I picked up my first surfboard at 33. Six years later I surf every day I can. Here’s the honest version of how that happened.
I was not drawn to surfing. I want to say that upfront because I think a lot of people assume surfers always knew, always felt the pull of the ocean, always had some deep connection to the water from childhood. That was not me.
I picked up a surfboard for the first time at 33 or 34 on a group trip to Sayulita, Mexico. A bunch of people from Vail rented boards for the week. I joined in because everyone else was doing it. I paddled out, kind of felt something, kind of didn’t, and left the trip thinking cool, I tried surfing. That was about it.
Six years later I surf every day I possibly can. I go out twice a day when the conditions are right. I store my board at a shop near my favorite break and bike seven miles to get there. I have gotten lessons in Mexico, Portugal, Panama, Nicaragua, and Ecuador. I am still very much a beginner by any real measure and I love the sport more every single time I get in the water.
Here is how it actually happened, what it took to get there, and what I would tell anyone thinking about starting later in life.
The First Few Trips: Getting Nowhere Fast
After Sayulita I went to Peniche, Portugal on a trip with my boyfriend at the time. We stayed at the Peniche Surf Lodge, which is one of those places that makes learning incredibly easy. You show up, they hand you a board and a wetsuit that fits, they drive you to the beach, they set up a canopy with snacks and towels, and you can take lessons or just surf depending on your level. Everything included.
I took two days of lessons there. For the first time someone actually explained the pop-up to me properly, talked me through reading a green wave, and gave me real feedback. I was doing it with two Germans around my age and we were all making fools of ourselves together which helped enormously. It still did not click. I was standing up with help, I was having fun, but there was no moment of oh I get it yet. More information at Peniche Surf Lodge.
Then Panama. More lessons, slightly bigger waves, actually starting to paddle into things on my own a little. I also gave myself a black eye there, not even surfing, just tripping on the board getting out of the water. Really committing to the experience. In Panama we stayed at Beach Break Surf Camp at Playa Venao
The problem with learning this way is that the progress is not consistent. You get one lesson here and one lesson there, each time with a different instructor at a different break with different conditions. You pick things up but you can never build on them before you leave. I would have an okay session and then not surf again for months and have to start almost from scratch. That pattern held me back for years.
The Three Lessons That Actually Changed Everything
When I moved to Sayulita for my first full winter I signed up for three consecutive lessons with an instructor named Roberto. I still talk to him. He is still one of my closest friends there.
By that point I knew what a pop-up was. I had been in green waves before. I did not need to start from the beginning. Roberto got me out past the whitewash into small green waves immediately and started working on the details. Where to position your weight on the board depending on wave size. When to start paddling. How to read the wave forming under you and feel when it is about to pick you up.
And then it happened. The moment everyone talks about. I paddled, I felt the wave catch the board, I popped up, and I just knew. My whole body understood what surfing was in a way that no amount of instruction had been able to communicate before. It is genuinely hard to describe except to say it is addictive immediately and you understand in that second why people organize their entire lives around it. Wildmex in Sayulita was where I took those lessons and where I still store my board today. Their shop, their instructors, and the break at La Lancha are as good as anything I have found anywhere. More at Wildmex.
After the third lesson Roberto told me I just had to go do it myself. That is the scariest sentence in learning to surf.
The Lineup Is Not as Intimidating as You Think
Sitting in a lineup alone for the first time as an adult is genuinely nerve-wracking. You look around and everyone seems to know exactly what they are doing and you feel like you are the only person out there who has no idea. I felt that way for a long time.
Here is what I know now after six years: almost everyone in a beginner to intermediate lineup is faking it better than you think. I go out now and look around and see a million foamies and longboards and people taking off on the wrong part of the wave and wiping out on waves that barely had any power. That is normal. Everyone is still learning. The lineup that looked so intimidating when I was new is full of people at exactly the same stage I was at.
Sit on the outside shoulder if you are nervous. Watch what other people do. Try to catch the smaller inside waves to get your timing dialed. Give yourself permission to just be in the water without pressure to perform. The waves will come and eventually your body will start doing the right things without you having to think about it as hard.
One thing that actually accelerated my learning: surfing with people who are better than me. When I started going out with more experienced surfers they would paddle to bigger waves and I would follow them. Every time I thought I was not ready I would catch a wave I did not expect to catch and realize I was further along than I thought. Fear is a liar in surfing the same way it is a liar everywhere else.
Lessons Are Never a Waste of Money
I still take lessons when I surf somewhere new. Not because I need someone to teach me the basics but because every break is different and a local instructor can tell you things in thirty minutes that would take you days to figure out on your own. Where the rip is. What the tide does to the wave. Which section to be in depending on the swell direction.
In Nicaragua at Playa Gigante I paid $30 for a lesson and the instructor told me exactly where to sit in the lineup and what the tide looked like that day. After that he recognized me every time I paddled out and gave me nods and small tips as I went. That $30 was worth more than the cost.
In Ecuador at Olon I surfed and took spanish lesson with Outdoor Ecuador. Taking a lesson at a new break with someone who knows it is just smart. Leave the ego out of it. You will surf better faster.
What I Would Tell Someone Starting Later in Life
Do not get one lesson. Get three or four at minimum, back to back, at the same break with the same instructor if possible. That consistency is what builds real progress. One lesson will teach you a pop-up. Three lessons will start to teach you surfing.
Get in the water every single day you are in a surf town. Even if you are tired. Even if the waves are small. Even if you just paddle around for twenty minutes and come in. The water time is what makes you better and you can not replicate it any other way.
Do not let age talk you out of it. I see people in their 60s and 70s on beautiful longboards having the best time in the water. I surf with an Australian in Mexico who has been in the water his whole life and at his age he is still reading waves better than anyone else out there because he just knows the break so well. Age gives you patience and patience is actually an advantage in surfing.
Find the breaks that fit your level and stay there until you are ready for more. You do not have to surf overhead beach breaks to have a great session. Some of my best days have been waist-high waves at a quiet point break where I could just cruise and work on my technique. Pick the level that is fun, not the level that is scary, and slowly expand from there.
The wave changes every time. That is what makes surfing harder than skiing or snowboarding and also what makes it more interesting. The mountain stays the same but the ocean never does. You are always learning, always adapting, always slightly humbled by the next thing the water throws at you.
And the day an eight year old paddles past you and catches every wave while you are still figuring out your timing: let it humble you and then laugh about it. That eight year old has twenty years of water time ahead of them. You are just getting started.
Six Years In
I am an advanced beginner. I will own that completely. Six years of surfing and I am still in the fun board range, somewhere between a 6’8 and a 7-foot fish with volume, because that is what I like to surf and what fits the breaks I enjoy. I will probably never get down to a 5’10 shortboard and I have made peace with that.
My sweet spot is 2 to 4 foot waves. Give me 5 feet and I get cautious. That is who I am in the water and it is enough. It is more than enough actually, because the days when the conditions are right and I am surfing well and the lineup is not crowded are some of the best hours of my life. Every single time.
You just have to get to that first moment when the wave catches the board and you feel it. After that you will not need anyone to convince you. The ocean does that part on its own.