Today was Rylie’s first surf lesson.  Forget her love of gymnastics, at 9 years old she has already demonstrated more coordination and athletic ability than either of her parents, so we had high hopes.  However, we were shocked.

We went with Opelu Surf School based on their proximity to our hotel (and that they didn’t load our 9 year old in a van to some other location) and that we were referred to them by someone we met earlier in the week.  At $75 an hour less than the g0ing rate for a private lesson, they were a good choice.

Rylie was never apprehensive.  She didn’t admit to being nervous.  There was no hesitation when she met the instructor, Josh.  She followed his instructions and got right in the water.  He was a great guy and we could immediately tell that he would take good care of her.  (Michelle was quite nervous and was still pretty certain that we had just sent our daughter to drown in the ocean with a stranger.  Spoiler alert: she’s still fine.)

Rylie learning the mechanics of the right way to stand up.

Once they got in the water it was pretty clear that Rylie was in love.  She stood up easily on her first two waves and had no problems paddling back out into the surf.  The look on her face and smile was amazing and made us feel incredibly proud.  I took a ton of pictures and a lot of video because this is something she will want to remember.  She is clearly in love with surfing and has already expressed an interest in wanting to surf each time we are on vacation.  In fact, she’s going again tomorrow, and Chloe is going to give it a shot too.  Maybe next time I will get in the water with them.

She looked so natural and so happy.