Saturday morning I got up bright and early for an 8:30AM surf lesson at Waikiki. It was great – by the end I was catching waves that were 3-4 feet from the trough to the top (with coaching, but without getting a push) and riding them for hundreds of feet. That was super fun, and I’m definitely going to do it again. – as soon as I’m not sore anymore!
I took the lesson from Faith Surf School, which is a family-run operation. The couple that runs it have 5 kids 10-16 years old, and all of them are sponsored surfers. My lesson was from the mom, Tammy. I think it was a really great lesson, with a lot of focus on safety and on learning to do things the right way. Plus I really liked Tammy! I highly recommend them. 
The lesson consisted of about 15 minutes of on-land instruction, 15 minutes of getting boards and carrying them to the beach and 2 hours in the water. There were a lot of good waves, and 2 hours in the water was the limit of what my out-of-shape body could handle. Today (the morning after) I am super sore! All the muscles in my upper body are sore from paddling, and I have board rash on both knees and the tops of my toes. My ribs feel kind of bruised too – between them and my knees I couldn’t sleep on my stomach last night. But it was worth it.
