This was the first surfing experience for me and it was absolutely fantastic! First of all, the night before the class, the company provided us with the detailed instructions on where, when, and how to find them and what to have with for a greater experience.
Hence, in the morning, it was very easy to find our blue surfing bus at the Venice beach parking lot. At the bus, Will, the instructor provided us with the wetsuits and boards, and then we went to the beach itself where he and another instructor Justin gave us detailed guidance on the techniques and basic rules of surfing. Our group was rather big (around 10 members) and therefore we were lucky to have the two instructors: superheroes Will and Justin. Both are very experienced surfers, very good teachers, and really cool guys. Special shout out for Will and his vocal cords!!! Because he had to talk for about 40 minutes in the wind accompanied by the roaring waves and made sure that all of us could hear him well. Therefore, we had a very good introduction, very clear but also humorous and it was a lot of fun. After the sand part, we went into the water where both Justin and Will made pushes for each of us (i.e. helped each of us to catch the momentum and the right direction of the wave) and they were very encouraging all the time even when things didn't work.
As far as I could observe, all the class participants managed to catch a wave or two and easily popped up on the board by the end of the class. I think I was the worst student, and nevertheless I succeeded to pop up once for a couple of seconds.)) I did not follow the time but I think overall the class was far over three hours and by the end of the time I was absolutely exhausted as if I ran a marathon.
The whole experience was overwhelmingly unforgettably beautiful in its every second. The power of the ocean, the freshness of water, we were also lucky to see the dolphins not far from us, the feeling of disappearing fear of big waves (God!!! Those waves, they look enormous when you are in the water), the feel of an astronaut in the centrifuge when you get inside the big wave and it rolls you up and down, nose and ears full of water for the rest of the day, all muscles that will probably hurt for another three days, sand on the teeth, and nose burnt by the sun, the board that sometimes listens to you and sometimes protests, all of these are the components of unconditional happiness and I am dying to repeat it again. And if I can choose, I would go with Will and Justin. They are now my ocean god fathers)) Thank you so much for these great moments!!!