Sun 2024-12-22 North Bondi 1ft waves

Great surfing lesson with Let's Go Surfing (https://letsgosurfing.com.au) this morning at 7am. Water was a little cold. 9ft soft top. After suiting up, we started with sitting in a big circle on a grassy hill, introducing ourselves and stretching. Pigeon and upward dog poses felt good. Once down at the beach (sand was so soft!) Nat and Emily (our 2 instructors) went over some basics in how waves form, how to avoid rip currents, blue bottle jellyfish and pop up practice. I felt the chicken wings- seal- hip up- and left/back foot first and right foot next technique was awkward and didn't quite get it and when we got out on the water. Nat gave me some really good pointers on how to get it better. It helps to push onto the board with the bottom of my toes to get a bit of a springboard action. I tried several times (there were 8 of us to 2 instructors and we stayed near the beach, practicing on white waves) but I didn't get it so I dragged my board back out to the beach and practiced pop ups. I did that several times. Eventually I kind of developed my own version of going from chicken wings-seal to popping up. The last 3 waves I was able to finally stand up for brief moments. Have to remember to put my back foot further up on the board. But it was so cool I actually got to pop up! I thought it was impossible for me cuz I'm not that flexible, but it was possible even if it's my own version and probably not perfect. I had a great time. I watched my fatigue level and practiced pop ups and rested on the beach whenever I needed which was helpful. 

Met a Korean surfer girl from Yang Yang who also happenned to be a yoga instructor! Her name is 가현 and she was so good!