The beginning

From Dave

Like Mark I had avoided surfboards for many years. I was the oldest of three very competitive boys and as a kid, with two very competent board-riding brothers, there was no way I was going to settle on being the third best of the riders in the family. I was a goodbody surfer so was happy to ride the waves that way. Mind you, there were not many good waves around Tamworth where I grew up (200 km from nearest surf!!!) though as I started working I was within a hour of the beach. However, apart from a few short-lived and vain attempts, I had shied away from trying to learn to ride the waves on a board.

After over 10 years of surfing at Point North-East over January, the opportunity to learn on a Mal was something that was totally unexpected but it added a new dimension to the holiday and gave me a challenge: to learn to surf before I turned 50!

What follows is the story of two weeks near Burrill Lake as Mark, Rick and I tried to learn to ride a board, with some help from some of mates!