``What's nice about out there on the ocean is you're out there
with nature, you're on your surfboard, you're looking back at the
beach. It's a great feeling.''
It's what brings Geoffrey Schmidt back to the ocean. A surfer for
11 years, Schmidt has crafted a living with the wind at his
back.
As director of Florida Surf Lessons based in Jupiter, he has been
teaching from Cocoa Beach to Miami Beach for six years. The first
time humbled this former snowboarder from Boston.
'I figured, `Hey, I'm a snowboarder so I can go out there and do
the same thing.' Heck, no! I could barely stay on the surfboard,''
says Schmidt, 29. ``The thing was slipping all underneath me. I'm
grabbing the thing. I couldn't even balance on the board. Because I
was young and had a lot of pride, it took me three or six months to
finally figure it out.''
Surfing, which has been around for hundreds of years, has gained
a wave of popularity thanks to movies like Blue Crush, video
games like Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer and nonsurfers making
fashion statements with board shorts and bikini tops.
If you'd like to give it a try, hiring an instructor will shorten
the learning curve, Schmidt says. Most of his students are spring
breakers and students out of school for the summer, but people of
all ages can do it, he says. ``We can have people standing and
riding within one lesson.''
After the first lesson, everything above your waist will be hurt
-- chest, back, abs, neck. It's definitely a workout. To get in
shape before you give it a try, sit-ups, push-ups and laps in the
pool are ideal.
Imagine lying on a board and paddling out to sea where the waves
are. Sounds relaxing, but you have to work at it. You might last two
hours if you're not in great shape.
''The more you do it, you gain more respect for the ocean,''
Schmidt says. ``When you do something wrong, you realize really
quickly who is in control out there. You might think you got things
figured out, but any time that ocean wants to knock you down, it
can.''
Take hurricane season, when powerful waves pound the beach. This
is not a time for beginners or inexperienced surfers, Schmidt
cautions. ``We don't like to bring students out into waves that are
over three feet.
''If you're gonna start charging bigger waves, you got to be a
good swimmer,'' he says. ``I've done 6-, 9-, 10-, 12-[foot waves],
and when you wipe out on a wave like that, it tends to hold you
under. You gotta have lung capacity and know how to swim and stay
calm in those situations.
``In Hurricane Jeanne, I saw in South Beach about 100-plus
surfers, and you had a cop bullhorning people in. The waves were
one- to three-foot. They weren't big, but there was a hurricane and
they think there's this crisis.''
Hurricanes aside, surfing is ``extremely relaxing; it's spiritual
. . . You're on your surfboard riding some waves. What could be
better than
that?''
