Posted: 20 Dec 2009 13:53 edit
Took my little girl out yesterday on the Resolute Salmon. It was a glassy, beauty, warm summer day with a retreating tide and some small waves workin' the inside - calm and mellow out the back. Perfect morning for a little fun.
She got a little sketched as we got into chest deep water and the waves - only maybe thigh high at best - seemed to tower over us from her vantage point hanging on to my neck as I carried her.
I persevered... assured her it was ok... hoped we'd have it all smooth and good so my word would match the experience. Got through a little lull, slid her up on the nose on her belly and hopped aboard behind her to paddle us out beyond reach of any sneaky little dumpers.
Again at first she was a little sketched and wimpery. But I said, "Hey... this is a lot like kayaking isn't it?" and she replied yeah, seeming to relax a bit. She'd been in kayaks on big water before so it was something positive and non scary she could relate it to.
Out the back I sat her up on the board with me and she started just totally grooving on being in the sea. Pointing out how far we were from shore. Pointing out gulls and mountains and the other surfers. After a while she asked me to paddle us over to a couple groms who were learning to ride their mals. She threw em a double shaka and hollered "I SURFIN!" when we got within close range of them. One of em commented "I sure wish I'd started that young"...
That kid said it all in my view.
We paddled and sat and just hung out. A lazy summer Saturday with an offshore breeze. A father and daughter. A big wooden board. Then after a bit she wanted to go in. We caught a wave and just as we started hummin along, the wave jacked a bit. We were too straight on, the board pearled and over we went. I had her in my arms, we came up reasonably quick. But the effect, at her size, had to be a bit like me getting taken over the falls on a head high shorey. She was shook for a minute but I defused it right away "YEAH!!! WAS THAT GREAT!!?!?! WHOOO HOO!!! GIMME FIVE!!!" and she smiled the biggest smile and hooted. HAHAH!!! Gave me five, a pound-it, a finger wiggle and a shaka. Our secret handshake. I told her "we have to find our board now!!" "DERE IT IS!!" she said with glee and a squeal.
We rode another in, right up to the sand. She on her own for the last 20 meters after I hopped off. Grinning. A little scared. But grinning.
"What you wanna do now honey?"
"I wan go home and tell MOMMY".
So we went home....
"MOMMY MOMMY!!! I go'd in the deep deep water with daddy and the wave came and went BOOM and under the deep deep water... an we had to find the surfboard!"
yeah.... now that's golden.
Took my little girl out yesterday on the Resolute Salmon. It was a glassy, beauty, warm summer day with a retreating tide and some small waves workin' the inside - calm and mellow out the back. Perfect morning for a little fun.
She got a little sketched as we got into chest deep water and the waves - only maybe thigh high at best - seemed to tower over us from her vantage point hanging on to my neck as I carried her.
I persevered... assured her it was ok... hoped we'd have it all smooth and good so my word would match the experience. Got through a little lull, slid her up on the nose on her belly and hopped aboard behind her to paddle us out beyond reach of any sneaky little dumpers.
Again at first she was a little sketched and wimpery. But I said, "Hey... this is a lot like kayaking isn't it?" and she replied yeah, seeming to relax a bit. She'd been in kayaks on big water before so it was something positive and non scary she could relate it to.
Out the back I sat her up on the board with me and she started just totally grooving on being in the sea. Pointing out how far we were from shore. Pointing out gulls and mountains and the other surfers. After a while she asked me to paddle us over to a couple groms who were learning to ride their mals. She threw em a double shaka and hollered "I SURFIN!" when we got within close range of them. One of em commented "I sure wish I'd started that young"...
That kid said it all in my view.
We paddled and sat and just hung out. A lazy summer Saturday with an offshore breeze. A father and daughter. A big wooden board. Then after a bit she wanted to go in. We caught a wave and just as we started hummin along, the wave jacked a bit. We were too straight on, the board pearled and over we went. I had her in my arms, we came up reasonably quick. But the effect, at her size, had to be a bit like me getting taken over the falls on a head high shorey. She was shook for a minute but I defused it right away "YEAH!!! WAS THAT GREAT!!?!?! WHOOO HOO!!! GIMME FIVE!!!" and she smiled the biggest smile and hooted. HAHAH!!! Gave me five, a pound-it, a finger wiggle and a shaka. Our secret handshake. I told her "we have to find our board now!!" "DERE IT IS!!" she said with glee and a squeal.
We rode another in, right up to the sand. She on her own for the last 20 meters after I hopped off. Grinning. A little scared. But grinning.
"What you wanna do now honey?"
"I wan go home and tell MOMMY".
So we went home....
"MOMMY MOMMY!!! I go'd in the deep deep water with daddy and the wave came and went BOOM and under the deep deep water... an we had to find the surfboard!"
yeah.... now that's golden.
