The Swimming Lesson

#deardiary #adventure #comedy #shortstory

Dear Diary,

For a long time, I wasn't a big fan of water. I don't like getting my thorns wet, they take forever to dry, and they never dry straight. I can't tell you how many times I had to get a haircut to get them to grow pin-straight again.

That's why I had no plans to be near water when I went to Australia for vacation. I came only to see kangaroos in person. I was on my way to Camden to see them at the Botanic Gardens when I heard about a surfing competition at Bondi Beach. The local news warned that if anyone wanted a good view of the action, to come down to the beach now.

I've never seen a surf competition in person. What are the chances I'd get to see both on my trip?! Changing my plans, I catch the nearest taxi to Bondi Beach. It took well over an hour with the traffic in front of us, but by the time I got there, the surfers were gearing up to get into the water.

From the beach, the waves looked huge! There were five competitors lined up on the sand, each one was wearing a different coloured shirt. Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, and Purple. Beside each coloured shirt was a longboard sticking out from the sand. They looked like water warriors waiting to do battle in the waves.

The temperature on the beach was a bit cool with the high winds coming in from the water. Walking closer to the tents, shaking a little bit from the cold, I found a green t-shirt sticking out from one of the chairs. It looked abandoned, so I decided to borrow it for a little bit to keep warm. I left a note saying that I'd return it soon.

Stepping through the crowd, I managed to find a spot at the front of the crowd. It wasn't easy, but it didn't last long either. I realized I was dragged out beside the other surfers when I got to the front. At first, I thought they were doing group pictures with the surfers before the games, so I was posed and ready. But then, I heard a big horn go off from behind, scaring me so much that I ran towards the water, grabbing the nearest board I could find to keep me afloat.

Jumping into the water, it was cold. The waves were coming in so quickly that I didn't have much time to think I had to start paddling to balance the board and to put some distance between me and the noise from behind. Wave after wave, I was getting more and more wet. My barber will be so mad at me when I get back home.

I knew I needed to turn back around. I'm not a great swimmer and don't want to fall off the board. Paddling on the right side, the board slowly starts turning around. I didn't realize how far from the shore I got. The first thought that came to mind was that paddling back would take a very long time.

Suddenly the water around me started to rise and speed up. I was slipping off the board, and trying to keep a grip on it was getting more challenging. I started to flip, flap, toss, and turn with the board above and inside the wave that was forming. Did you know that fish like to surf too!? They were riding the wave with me before I flipped back around to the surface. Just in time for the water to toss and tumble me back onto solid ground.

Shaking the sand off of me, I look up to see the crowd cheering and the competition organizer pointing at me. The volunteers ran up and gave me a big trophy cup with a sign that read, "1st Place Surfing Champion."

Shocked, I stare at the cup, thinking, how am I going to take this back home?