On Wednesday, my expo group 2B had our second surf lesson. The weather was starting to turn bad as a low was developing over eastern Bass Straight. Our lesson had already been moved forward as three metre swells had been predicted for Friday, the original day of our lesson. We got our wetsuits on and grabbed our helmets walking towards the cars under a grey sky threatening to rain. Despite the ominous weather, spirits were high and everyone was singing along to the radio on the drive to West Cape. It didn’t take long for us to run down to the sand, grab the boards and after a quick warm-up, paddle out into the sea. Offshore winds were causing choppy conditions and it was hard to catch a wave. There were nose dives and collisions but we were a persistent crew and kept trying. I caught a few really good waves and was pretty happy with what I could do, given the conditions. Mr Den Otter was showing off his talents and Kiah even caught a wave on the back of his board. The rain started about half an hour into the lesson but I don’t think anyone really noticed. Everyone was laughing and joking around. Towards the end of the lesson Mr Den Otter suggested the whole team catch a ‘party’ wave. We lined up boards to face the shore and waited. Mr Den Otter yelled out “this is the one” and I turned around and saw this massive wave forming behind us. We started screaming and paddling and one second we were full of adrenaline pumped for the wave, the next we were getting hammered. Everyone came up laughing and sharing what happened. We really bonded over that and we caught a few more waves before reluctantly paddling in and walking back up to the car park. It was like we had been pulled out from a different world. Suddenly we were aware of the rain and the cold but we had, had an amazing time and even if we didn’t catch many waves we made it fun!

Cold air, fast feet, dirt track, listens to my heart beat. Breathing hard, almost there, one more lap, take care. Sprint hard, final turn, don’t give up, feel it burn. Birds sing, chickens cluck, peace and quiet, good luck. Cool down, it’s over now, breathe easy, take a bow.

-This is poem I wrote for my Passport about getting up at 6:30 every morning and going for a run.

Molly, Maffra Secondary College