet! I ran back to the car and got my sunscreen, bikinis and surfboard, for my very first surf. I sprinted into the water and let the big waves tower over me as I quickly duck under them, one by one. The water was beautiful that day, extremely clear as the sun beats down on it, truly beautiful. With my board trailing after me I swam in the ocean, happy as can be.

"Kelly, hop on your board and we can start surfing!" Mia my big sister said excitedly running in the water with me.

"Okay" I said happily, I hopped on my board that was attached to my leg by my leg rope. I started to paddle 'like the big girls on the telly' I thought to myself. My sister hung on to the end of my board, rocketing me up the waves, until we made it past the white wash. It's funny now I look back on it, I never was scared of sharks or drowning I just wanted to surf and if it meant going out the back I was more than happy to.

"Look here is one, are you ready?" my sister asks me, the waves where small that day, but at the time they looked huge!

"Yep" I said extremely excited, my sister pushed me onto the wave that was coming quickly towards me.

"Paddle kelly!" my sister told me, I started to paddle and once the wave hit me I fell straight off. I guess you where expecting me to stand up on my very first go, nope I fell straight off. The whole day was like that after about an hour I remember getting to my knees but the thing I remember the most was that we had been there about three hours now and this set came, my sister pushed me on to this wave it was the perfect size, for a three year old and I got on it, I got to my knees, one foot, two feet and finally standing up. Mia and mum where screaming with joy and for the rest of the day I had a smile on my face that I could just not wipe off my face. Through the rest of the day I stood up six more times and ever since I was hooked! As I said before, forever and always!

At three years old, I would bug and bug my parents to take me surfing, every day I would whinge to her, until finally she would take me. I was addicted! I was hooked!

When I went into primary school I met my best friend Kirra. We where insepretable! sown at the hip, I swear nobody ever saw us apart, I lived at her house and she lived at mine, surfer chicks! Her mum and my mum became very close, so it was even easier for us to see each other it was great!

As the years went on I got better and better, finally for my 7th birthday mum gave me my first surf board, it was second hand, old and pretty shitty, but I loved it so much, my very first fibreglass board! This was a huge leap in my surfing career, I started turning and doing some bigger manoeuvres and having a lot more fun.

When I turned 10 my mum enrolled me in the local board riders club that Mia used to go to. Board riders is a club that meets up every month and competes against everyone in the club. I was in under 12 girls, I was the youngest in my age group along with Kirra. It was so fun, something to look forward to every month, a new challenge, friendly competition between friends. There was 10 girls in our division, which meant two heats. We had to do pretty well to get into the final, it was always the challenge, I always hoped to get into the final. By then I would just ride down to the beach with my board, my mum trusted me now and believed I was capable to surf without her there a long as there where others surfing. With more practice I became better, doing more tricks and more fun.

I started to focus on surfing more and more as I got older, when I turned 14 I did my first roundhouse cutback, I was so happy, all my friends where cheering like crazy! By now I had a lot more surfing friends mostly guys but I had two girl surfing friends, Kirra and Missy. I loved hanging with the guys anyway, to be honest I don't like hanging out with girls anyway, I tried it and I hated it. I loved my friends, they are all beautiful people and we had so much fun memories when we where younger!

I entered my first surf comp at 14, the Barney miller annual surf comp. I new the drill, that's what was so great about board riders, it prepares you for real competition. I went into the competition pretty confident, knowing that I had some experience. All the girls where very good, and extremely nice, beautiful people. I met heaps of new people and gained lots of new friends. Sally, Brooke and Andria where three of the girls I met, they are such awesome girls. I went really well in that competition, I ended up winning all my heats and coming second in the final. It was a great experience, I had so much fun.

After that my surfing became more and more, I had a bit of confidence and I started to actually take surfing pretty seriously. That's when it all began for me, that first comp and surfing became my passion.