A 3 day Weekend at MojoSurf Camp “Spot X”

At 6 AM on Friday morning, our group of about 50 students was picked up at the uni by the hot pink and black MojoSurf coach bus. The ride was long—about 6 hours—but many were able to sleep and they played movies the whole ride. 

We arrived just in time for lunch, which was buffet-style and had a surprising amount of options. Before we were able to get off the bus, however, we were taught the universal surfers’ sign for good job, which is the well-known thumb and pinky out, shaking the hand, but we also added in a big “YEEEEWWWWW”. It was funny to be able to do that all weekend and not be a complete poser! 

Right after lunch we were given a brief tour, put our bags in our “accommodation” (which was essentially a large metal box with two windows, a light, limited floor space and three bunk beds inside) and then it was time for our first 2-hour surf lesson! 

We went over to the surf school area, learned a few basic safety rules, and then it was time to throw on our wetsuits or “wetties”, grab a board, and head to the beach. Although the boards were softer than normal ones, they were still pretty heavy and after hauling one up and down the beach all weekend, my arms were dead! 

Once on the beach, our instructors taught us how to paddle and the various ways to “pop up” on the board. Finally, after what seemed like hours of boot camp (paddling through the sand, hopping up, laying back down, and repeating), we were able to strap on our leg straps or “leggies” and get in the water.

 I expected it to be pretty cold, but I was pleasantly surprised with how a wetsuit worked and I was very comfortable. Since it was the first time surfing for almost everyone, the instructors were in the water with us and would help push our boards when the waves came. I actually found it to be pretty easy to stand up!

Though that could be attributed to the fact that we were catching pretty small, already crashed waves. Spot X is located in a kind of alcove, which I guess makes the waves smooth and not too large. There were so many of us in the water waiting for waves and not being able to go out too far, that it was kind of difficult to maneuver. I wish our group had been a bit smaller, but the people were all nice and fun so it wasn’t too bad. On Friday night, the instructors built a big bonfire and we all hung out drinking and getting to know each other. The instructors were all dressed funny and initiated drinking games to keep us entertained all night… my favorite was a really long table of almost everyone playing flip cup.

Over the rest of the weekend, we had two more surf lessons: one on Saturday morning and one on Sunday morning. With each lesson, I became increasingly weaker and more sore, which sucks because I was able to get up on the board less. It rained all day Saturday and was pretty chilly, but a group of us still managed to get out in the water on our own in the afternoon to surf and mess around on the boards. The rain made the water choppier and the waves were more frequent, which was the perfect combination for getting wrecked 80% of the day. It was still fun though!

On Saturday night, the instructors organized a bunch of things to do after dinner, including a relay race and dressing up the boys like girls. Each group of about 5 girls took a boy back to their room to dress him up like a girl. The boys then had to walk the catwalk on top of the picnic tables and have a pole dancing competition. It was quite a hilarious sight! The next day a lot of the boys still had nail polish on from the prior night’s activities. On a side note, we saw a possum! It wandered into the picnic table area and actually ate food out of one of the instructor’s hands! I guess they are not scared of humans… especially this one because it seemed to be very familiar with the area. I thought it was really cute! Sunday morning it was sunny again—thank goodness! Along with many others, I tried to surf for about half the lesson, but my arms were almost too tired to push myself up, so I got out and got some sun on the beach for the other half of the lesson. It was cool watching the people who stayed out there though, because a bunch of them had moved “out the back” and were dropping in on actual waves! We drove home after lunch and I was definitely happy to get in my own comfy bed and pass out right away. All in all, I had a lot of fun and can’t wait to go out and try it on a real board!

The bridge over the salt water river to the beach.

Gotta have at least one of me falling... and its an added bonus that Kerry is doing the same thing!