Wednesday, Feb 20 – Day 65

Had a private lesson with Evandro this morning at Praia Mole. Carlos, Sam, and Evandro’s wife Vanessa joined in for the trip as well. The waves will be larger, so they should be easier for me to catch. I went to this beach last week because it’s known as great surf spot, but also because it also attracts more of the “beautiful people”. The scary part is that the waves were 20 feet tall. Evandro says that we won’t see anything like that today.

Most waves were 6 to 8 feet, which really wasn’t that bad. The hard part was the foot-high chop created by the on-shore wind, and the southern current which kept sweeping us down from the spot where the waves were breaking. By the time I got back outside the break after each run, it seemed like I always had to paddle 100 yards north, into the chop and against the current, to get back to the right spot. It was so tiring that when I’d finally get there, I’d have to let a couple of good waves pass me by just so I could catch my breath. But in the time that it would take me for to recover, the current would move me 20 yards south again, and I’d have to paddle up once more to get the right spot to hit the next wave. Once Evandro coached me into position, however, I did manage to catch my share of good waves, and had a blast.

Evandro is an animal surfer. I asked him to just speak his thoughts out loud while he caught a few waves. He’s like a shark. Always looking, paddling, evaluating where the previous waves were breaking, where the next waves are coming from, and marking his position on the beach. He looks at every wave, estimates the proper take-off spot, and determines if he can get there or not. Then, makes catching it look effortless.

After our session, he told me that I surprised him on one particular wave. He saw me going for it, but thought that I had either miss-judged the take-off spot or wouldn’t be able to get there in time. But I got there, picked it up, and had a nice run. It’s kind of like that one good golf shot that keeps you coming back again and again, even though the rest of your game sucks.