Last Summer I joined Omanu Surf Lifesaving Club, passed my bronze medallion and did some patrolling over the season as a surf lifeguard. I’d already been swimming with Omanu swim squad for a couple of years and thought it would be great way to do some volunteering, meet some new people and spend time on the beach!

I was keen to try out the surf sports and asked about what there was for masters. A masters boarding group formed and a group of us spent a very happy Summer of Sunday morning boarding sessions, and sometimes a cheeky one after swim squad and before work too! (Great start to a Monday by the way).

Under the wise and enthusiastic instruction of Trish, Claire, Sandra, Donal and Pomme Pomme, we progressed from only being able to stay on in flat water to being able to paddle through waves and catch some on the way in. The first time you catch a wave and ride in on the board is pure magic.

A few months later I took part in my first surf comp, the Eastern Regions on Papamoa beach. We had a crash course in all sort of events I’ve never heard of before, like flags which involves jumping up from a prone position and sprinting to flags…it’s a knock out event with one less flag than people and a surprising amount of technique to learn for this event! On the day I took part in a boarding event, flags, running and swimming relays and an open water swim. Conditions got pretty exciting in terms of surf size over the morning, but we all completed our events and did the club proud.

As the summer drew to a close we started learning how to surf ski. We were lucky to fit in one session before Level 4 lockdown on the flat water in Pilot Bay which left us wanting more. As soon as we were at Alert Level 2 a few weeks later we were back. During May-July we mainly went out at Pilot Bay and built up our technique, learnt starts and exits.

When conditions were good we started going into the surf, sometimes from Shark Alley beach near Leisure Island. Here we did some laps of Rabbit Island and got used to the surf. We got to the point where the flat water of Pilot Bay became boring and by the end of winter we were good enough to go out directly from Omanu where the surf tends to be a bit bigger.

In September a few of us paddled from Omanu Beach around Rabbit Island and back which is about 8km - it was amazing paddling back with the view of the coastline and a tailwind. Like flying.

Later in September I did my first surf ski ‘race’ of 11km - which was actually on the Waikato River from Cambridge to Hamilton. It was great fun, even paddling through a weather bomb!

It’s been awesome to have the opportunity to learn new ways to enjoy the ocean with such a lovely group of people and spend a heap of time on the beach, even through winter. It wasn’t even that cold! It’s kind of been a bit like learning to ride a bike again! Thanks to everyone who has helped us, organised sessions and driven the trailer.

Looking forward to enjoying surf sports and improving some more this summer, and I’ll be back on patrol too - over winter I passed my IRB crew (Inflatable Rescue Boat) and started learning how to drive an IRB. Having not had the opportunity to do any of this growing up in the UK (I lived by the sea but there’s no surf in Suffolk!) it’s awesome being able to do it all now - Omanu SLC masters rock!