Hang 10? Not so much..

Sunday I made it out intot he water for my first experience on a surfboard.  And, well, I didn't do a damn thing other than paddle around.  It would be an unsderstatement to say I was a little intimidated but the shallow water and the reef and the decent sized waves...so I didn't even try to get up even though I was out in the water for a couple of hours.  Maybe next time.  I had a fine time just paddling, and man, it was a solid workout, too.

I went out with Jonny and another gentleman who works at Hula who had an extra longboard for me to go out on.  That was another reason why I didn't really try to do much of aything.  The last thing I needed to do was break someone else's board my first time out.  That would have just been unfortunate all the way around.  I don't think he was really worried about it but I don't really need that bullshit.  He also spent our walk down to the beach explaining how to fall and not sink way down, because in quite a few spots the coral would only be a couple of feet from the top of the water.  This did not impress me, as if I attempted to get up I would have fallen, well, EVERY TIME.  I guess you could say I wasn't really impressed with the location choice for this particular adventure..

Even though I didn't do a damn thing it was still pretty cool to be out on a board.  I'm a terrible swimmer, so chances are I'll work on my stroke for a bit before I get back on the board.  O, funny story from when we were out there:

We went up to a little beach right near Kapalua (the golf course for the Mercedes Championship and the Kapalua course featured in Tiger Woods golf is close by..) and there weren't too many people on the beach and about ten people surfing, including the three of us.  We were down one end of the beach along with another guy (who I guess is a pro and has been featured a bunch of times in surf magazines but I forget his name and I'm sure he was impressed with my skills..) and there were four or five people surfing at the other end of the beach.  One of the people who was out came into Hula on Monday, and Jon was talking to her about how she thought the waves were and she responded along the lines of "It was good, other than the 10 foot tiger shark that started circling me while I was out there." 

Moral of the story is I think I need to wait until I get health insurance to go back out so if I get nipped or ripped by shark or coral while I'm out there someone else can pay for it.  A shark bite without health insurance is just bad business..