In every beginning there is wonder, but also banality and stupidity. It’s all too easy to reflect on what you’re doing and lose faith. You’re just another idiot trying to balance on a board. Why? The first time I tried I lost the board and fell almost as soon as I tried to get on it. Better next time, move towards the middle, fall again. This is how it goes for everyone. Style emerges from the first moment. Are you stiff, do you flail, do you grimace, or smile? You meet people and then you watch them surf and then you see them again and how they surf is part of the impression. The lady with short black hair, wizened face (J.): stability. A stable entry, and then smooth from one end to the next. She her arms behind her back to practice. I told her that I admired her style: stable, smooth and that I’d try to imitate the way she got in, slowly, steadily, getting balanced by the wall before setting off. Settling …

After the first beginner session, I wonder about getting onto the wave on my own. I’d like to book myself into an advanced session where there’s no assistance. But I’ve decided on principles for this project. One principle is to ask for advice or permission before moving to a next level, however small a step that is. And so I call reception and ask whether an advanced session is a reasonable next step. The person who picks up the phone sounds friendly. Her voice is young, but hesitant about endorsing my plan. A new kind of beginner class is being set up for people like you from August to support progression to the advanced level. Sounds good, I say, but I’ve booked myself onto the “Pure Surf Day” next week, and I’d like to get up on my own before then. And I don’t mind failing, I say, I just want to experiment. Her attitude changes: Yes, that will be fine! We just want to avoid disappointment. She says that some people complain after advanced …

Happiness is supposed to be hard work. You have to work for your moment on the wave. It doesn’t just come to you. I think it’s supposed to work like this: you find your way to the shore with all your equipment. And then you lie on your board and you paddle and paddle. The elements bear down on you. You get knocked about. You paddle like a dog to get behind the wave where the water lumps up like inflatable speed-bumps, growing, and growing and scary and then you paddle out ahead of the wave so that it takes you along and then you stand and balance until the wave exhausts itself or you fall. I don’t know what it’s like for them when they go surfing in the ocean, I mean it must be such a trip. Paddling man… The paddling alone will, you know, fry ya. (laughs!) Nick Carroll, Keep Surfing, at 13:50 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz9bA0CovQQ) There’s another sort of surfing where the wave appears to be endless. It stands there waiting for you. …