Surfing in Sri Lanka



On our halfway through our whole trip day, June 24, we arrived in a town called Weligama. Welligama is famous for its amazing surfing no matter if you're a beginner or not. Of course me and my sister were complete beginners so it was a great place to start. Most people I saw as I watched the surf, were riding on the broken waves that were about 3/4 of a foot high. I laughed out loud because it looked so simple and funny, but as I found out, that was what I rode for most of the time too. In the background, I could see much bigger waves with much better surfers riding them.

There were tons of surf schools all along the beach so we chose one that looked good and had a decent price, and we took our first lesson. It was way easier to get up than I expected, but the hard part was staying up. I fell down right away. After a few tries I figured it out relatively well. I started trying to turn, but failed miserably. My sister did well as well and got up a couple times. 

Maya and I heading out with our boards

kind of shaky but catching some waves the first day
The next day we got a more in depth lesson were I tried a hard board and Maya learned how to turn a little. About halfway through that lesson, Maya switched to a hard board because the instructor thought as was ready. She liked the hard board better as did I. I also learned how to turn. I went a little farther out just to where the waves weren't breaking, it was soo much harder to catch the waves that are not yet broken, but when you do catch them, they are soooo much more fun. In my opinion the only difference between hard and soft boards is the actual feeling of them under your feet. I'm sure that once you reach a higher level, you need a hard board for something or other, but honestly, I didn't notice a difference. Maybe, just maybe, once I got an advanced lesson out on the big green waves that I described at the beginning on this post, I noticed that it turned really well, but I have no idea because I never actually tried a soft board on the big waves. Only a hard board.

Maya concentrating on her form
Me trying to turn

Maya trying to turn

this is pretty fun!
Anyways, after our lesson was over, we went for a rest at our guesthouse, then later, after lunch, we went and rented a board without an instructor. It was noticeably more difficult because the tide was way in and somehow that affected the surf. After about 30 minutes we gave up and went in. 

trying to stay on the board to paddle out


Maya catching a wave without a coach helping

 The next day I got a another lesson with a different instructor.  This lesson was out in the big waves. Remember the ones I described at the beginning? Honestly all I learned in this lesson was that my instructor was a good surfer. It took soooo long to get out because the waves kept thrashing me and pushing me back, then when we finally got out, my instructor would take a wave and leave me stranded. When he was with me I would get ready to take a wave and he would say "no no no, not this one" then he would take it instead. I got pretty frustrated with it. That first time out in the big waves, I think I caught 2 waves, one at the beginning of the hour, one at the very end. We told the guy in charge about this and he said that the instructor was in training and he would give us half an hour free with a different instructor. We were happy with that so we went back to rest. At about 4, we went back over and got what turned out to be an hour of great surfing. I came out of the water after catching about 5 or 6 waves, giddy with excitement. I had so much fun that session. The green waves are soooo much more fun than the broken waves.

Me catching a green wave 

I personally can't wait to maybe go to Tofino  or Hakai and try surfing in cold water close to home. I loved surfing so much, almost as much as snow skiing!

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