Date: 20 Oct 2012 Comments: 1

Christine Burris 10:27 PM Friday

Bob and I had the opportunity to observe three surf classes at lumpy waters today:  Fear to Fun, Fun to Feedback and short boat surfing all utilized Pacific Beach.  Even for this usually calmer venue the energy in the water was up and provided a challenge for the students as well as the teaching staff. These were not the pretty green faces that surfers dream of but instead were dumpy and pounding reforms. While adapting to the adverse conditions, these talented instructors created the best moments of the day.   Karl Anderson and his assistants taught a popular class of surf novices in Fear to Fun.  They brought out great big smiles while teaching genuine safety and rescue techniques. Andrew Romanelli  and Amanda Cantell  taught, Fun to Feedback with a team teaching technique that was spot on.  Andrew demonstrated techniques in the surf while Amanda explained them to the class. Students had a blast in the dynamic water with a few roll ups and almost no swims.  One student surfed all the way in to the beach and across another empty boat.  The third surf class was in short boats.  Chris Bensch and his assistant coach Nick taught wave dynamics, position and lessons of Americas Top Model practice with hip thrusts and the like.  Jill Alm, short boat surfing student said the best part of their class was: “getting a handle on the bottom turns”.

 Half way through the afternoon we moved to the flat water venue and sat in on rolling tune ups with Alder Creeks Malcom, forward stroke with Rob Avery, and boat control with Northwest kayaking icon Steve Scherer. Using the dunes to simulate bracing in the waves Annette Pierson had her class laughing and learning through fun.   All in all today was an amazing day full of learning and excitement.  Saturday due to forecasts,  advanced rock gardening and rescues are sidelined.  What classes we will sit in on have yet to be determined.    Thanks to Tulie the happiness continued as we laughed and debriefed the day over libations and a great dinner provided by the fabulous kitchen staff.  Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow.  Same bat time same bat channel…..