Mary’s Surfing Adventure

I was sitting on the beach relaxing on a lovely, sunny July day. I was visiting my cousin’s beach house in Normandy Beach, NJ and saw a young woman surfing. She was completely focused and happy. I remember thinking, “If I were younger, I’d take up surfing.” 

I’ve always loved and respected the ocean. I’m an excellent swimmer and know the ocean well enough to understand that with changing tides come to a change in rules of the water.

You have to work with the wave. When I was 6, I was pulled out by a rip current. I wasn't able to pull against it - even when the water was up to my waist. Before I knew it, I was out, away from the beach, way over my head. I was neck and neck with life and death, miraculously out of nowhere a big college guy grabbed me and pulled me into safety. 12 years later, I had learned the ocean's secrets. I was in the water at the same depth and distance from the shore, but this time I felt safe floating, buoyed by the saltwater. I remember wondering what it must be like for people who never had this experience of the water swirling around their skin, the salty ocean keeping them afloat with the smell of the salt air.  

Surfing with a board would enable me to become one with the ocean newly, in a way I'd never experienced before. 

I’d grown up in a middle-class beach town with all its quirks. It was the 1960s when surfing was considered a male sport on the Jersey shore. I've since learned that there were women who surfed, but I was unaware of them at the time. It never occurred to me to learn although I understood the waves well. I knew which part would shoot me into the air, when to dive under, and when to float on top of the foam. I automatically exhaled under the waves to keep water out of my nose. I could catch a wave while swimming and arch my back so that it brought me all the way into the shore.

30+ years later, I am sitting on Normandy Beach, I found myself thinking, "If I were younger, I'd take up surfing." I had an epiphany. I could take up surfing now! So what if I was over 50? I was in great shape, coordinated, had great balance and ocean knowledge. How hard could it be?

#womensurfersrock
#womensurfersslay #womensurfers
#womenathletes #olderathletes #fitness
#fitness #surfing #seniorsurfer #lockdown2020
#beachlife #jerseyshore #learntosurf #learningtosurf
#adventure #ocean #environment #getoutside #jerseyshore #jerseybeach #jerseybeaches