Catching the Wave

Learning to surf in Britain is not like Baywatch.  It is less about sun-kissed beaches and more about muscles hurting in places they’ve never hurt before.

Reality hits as we wander across the beach at Croyde Bay, North Devon, on of the UK’s top surfing spots.  The sky is grey and the wind whips around my wetsuited knees.

The weekend’s learn-to-surf course starts with a theory session on the wide, sandy beach.  My group is led by tanned Darren Burrett, a super-fit instructor.  He quickly has us learners jumping on and off surfboards – though these are wedged on dry-ish land.

“It’s not as easy as it looks and you are not going to be jumping on a board looking like an expert and speeding out of a tube (wave) in ten minutes," he warns me.  By the end of the day none of us has surfed a tube, but we have picked up a bit of technique and surf lingo and managed to ride a wave or two to the beach.  It may not have been glamorous but it was definitely cool.