BOOGIE BOARDING
From the title, you can probably tell that this update is about boogie boards and what we do with them. If you don’t know what a boogie board is, I’ll explain – a boogie board is about three feet long and made of foam. It has a blunt nose and a slightly concave back end. The bottom and top are smooth and flat, and it is about two inches thick.
You can do a lot with boogie boards: lie on them and surf down a wave, drag them behind the dinghy and try to keep your balance on your knees, or just use them for flotation. We’ve done all of that, and it’s really fun! At first, when we dragged the boards behind the dinghy, we just laid on our stomachs, but then I figured out how to get onto my knees without falling off. When Dad turns the dinghy, I always steer to the outside of the turn, which makes the boogie board speed up a lot. Sometimes, I go so fast that the board starts to catch up to the dinghy! Once, in Huahine, I was boogie boarding and an outrigger canoe came up beside Ruby Slippers. Dad made a sharp turn near the boat, and they thought I was going to hit them, but I let go of the rope just in time and skidded to a stop five feet from the canoe!
When we were with our friends on Soul’s Calling, they started to teach us how to use their wakeboard, but we weren’t able to try it for very long, so I wasn’t able to stand up on it. It’s a lot harder than boogie boarding behind the dinghy, because it’s harder to get up and keep your balance. I like the boogie boards better, even though I can only get to my knees.
Boogie boarding down waves is a bit different from surfing down them, because you stay on your stomach and, for me, because the board is easier to control. When I catch a wave, I usually turn and go sideways so that I don’t get into really shallow water. Once, when we were surfing on our boogie boards, we actually saw a local standing on his board as he was zooming across a wave. I can hardly imagine how he got up, much less stayed there!
We have a lot of fun boogie boarding, but only if we have the right conditions. Wish us luck finding a nice calm anchorage or good surfing beach!