Pintxos, Surf, and the Pukas Spread.
Synonymous with decadent Michelin star restaurants and some sort of opulence from a four month waiting list for food, San Sebastián is a strangely wonderful place. In my stinging nettles of impatience, I was looking for a surf trip for July just after Newquay (no hostels this time). At this moment my heart was just beginning to look for a surf home. I was reading Cooler magazine and there was an article about surf schools in Europe. I went through them, checked their reviews and made a list. Next stop Northern Spain.
I had this idea that I wanted to find more people like the ones I met in Ericeira, Portugal and learn from them. I wanted to see what this surfing culture was all about in each country. So I booked a cheap flight from London to Donostia, two individual surf classes from Pukas Surf Eskola and a room in the centre of non-michelin San Sebastián, Euskadi.
A few weeks before I got there, Pukas had a huge fire, and then I realised how much they meant to the community. It was horrific and I hope that they will survive it. The people at their school are lovely. I liked them so much, I spent more than I had on my first surf indicative apparel- It's all about surfing with amigas!!- I wear only three sweaters, this is one of them. I also got a few little tokens from the girls in the shop that I wore on my right wrist all of summer/fall 2017.
My instructor for the weekend was Nacho (yep, Nachoooooo -quoting Nacho Libre). We spent most of the lull times discussing how he should apply to the big schools, like Imperial College, or Oxford, I even convinced him to look into UCSD/UCLA (learning near good enough surf). He didn't believe they would take someone from Spain, but I told him to try. You can always say you've tried. That's the most important thing. Then I tried to tell him about the movie Nacho Libre. No comments.
I forgot to take pictures of me in my summer wetsuit and board. I promise I will get better with this. But in my defence, I was too giddy with excitement, I only wanted to grab the board and paddle out as soon as possible. The beach break at Playa de la Zurriola was a short ride in, you had to pop up quickly. But at that time my hips were still back on the lab stool, so that wasn’t happening. It was the first time I learned the lizard method to standing up.
There are many ways to get to one's feet, but when you're just learning, there seems to be four.
Just get up. This was from my first surf lesson in Newport beach. I suspect my teacher preferred to surf than to teach, because although this is where I fell in love with waves, he was slightly impatient. Upward dog and then just jump up. That was it.
Upward dog, knees to the middle of the board, bend elbows and bring the front foot forward, then plant the back leg and stand up. This is good when you have a long time before hitting the beach. Plus you can ride the wave on one knee if you’re hungover.
Push up, bring your back foot's knee to your hands, then the front foot forward, just under your chest, plant the back foot and let go.
Now, when the time on the wave is limited, lizard. Upward dog, twist your hips to the side of your back foot, plant back foot, bring the front foot through and you’re up. Here, the hips and the body have to move as one, which is not something a snake oil waisted Caribbean woman can do easily. Our hips move independently from the rest of our body. haha
On this trip I was goofy, consequently, the best way I could get up was using option 4. But even now, as I am currently natural or left foot forward (look, I don’t make the rules, my body decides), and back foot heavy, I wonder if the lizard is actually the best way? I know nothing, I just felt the lizard was better for those goofy days. I didn’t like the knees first one, because I would have to swing my foot over the rail and by the time I planted it, I was planted on the ocean floor.
"Gotta love the ocean for keeping your ego in check."
Everyone has their own way of teaching, my instructor Nacho was sweet and patient. I don’t know if he realised I was scared but he kept chatting with me until I forgot I was afraid. He was also amazingly encouraging. He would scream, Up! and Go! and Let's do it! throughout the session, I loved it. I hadn't a moment to be concerned about how many times I wiped out. Also, I don't remember being held under like other waves. The break there was gentle from what I recall (almost a year later). There was a point I was feeling myself when I rode a few waves because maybe there were some cute guys on the beach. But on one ride in, one leg stayed on the board while the other was in the water and what happened? I call it the Pukas Spread. I did a perfect split onto the left rail of the board and then on my arse. Gotta love the ocean for keeping your ego in check. So I jumped back on the board and never looked at anyone on the beach again. Another lesson learned: you can have a layer of pebbles on your scalp even after vigorous washing. They all come out on your pillow during the night. In San Sebastián the sand isn’t white fine dust. It is still beautiful and soft to touch but there are little pebbles, which in my hair, form a self assembled monolayer on my scalp. I bet, that's why my hair grew so quickly. The third lesson: Never ever should I drink or go out before a morning surf lesson. My body and mind stop coordinating. Even if I'm not hungover, surfing brings up all the bad things I did to my body the day/night before and drops me like those waves dumping harshly on the beach.
What else happened on this trip? I got a cool tour guide from the family living next door to my Airbnb host in exchange for swimming classes for their daughter. This beautiful young soul almost died at birth and as such, she has trouble seeing and hearing. But her father and mother wanted her to swim, to get an understanding of the water. She was scared before, but I tried my best to get her to feel the water. There were no waves and the sun was beating down on our backs. So I let her blow bubbles in the water, let her wet her face in her own time. When she got used to water, I held her hands in a streamline and let her kick, then I let go and let her kick to me, within an hour she was doing summersaults in the water. Not really, but she was much more excited about getting her face wet and just larking around. I tried to get her to float on her back, but that was a bit much. So I showed the dad all the things I learned when I was a swimming teacher back in college and high school. She was really happy in the water. I know her parents will keep bringing her to the sea because the father, who is from the area, has a real connection to the water and although he almost lost his daughter at birth, he doesn’t let those fears dictate the experiences he shares with her.
I think I would like to go back to San Sebastián, this time with my friends. It is a super fun city. You surf in the early morning, have a great lunch, siesta and hang out at the cathedral at nights. Oh my gosh, how did I forget? I had the best cheesecake ever made in history. Of course, I have no images because I ate it. But if you are ever in the area, head over to La Vina.