How I discovered the B-Board… Surfing!

You probably already know it… This North American routine where you work from Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, well anchored in your daily life week after week for 4-5 years. We go to work in traffic, we see the same clients, we talk about the same business and our bosses always ask for more. We wait every weekend from Thursday morning, we pay our bills on Sunday and we start again the following Monday.

This feeling of missing something, of being wasting the best years of your life for the benefit of a company that takes you for a number. So, I left everything: My job, my ¨ex¨, my plex, my furniture, my friends, my family, everything… Ya know when we say :¨ Throw your life away¨!

I needed a real break so I booked a one-way ticket to Costa Rica to experience Pura Vida there for a few months. Like a wanderer, I traveled to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica to discover these incredible beaches where it is good to live and surf there.

Surfing is really harder than you think (expectation vs. reality) even when you tell yourself that ¨I'm going to be okay¨ without lessons because you've been snowboarding and/or skateboarding for years... It will not arrive !

Forget about joining the line up with the other surfers in your first session, you're funny! Mother nature will remind you to respect her with waves that she will literally ¨smash into your face¨ over and over. You will surf your first waves will be in the small ¨whitewash¨ on the edge of the beach, far from the local surfers who take the real big waves.

There were 2 very nice Brazilian surfers who took the time to explain some techniques to me as well as the etiquette that exists in surfing. As in golf and tennis for example, there are do's and don'ts on the wave. They especially introduced me to the Balance Board which I had seen in several youth hostels. They mastered their balance in such a disconcerting and relaxed way that I had a jealous smile just watching them walk around on the board.

My first attempt at B-Board resulted in a solid crash in front of a lot of people. On the other hand, the feeling I felt during this little moment when I thought I was in balance was similar to that of floating on water. I put my feet back on the board to finally get addicted to this unique and fun feeling.