Surfing Group 2021

Well, Surfing Group has just finished this year, and didn’t we end it in STYLE!!??

12 weeks of laugher, splashing, moving differently and in different environments culminated in a weekend away in Norah Head. We met at the civilised time of 10am at Soldiers Point Surf Club. The forecast was for 3-4ft, but after watching what appeared to be a dozen 8-year-olds on the waves, we realised they were full grown men, and the waves were well over their heads…

Checking out the waves

Some of them were a little big and scary!

So Jade made everyone carry their 9ft foamies about half a kilometre down the beach, where we attempted to hide from the bigger waves behind a reef. We were moderately successful, but every now and then a monster would come through and we’d be torn between paddling out past the reef (and possibly not making it) or paddling in to shore (and possibly running in to one of the hidden rock outcrops). The first of these waves sent pretty much everyone packing back in to shore, but Clare and Belinda made it out behind. The second time a wave like this came, Clare abandoned her board and dove to the bottom of the ocean. She still got sucked back with it, but when she popped up on the other side, she was completely and utterly alone… an eerie feeling to say the least!

You can see how tumultuous the water was!

Back in the whitewater, Julie popped up to her feet on in wave, but fell off – despite having run aground and board being stationary!!! Sandra got an absolutely awesome wave, she was up on her feet, balanced, and rocking it when Juliet’s board nicked the back of her legs and tossed her off!!

Belinda caught some big ones from out the back, as we expected, and Clare caught precisely 3. Bec, who has only just learned to body board in this program, was right out the back with them, and sometimes on her own. She took some huge drops (and survived them!!). Our hearts were in our mouths watching her, but she was on fire! All of us had to dodge submerged rocks, but despite the beach being littered with these outcrops, both Dave and Lee managed to get gravel rash on their faces with the sand alone… both of them on body boards, they ran aground with their boards, and their bodies kept going with the wave!! it was highly entertaining!

Bec, absolutely carving it up on Saturday!

Dave recovering from belly-boarding on his face!

Towards the end of the hour (or perhaps after it), Clare and Belinda were sitting out the back alone – a local surfer who had joined them had caught a wave and gone in. The water around them erupted with fish, and because Clare couldn’t see what was chasing them, she hightailed it back to shore (and wouldn’t you know it, it was the one time she couldn’t catch a wave in and had to paddle the whole way!). This action spooked Belinda who paddled in too (Clare having literally thrown her to the sharks!). Once on the sand, they started making their way back out again, when Jade called them in. She gesticulated with her hands, but they didn’t understand, and called back “just one more!”. The whole group started shaking their heads and waving their arms, and Juliet made the “shark” sign…. turns out that local surfer told them to get out when the fish start jumping because the sharks fish on the reef! That “one more” may have been our “last one” if they let us paddle out again!

We walked back to the cars and got in to dry clothes, then did a meditation on the beach. Claire had pre-recorded it for us. it was so powerful to listen with the light breeze playing over our skin, the warmth of the sun on our bodies, and the crash of the waves in our ears. We had lunch at the club before heading to our lakeside cabins where we would stay the night. We had a couple of hours to unpack and relax, then zoomed in with Claire for a Yoga session. We were on this beautiful grassy park, right on Toukley Lake, with the sun low in the sky. It was magic. Lee has a foot injury, and one of the poses was irritating it, so she randomly popped upside down in to a headstand! It was amusing to see everyone on their two feet and Lee upside down amongst them! This inspired everyone to try a headstand, and Tatum had us having heart palpitations with her backflip technique of getting out of them!

Meditation on the Beach

It’s not a session with these two without the bird!

Comparing bruises!

We finished daylight watching the sunset with wine and nibblies on the shores of the lake, before packing up again and heading out to dinner.

Sunset Yoga

The local Pizza place was run by an energetic, but not terribly efficient man. We had a small issue with Rose that looked and tasted like cheap chardonnay, and pizza’s that came out burned and took 90min to cook! Clare’s kids were beside themselves and Maia fell asleep on her chair, but it was still fun and filled our bellies with much-needed fuel.

We started Sunday with a Movement flow designed by Jade. It was exactly what we needed as many of us were stiff and sore from Saturday’s activities. Afterwards we took a couple of hours to pack and have breakfast, and met at Shelly Beach, just south of Long Jetty. This surf was much smaller, but there was a mean little shore-break which meant getting to it was hard for the kids, and getting in afterwards was perilous. We had about 4 participants who were MIA when we went out. The waves were so much smaller and more gentle, and there was no rocky outcrops to avoid. The locals were all respectful and considerate, and our groupies managed to get a few green waves! Gaye was the first one in the water, and caught some unbroken waves before retiring to the sand-back to catch white water for the remainder of the session. Despite the waves being small, it was a looooooong paddle to get behind them!

Our missing participants showed up about an hour later, their breakfast having taken a lot longer than reasonable to arrive!

After this we had a rinse and made our way back to Sydney; sandy, exhausted, proud, and content! Well done LEGENDS, on another epic IntoYou adventure!

Our next Adventure Program starts in May! The early bird ends today!