[Jack Crank]

Here's a thread for progress!  Post your firsts?  First Barrel?  First cutback?  First time standing period?  Whatever it is that's got you stoked that you've never done before, post it here.


I'll kick it off.  Yesterday I nailed my first floated and today I hit my first vertical snap.  Didn't land too clean on the snap but hell, at least I got it up there.

[SeaCliff]

Hmmm..here's my first:

The first time I paddled out again after a decade and a half out of the water, during which time I had inflated in my mind any surfing ability I had as well as any surfing I done in those summers way back when, only to confront the reality head on that I was nearly, if not totally, incompetent. Reality in the form of the very first wave slapped me hard and told me that everything I thought I knew had either changed, or I never knew it to begin with.

It was oddly inspiring. I took it as a challenge to try and live up to my incredibly exaggerated imagination...and to this day, I'm still happily trying.

 

[jscottk]

First Fins out slide to reverse and back today...Pavel Quad...Still dont know how it happened or how to make it happen again.

[Jack Crank]

First Fins out slide to reverse and back today...Pavel Quad...Still dont know how it happened or how to make it happen again.

Nice.  That wasn't at rock this am was it?

[jscottk]

First Fins out slide to reverse and back today...Pavel Quad...Still dont know how it happened or how to make it happen again.

Nice.  That wasn't at rock this am was it?

Not at the main spot...Hidden in plain sight

[Jack Crank]

Mysto stylee...

[jscottk]

Non Lemming stylee...

[Dorado]

last wednesday , first time a guy says to a friend Im about to paddle back out with ( after Ive already been in for 2.5 hrs ) here's the good peak but dont tell the bald guy it is , at a spot ive been surfing on and off my whole life , where one of my best friends who is a shaper from that area i have surfed for yrs and my family lives about 10 minutes away .... yeah that's a first .

[snaggletooth]

Non Lemming stylee...

when i first clicked on this thread and scrolled quickly, i just saw the rodent and thought someone had a richard gere first

[ez_ed]

As a dad, my kids keep nailing "firsts" so I get most of my stoke these days vicariously.
A couple weeks ago, my just-turned-5-yr-old made his first solo drop-ins at the skatepark. I was WAY more stoked than he was. A couple months ago my nine year old caught her first wave by herself. I actually rode it with her. She's going to be a smooth longboarder.

I keep nailing subtle "firsts" in the skatepark(making faster speed runs in the bowl, hitting the coping aka "ringing the bell" more consistently, etc). My surfing "firsts" are tougher to come by
these days. I didn't really do any firsts that I can think of this season except maybe surfing certain waves better, throwing more spray frontside, surfing bigger sized waves on the SUP.

[EbonSurfer]

After 43 years of dreaming of, reading, watching, studying and researching anything I could find on the subject of surfing, I stood up 3 times at Rock yesterday! I can't possibly describe how I'm feeling other than I am STILL glowing over my first real milestone! What can I possibly say that has already been said since probably the first ancient Polynesian stood up? It's crazy! For 3 years, I became proactive in my quest to surf. Traveling locally, I've gone out on "recon missions" to gather as much surf information on everywhere from Rock to Montauk, Jersey from Sandy Hook to Bradley Beach(eventually, I'll make my way to Cape May) and all over Rhode Island and Block Island. Prior to that, I have been to Virginia Beach, Florida(Hobe Sound) and California(Los Angeles:Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach). I've rented from Boarders for 2 seasons and asked a ton of stupid questions. Steve and Chris cheered me on and Chris said something I will take to the grave:"You are now one of us. You are now a surfer." I considered that for a moment. I never really belonged anywhere and now I do. What Chris,Steve and Frank  said to me (without saying it) was I been initiated into the surf community and I feel great! After my session and I was changing into dry clothes, Chris told me that he was going to have a drink in my honor! Stoke? Oh, yeah! I wanted to be around for the celebration but I had a long drive home. I apologize for rambling on and on. This is the only place for me to vent. Where I live, I am the surf community. Thank you Rock community for helping me arrive at the first step of the greatest moment of my life and helping me to achieve the first step of fulfilling my life long mission: to walk on water.

[Northstreet]

Hey Ebon:  I'm usually pretty cynical but that is some stoke!  congrats!




I need some more news firsts to build my stoke nowadays-i feel i kinda reached a sticking point.....BUT: a long time ago, an older better surfer (he must have been 19 or something-lol) told me that with surfing, you go a really long time without seeming to be improving or getting better, and then one day happens that changes everything.....

[ez_ed]

I would say that has not been the case for me.

For me, it's more like watching the grass grow. Not a sudden thing.
But when I think back, I've been slowly and steadily getting better....over time(even as I get older). Same rules apply for skating bowls.

[EbonSurfer]

Thanks, Northstreet.

[ez_ed]

Wow. Ebonsurfer, I just read your post. That's great stuff.