My lovely spouse, age 44, and I, age 47 took the Typhoon Lagoon surfing lessons in March 2004. We enjoyed ourselves very much as a general comment, and here are some specifics:
1. It does begin early, so you can get the lesson and be out before the park opens to regular guests.
2. Drive in and park, then huddle around the entrance. The surfing crew will meet you there and escort you into Typhoon Lagoon.
3. The instructors are very professional and very good. They work out of Coco Beach (I think), and they know their stuff.
4. The water isn't cold, and even with mid-March early morning cool weather, neither of us got too cold. If you're worried about the chill, you might want to get a rash guard, which you can find at any surf shop, like the one at Universal's City Walk, or the RonJon in Orlando. The rash guard also does it's name, protects your upper body from rash from the board. Finally, you can get wicked cool rash guards, which you'll look totally radical in! You can also wear an underarmor top or the like.
5. They have soft boards of many lengths, so you will be matched to a board. You'll spend the first part of the lesson practicing your paddle and pop up.
6. You'll toss your board into the water and walk down the steps and jump in. At any time 2 surfers are in the water, with one instructor for each surfer. Life guards are on both sides of the channel.
7. You'll paddle to the board, get on it, then paddle to the instructors, who will tread water for the entire 2 hours (those guys are fit!). They will hold the board for you then . . .
8. You'll hear the big boom, as the water is dumped into the wave pool, the wave forms quickly and comes out fast. When the instructor tells you, you paddle for all you're worth, then try to pop up when they tell you to.
9. Surfing is elegant, and very difficult. If you get too far forward, back, or to either side (on the rail), you'll tumble in, probably not gently.
10. Surfing is incredibly hard work. You paddle, wait, paddle hard, pop up, fall off, paddle back, and try again. Someone told me, "you never see a fat surfer," and I understand the reason.
11. You'll fall off, but everybody is in the same boat, trying hard. Don't worry, any improvement is great, and applauded.
12. At the end you'll be tired, I mean really tired. Hungry too. But happy.
I'd always wanted to learn to surf, but I grew up in Colorado, so it obviously did not happen. Our lesson at Typhoon Lagoon was the first ever try for both of us, and although hard and humbling, we enjoyed it a lot. In May of last year we went to Hawaii, where we took another lesson, just beneath Diamond Head. The surfing in Hawaii was amazing, and the wave comes more slowly than at Typhoon Lagoon, giving you more time to get up on the board. Both of us were able to get up and ride in all the way to the shore, about 200 yards I'd guess. We fell a lot, but had a few successes. When you're getting pushed by the ocean the feeling is amazing.
If you'd like to get excited about the lesson, get ahold of "Riding Giants" on DVD. It's about the surf culture and surfers of really big waves in Hawaii, California, and Tahiti. Once you watch that you'll be ready to go.
Geez Lynne, are you here too? Runners and surfers we are! In the words of the poet, one Mr. Jimmy buffett, "growing older but not up."
Surf's up Dude!
The water wasn't cold, and we went in November. Better start getting in shape now as that "froggy hop" and constant paddling are one heck of a workout. My husband spent the time video taping and photographing us. Once it was over he said he wished he had done the surfing, too. ENJOY!!
