Try New Things

Since Transitioning from my job as a peer worker, I found myself reflecting on the advice I’ve spent the last two years passing on to others in my situation…

Try new things, meet new people, join new communities, get out of your comfort zone! These are all messages that are passed on time & time again. So, I figure now that I’m in a situation similar to those that I’ve been helping (sudden & unplanned loss of role & purpose, loss of income, loss of community, on disability support payments…) why not practice what I’ve been preaching? Better yet why not tie this in with some of my current goals of working towards inspiring other veterans to get active??

So, I made the decision to enter my first ever Stand Up Paddle Boarding competition…

I felt fairly confident that I would be okay in this sport as I’ve spent the last 12 months learning how to surf my inflatable paddle board & was feeling confident enough to do it in front of a group of strangers! As the day got closer, my anxiety started to jump… What if they are really serious? What if it’s not ok to use an inflatable? I hope the organisers aren’t getting annoyed with me asking to many questions… How’s this stuff scored? WHAT ARE THE RULES?!?

This lead to a quick google search and I quickly realised that I probably wouldn’t be able to paddle the way that I had taught myself on my inflatable board (I haven’t yet masted paddling out through the surf while standing…) I decided I may need a more stable "hard board". I reached out within my local surf community & quickly had a board sorted. I decided to give it a test run an hour before departing for the event and it was an absolute disaster!

The wind was blowing in around 35 km an hour and the break was relentless. I managed to catch one wave and decided I didn’t want to paddle out to do that again so I threw the board on the car and we were off! My partner Cassie (who has been learning to SUP alongside me) had agreed to be my chauffeur & support person, however was adamant that she was not going to compete. (Totally understandable as the thought of performing a new skill in front of a group of strangers anxiety inducing for anyone!) Or so she thought…

We showed up that night to the pre-comp dinner to a group of smiling, friendly, welcoming humans. They immediately made us feel welcome & comfortable before promptly talking Cassie into competing also & offering her a board to ride. They also put aside all my fears around the rules informing me that no-one cared if I paddled out on my knees & not to take it to seriously. We spent the rest of the night listening to stories from old school surfers & sharing some amazing pizza & some local beers from one of the event sponsors, Bicheno Food & Brew before we headed back to the swag to get some rest for the big day.

We rocked up to the beach the next morning to what looked like the perfect start to the day, the ocean was glass besides the nice little sets that were rolling in. Cassie found out she was in the first heat, so with no time to practice on her loaner board, she jumped in the deep end… and shredded! She walked away with 2nd in her heat, 3rd overall & a massive smile on her dial!!

She also stole all the good waves and I struggled to even stand up on my borrowed board as the wind once again showed up. About 10 minutes into my heat I made the decision to go back to my trusted inflatable board and managed to get two small waves before the red flag. Shortly after the decision was made by the organisers to postpone until the next day due to the quickly worsening conditions. They promptly invited us to a barbecue at their place and we raced home for a shower before jumping on our skateboards so I could finally get a good ride in before spending the afternoon enjoying the company of new friends.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the great range of shops that Bicheno has on offer before rejoining the group for another meal. At some stage in the evening the call was made for a 6:30 kick off for the next day so we raced home once again to get some rest before the early start!

Day 2 brought better conditions & the rest of the comp went off with out a hitch. I managed to get a few small waves & was starting to relax a bit… Luckily, I had one more division which I had been looking forward to all weekend! As we kicked off the ‘Longboard’ heat the wind seemed to drop as the ocean seemed to pick up just slightly, I found myself finally managing to drop into the ‘pocket’ and get some great feeling rides to finish off the competition. I took 2nd in the division but didn’t even find out until we were on the way home. Turns out the placing didn’t matter at all, the experience of sharing the ocean with great humans was more than enough to make this a worthwhile trip! I could have come dead last and would have felt just as good about the whole experience…

After the comp finished, the surf picked up once again and we spent the next few hours catching the best waves of the weekend with our new mates, celebrating each other’s rides and sharing in laughs. That arvo we hit up The Farm Shed (another great event sponsor! Seriously felt like the whole town got behind this event!!) to share some great wine, whiskey & gin with some fellow surfers.

As we pondered the trip home after all of this, we decided to stay one more night so we could get a morning surf in and I could catch up with a old client, this totally turned out to be the right call as the surf was the best of the whole weekend & reconnecting with my client couldn’t have come at a better time (he called this morning to let me know he was headed out for a surf!) This turned out to be the perfect finish to a great weekend… So, to steal the slogan from my local surf crew… Thanks Ocean!