Surfing 101

So my first day/attempt of surfing is in the books. I mean, if Sean "I can't parallel park a car" White can surf, my theory is anyone can. I couldn't have asked for better waves for my first time. There were 2 breaks about 10 yards apart, 1 large and 1 small, so I stuck with the small ones which were about 5 feet high. I noticed some surfing lessons going on for these 10 year old kids, so I swam next to them to see what they were doing. (And 'yes Pete, they probably did weigh more than me). Anyway, I'm glad I did because the first lesson was riding the wave after it breaks, then standing up. A nice quick way to learn to stand. Unfortunately, it didn't do much good for me. I was able to almost fully stand a couple times but for the most part it was pretty disastrous. At two different times the chord got wrapped around my ankle and another between my toes. I learned a good amount though and plan to give it another go. I had to jump out after 30 minutes because it was just too crowded. Here's the final tallies:

Number of times I...:
...hit the walls in my building with my surfboard walking to and from the beach: 7
...stood up fully: 0
...got into the 'crouching tiger' (near standup): 2
...got yelled at by the lifeguard: 1
...almost got ran over by a real surfer: 1 (and it was close)
...bumped a pedestrian walking with my surfboard: 1*

* - she technically walked into my surfboard but I was standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk with it held horizontally, so I'll take the blame there.

I had drinks at the Opera Bar last night which is an outdoor bar in front of the Opera House overlooking the bridge and Circular Quay (Key) area. Quite a view. I'll post more on that later.