All my life I dreamed of riding a surf, the problem to fulfil my dream was that I live in a country where there are no oceans or seas, only a lot of rivers and lakes. When I saw surfers on TV for the first time, it was love at first sight). The truth is, I kissed my “love at first sight” only 18 years later).
My first acquaintance with surf took place in the Maldives, on a wedding trip. I looked for an island which had a spot for skiing and renting boards. The choice finaly fell on "lohis", this is an ideal place for advanced Surfers)).
Upon arrival to the island, I did not even wait for our settling in the house, and immediately ran to the rental. In my head there were only thoughts about surfing, I even forgot about my beloved wife, and that I'm on a honeymoon trip).
Having come to the rental, I told the guy working there that I urgently need a short board and for my wife a long board), the guy from the rental asked me if I have any skiing experience, to which I replied "no, but this is not a problem for me ) ". At that time, I did not even know what it would all be like. I've been skating all my life on various boards, skateboards, snowboards, I was even on the National snowboard team, but only for one month))). The guy refused, saying that I do not understand where I am located, this spot is for the pros, and I as a future suffer, I had just one argument, "I've been waiting all my life for this moment, dude, I came here only for surfing )) ". In response, he told me that if I want to ride, I need to buy a board (since he will not rent me the board.) The nearest store was in Male, this is the main island and concurrently the Capital. To get there I would have to pay 500 $ for a boat which will bring me there. I decided to wait for an excursion to the main island, it cost only $100, although I had to wait 4 days. While I was waiting for a trip to Male, like an addict, fainted from the desire to ride, only had that one thought. With my wife watching the surfers riding on the spot, I told her that if after an hour or maximum two hours I will learn how to surf)) - later I learned that I'm not the only one such self-assured dreamer.
At last that day came. We sailed to the island, I immediately got rid of the group, got into a taxi and rushed to the nearest surf shop, there were only two boards, in the evening one of them was already with me. It was an unforgotten feeling))) I fell in love with that board, felt like even more than my wife). I was so self-assured in myself that, when I arrived on the island, I did not try to swim on the board in the pool. Later that evening I wiped it with wax, screwed the fins and went to bed) In the morning I was met by the dream of my life!
On the spot, we came with my wife, she was supposed to film my surfing.
The shore of the spot was covered with stone boulders, and to get to the ocean it was necessary to wait for the foam to come, after that it was necessary to jump into the foam. This foam would later carry me away from these stones. So that is what I tried to do, as soon as I went in the water. In my head ran a thought, why the hell I did not swim on the board in the pool?!?! I could not even hold myself on it normally, it was horrible, a few seconds later a new wave approached me and it was a fiasco (I could not dive the tip of the board down and lost the board, it was horrible)! I had to turn on my brain, I knew that waves were pushing me on the rocks. I had to get out of there urgently, I climbed onto the board and started to fight with the oceans. The most interesting thing was that this was the highest season of waves, it was August and the waves were ..... just huge.
My only salvation was that I was well-prepared physically, for a long time I was engaged in swimming, crossfit and Mixed Martial Arts. It took about 40 minutes to fight against the ocean-it was a battle to live or die, I got carried off from the board periodically, I started praying to God, I asked him for help, I knew that if I surrender, I might die. Thank God !, I was able to swim to the Line Up, losing all my strength, I could not raise my hands, my shoulders ached as if I had been run over by a tank. I decided not to swim close to the surfers, and stay on the sidelines. When I sailed to a safe place I decided to rest, I sat on the board, as all the surfers on Line up do.Unfortunately, it did not work for me, I immediately turned over, after probably six unsuccessful attempts, after which I just lay down on the board for 30 minutes. So as not to get completely dishonored). I gathered all my strength and decided to catch the wave, noticed a wave, started rowing when I felt that she picked me up, tried to get up. I can not convey this feeling, it was as if I was standing on the edge of a seven-story building, I was very frightened and just fell to the bottom with the board. I was twisted as if I was in a washing machine. When I swam from there to the Line Up, I saw a guy swimming towards me. He asked me "dude you first time on the wave?" I said yes) he told me: RUN AWAY from here! And it was said as if a big white shark is coming), immediately remembered that guy from the rental, I understood the seriousness of his words, every letter of his words! Now I had only one thought, how to get ashore (((( I started thinking, I decided to wait for the wave, after it passes, I had to start rowing very quickly, so that the next wave would fall down behind me and on its foam I would fly to the shore; on the beach between the rocks was a small narrow concrete ladder, I had to get there! Everything worked with one exception. I did not hit it, I missed it by 4 feet) eventually broke the fins and damaged the board, but I got out!
I was overwhelmed with all possible feelings: joy, happiness, pride, I was ready to explode! At the same instant, I ran to that guy from the rental, when he saw me, his first words were "dude no way, you did it!". Now, I could talk with him on one language. He told me that he was from Austria and he, too, had snowboarded all his life, skate and kite, he spent a month on that to get on the board, we became friends).
The next day I started planning my new trip, even before I left the island). Do not ever do what I did! There are special spots for beginners, no shortboards. Fortunately they write a lot about that on the Internet! You have to learn only with an instructor! So you can quickly raise your level of surfing! I thought that long board suck, that I need only a short board. How mistaken I was! Long Bord is the first and most reliable friend to a beginner surfer!
A year later I went to Portugal for a surf school, where I began to learn how to ride, moved very fast in front of me, made friends with my teachers), I told them that I went to Maldives for the first time, after I arrived home, I added them as friends to Facebook, one of them wrote to me after seeing the photos from the Maldives "so it was true!" We did not believe you) we thought you made it all up)).