Brahma's surfing lesson on Kuta Beach Bali

Saturday morning I did something I never do, I went surfing! Actually the situation was my young brother in-law, Brahma from Semarang Java had his first shot at surfing and I was the teacher!!! Pretty funny eh, me teaching someone to surf. Brahma is leaving today by bus for Semarang, his father arriving 2 days ago. I had said to him before that we should grab a board and try it out. My mother and father in-law wanted to come too so we jumped on 2 motorbikes and zoomed down to Kuta to borrow a surfboard from my mate Palu. His board rental place is on Poppies II and I picked out an 8ft yellow sled for plus a couple of black rash vests. The hike down to Kuta Beach was about 5 minutes and after spending a good 30 seconds showing Brahma what to do we headed off into the surf. He told Ika he was worried in case he couldn't understand my instructions and I made my actions big a clear.

Once in the water I got him to do some paddling. Up and down and tried to get it across that getting walloped by his own board would really hurt. Our timing wasn't the best, it being low tide and somewhat windy. The place we chose, just in front of Hard Rock Cafe has a nice little rip-tide during low tide and I suddenly felt myself getting swept out. Looking over my shoulder I saw Brahma heading out to sea like a torpedo, straight for the incoming waves. Fun turned to concern for a moment when I realized I might have trouble getting back in (myself swimming). Resisting the desire to try to swim straight in I swan across the rip in the direction of Jl. Melasti and then in to shallower water. Meanwhile Brahma was another 50 meters out and I was thinking, 'its this kid's first time on a board and he's in a rip tide with those nasty cross-waves, if he panics and decides to toss the board away we're in trouble’. Fortunately he hung on to the board and paddled in. I then moved us up to the area in front of McDonalds where the waves were more predictable. We spent about an hour and a half trying to get little waves and learn a bit about board control, that Palu had relayed to me.

The whole experience was very fun and is right there for anyone staying in Kuta. If you have a nice big board you'll probably be okay. I will mention though that for a family with kids you have to watch out on Kuta Beach. If you get caught in a rip, stay calm and swim parallel to the beach in the direction that the waves are moving along the beach, then swim in.

Learning to surf is a blast and it pays to get lessons from a reputable school and not some pastey English guy with glasses.