Venice Beach has its fair share of characters.
Artists, dancers and “tobacco” pipe sellers crowd Ocean Front Walk while locals and tourists alike flock to the sandy beach ““ one of Los Angeles County’s cleanest.
Just between the shops and the sand is a pickup truck, around which stand nine people who have never worn a wetsuit or ridden a surfboard before.
One of them was me.
My classmates and I were about to embark on the journey of a lifetime.
OK, well, not really. We signed up for a two-hour surfing clinic given by UCLA Recreation.
And after a couple minutes of introductions, our instructors Josh Galang and Chris Meehan led me and eight other surfing novices, 9-foot foam boards in hand, to the shores of the Pacific.
I volunteered to take this surfing lesson, write about my experiences and share with the UCLA community my thoughts on the unknown opportunities for fun provided by UCLA Recreation’s Marina Aquatic Center.
Having spent every day of summer 2007 boogie boarding, I thought this surfing shindig would be a piece of cake. Needless to say, I soon found out how wrong I was.
With only two hours of instruction ahead of us, my classmates and I were anxious to begin surfing. Josh and Chris sensed this and briefed us on the basics of surfing and water safety as efficiently as possible so we could spend at least an hour with the waves.
So, 10:15 a.m., baking under the sun with our wetsuits on, we began instruction. We learned some basic safety precautions and surfing techniques. Josh then gave us his wisdom on life and surfing.
“When a huge wave takes you down or you fall off your board, just relax,” Josh said. “Don’t fight it because there’s nothing you can do. Just wait until the rough tide passes and get back up and try again.”
Josh explained that he takes this view on surfing and applies it to life.
“When difficulties arise, don’t worry, and relax. When life happens, just go with the flow.”
I reflected on this advice and thought, yeah, that kind of makes sense. Why freak out when a problem comes along?
Around 11 a.m., we were deployed into the ocean to start surfing. After some rough waves tossed me around, I soon realized what Josh was saying. If I try to fight with the waves, I will only get thrown around more. I learned this the hard way, unfortunately.
A couple of severe waves, at least in my eyes, threw my surfboard over me and my leash around me. I drank way too much Pacific Ocean water and ate way too much Venice Beach sand.
After a few repetitions of fighting with the waves, I took Josh’s advice to heart.
I stopped fighting the ocean, I told myself, “Relax Farzad, you’ll get over these difficulties soon enough.”
And I entered the sea with a new mentality.
In the end, I still didn’t get the whole surfing thing down. I caught a couple waves and almost stood up on my board, but I certainly needed more practice by the end of the lesson. But, I did learn something about surfing and life.
We will all encounter huge waves or riptides, in the ocean and in life. The key to getting through them is not to overexert yourself fighting it.
Stuff happens, and there’s no point in freaking out about it. Just relax, and the problems will pass.
If you have a philosophy on life based on your favorite sport, e-mail Mashhood at fmashhood@media.ucla.edu.