Point Break Surfing in Crete
This morning we met bright and early for today's Beginner II / Intermediate surf course. For most of them it was the first time surfing on a reef break. The biggest difference between a reef break and a beach break is that the ocean floor is hard and does not shift like sand, for example. This means the wave breaks always at the same point - making it a point break. There are also point breaks on beach breaks, given that the sandbank is very hard. On a point break you don't need to guess where peak, by putting reference points on land, you will always find it. During the theory part of the surf lesson surf coach Andy made sure to explain all this as well as the channel, how we circulate in the water, safety and how to behave in case of an emergency. For the dry runs on the beach we went through positioning on the surfboard, the pop up, turning and paddling. This included also advanced paddling, meaning looking at the wave, looking in the direction of the wave.
After that we went in to try to apply everything in the water. With and without Andy's help everyone got at least a couple of waves and had a ride. Sibel was able to perform the turn and had the longest ride of her life. Bastian tried a hard board for the first time today to see how it reacts differently in the water and he was able to catch a couple of waves. Laura on her first time paddling out did a great job and caught some good waves right in the beginning of the session. Fantastic surf morning on our "private" reef with everyone going in circles and catching one wave after the other.
