Being a Surfing Bogan

Surfers Paradise

The last stop on my Wicked Road Trip through Queensland was Surfers Paradise. I hadn’t planned on doing much there but lounge and had no interest in surfing. But, since I was in Surfers Paradise I did feel obligated to try it. I had an extra day to kill anyways, so I booked a two-hour lesson. It was awesome!

Go Ride a Wave wasn’t answering their phone that morning, so I booked the lesson with Cheyne Horan School of Surf. They went through everything step-by-step but the style of teaching was primarily watch-and-copy.

What We Learned

Walk into the water until it’s up to your knees before setting the board down.
The “control position” is where you stand on the left side of the board and have your right hand on top of the dots at the back of the board and your left hand flat on the middle of the board as you enter the water.
Once you’re waist high in water, you get into the “wave catching position”, which is when you hold the edge of the right side of the board with your right hand and the left side of the board with your left hand getting ready to get on the board once a wave comes.
When a wave is right behind you, push the board towards the shore and get on it (tummy against board). Then, slide up the board so that your feet are at the end of the board.
Count three seconds after getting on the board before jumping into a standing position so that you have speed.
The “standing position” is your typical surfer pose with your front foot at a 45 degree angle and your back foot at 90 degrees.
Bend your knees while surfing and keep your eyes focused on your destination. Don’t look down at your feet otherwise you’ll lose your balance.

Trying very clumsily to stand up on the board

I hadn’t expected to have so much fun trying to surf even when it took me the entire lesson to get in the standing position (I got up on my own for the first time on the very last wave). It was worth the $45.

I talked to some girls who had taken the same beginner’s lesson at Go Ride a Wave and they described the same lesson we got at Cheyne Horan School of Surf, except they didn’t go over the basics of getting into the water. Instead, they were told to carry their board into the water and set it down when they were ready to catch a wave. You already get really sore arms from trying to catch a wave so this is just more effort and strain on your muscles. By going in using a “control position” you let the water do the lifting and can better avoid getting washed back by waves by tilting the board back and forth over each oncoming wave.

Tips for Travellers to Surfers Paradise

The prices for surf lessons are generally the same ($45 for 2 hours), but the prices for photos differ. If you purchase photos, check the CD before leaving! Cheyne Horan School of Surf has an independent photographer who comes in whenever he feels like it to take pictures and sells them on a CD for $20 each. Go Ride a Wave has a photographer who charges $15. Several people at Cheyne Horan (myself included) bought CDs that were faulty and wouldn’t work on PCs, and the girls I talked to who took lessons at Go Ride a Wave also had problems with their CDs. Not only did I pay $5 more for my photos, but I had to drive down to the beach and meet the photographer there to get a working copy of the pictures whereas the girls with Go Ride a Wave had their new CDs delivered free of charge to their hostel. This wasn’t the way I had wanted to spend my last day of my road trip.
If you’re travelling in a caravan and want to stay somewhere on the cheap, drive down to the Marina at The Spit and park in the parking lot overnight. They don’t ticket you and it’s right by the YHA which charges $5 per day for use of their facilities (toilets, showers, kitchen). I normally avoid YHAs because the one at Cairns was unfriendly, but the people at Surfers Paradise YHA were really nice. This YHA also has a free shuttle bus to and from the city centre.
If you really want to be cheap, you can park at the Marina at The Spit and use the washrooms in the mall rather than paying the $5 at YHA. They don’t have showers in the washrooms, but they’re super clean and are open 24 hours a day. Just be aware that the customers who visit this mall are rich and dress up to the 9’s so you will feel like a bogan visiting the mall just to brush your teeth at night.