This is where I had my first surfing vacation in Weligama
Greetings to everybody! Here, I’m writing a non-technical Medium post instead of my usual technical ones and let me tell you about my first time surfing, ah! It’s also the first time I’ve taken a solo vacation. I love all water activities that’s why started swimming when I was 12 years old. Not only swimming life-saving intermediate level certification has been granted to me also I have done 2 miles(3.218Km) sea swimming in Mt. Lavinia & Boossa. So I have good experience in swimming pools and seas.
One of my life’s ambitions was to learn to surf as a newbie. Since the end of last year, I’ve been asking my friends if they’d like to go surfing in November, when the season begins. Unfortunately most of them don’t know how swim in the sea or they were busy. So I decided to go alone. In the beginning, I researched it by asking foreigners where Sri Lanka’s best surfing school is located. According to my knowledge, foreigners coming to Sri Lanka just to surf in surfing season. They said I should start surfing in Weligama because that’s easy for newbies and most of them told me that Ama Surfing School has best surf instructors. Afterwards, I contacted Mr. Ama, who owns a surfing school, and offered to come for three days. The surfing camps last 7 days, but they only offered me a 3 day camp as an alternative and Mr. Ama helped me to book a luxury double room in COCO Hostels.
Day before Surfing
CodeKittyShow Season finale in GitHub Education livestreamed last weekend, so I had to pack my stream gears and surfing gears.
Surfing Day 1
In the first day of surfing I had to travel ALONE from my home to Weligama Ama Surfing School. I left my house at 8 a.m. and arrived at my destination at 10:30 a.m.
My surf instructor Sameera was introduced to me by Mr. Ama, whom I met a short time later at the beach. He has been surfing for more than a decade. After that, I changed into my surfing gear and met Sameera for my first surfing lesson.
To get started surfing, I received a soft longboard that is suitable for complete beginners and easy to maintain a proper body position on the board. And, Sameera had taught me how to get on and take off on the board. I practiced several time and then went to the water.
I began by riding the white waves of the ocean (broken sea waves). Because getting on a floating board is much more difficult than it is on sand, Sameera stepped in to assist me. My first attempt to surf did not go well. I slipped and fell into the water. A string attached to my leg with the surfboard was a good thing. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to locate the board. After 5–10 unsuccessful attempts I could mange to stand on the board. Yeah! I felt so happy that time. Afterwards I successfully took off on the board several times. And I passed the 1st lesson “Take Off”.
Then I checked in to my room it was better than I expected
In the evening I went back to the Surf school for my 2nd lession and Sameera was waiting for me. This time he taught me how to paddle with the surf board. Unfortunately that evening waves were not good. All the time I was falling into the water :( and I was super tired. taking off on the surf board is like doing push ups on a floating board. So I couldn't do paddling well.
In the night I was having a meeting with @sliitfoss members and SahasRenuja recommended that I should try W15’s pizza, which I did. As a result, I was eager to give it a shot. As soon as I walked out of my room, I went to look it up on Google maps. I only had to cross the street to get to W15, which was right in front of me 😂.
It was too much for me. Luckily, I received a call from a friend named Heshan. Also, he’s in Weligama. He’s seen my Instagram stories, and he and two of his friends came to W15. (They helped me to disappear the Pizza 🤭) Afterward we had some chat.
Surfing Day 2
I woke up around 7 AM and got ready for the breakfast I choosed Fruit smothie
That was also too much for me. I was only able to finish half of it. After that, my third lesson was with Ama. Surfing is best done in the morning, as I discovered. Green waves (unbroken waves) are what my surf instructor says I should aim for the next time. Moreover Mr. Ama (Ama Surf School Owner) gave me another tips for how to keep body balance. I should not look at the board and I should focus on front. Those were very beneficial.
After that, I went back to my room and prepared for lunch at W15. I did the same thing this time: I ordered a pizza and ate it all by myself I took my laptop with me cuz I needed to prepare for the CodeKitty Live stream.
The last episode of our show went exactly as planned because I didn’t go surfing in the evening because I needed to practice more for the show.
Surfing Day 3
The third and final day of my first surfing vacation came to an end today. For the breakfast I got Omelette from Coco hostels.
To catch good waves while surfing, I got up earlier than usual and drove to the beach around 8 a.m. My instructor, Sameera, advised me to try a medium-length surf board known as a “hard board,” which is suitable for intermediate surfers. In my 4th and 5th surfing lession I could stand on surf board many times even I could controll it direction.
Surfing Friends
Regardless of how you look at it, I was the only Sri Lankan surfer in town. Because I was on my own, I wanted to meet and become friends with other surfers and I could made lot of new surf friends more of them from Ukrain, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, UK and Israel.
One of funny thing was I foreigner came to me and asked
Foreigner: are you coding?
Me: Yeah! I do, How do you know?
Foreigner: Because you are wearing a GitHub t shirt
and he was from UK and he’s a Project manager there.
Previously I had only dev friends all around the world now I have surfing friends too. 💜✨
Around 1 p.m. I checkout out from my room and went to Petti Petti Mirissa for the lunch.
Like I said earlier there also I was the only Sri Lankan guest at Petti Petti. The view and the foods were so good. After I had my lunch I started coming to my home town.
Conclusion
Surfing is easier if you know how to swim in the sea, how to avoid green waves, and have the strength to do more pushups. The fact that the stances for karate and surfing are nearly identical gave me an extra incentive to grab it.
Visitors from other countries can come to surf in our country. However, our people aren’t doing it. That’s sad.
In addition, a Swiss girl told me, “This country has sun light, but I don’t see they are using solar panels much.”
That’s all I had to share this time. And I’m hoping to go back again before season ends.
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