Hey, I thought Iโd post here about my recent trip to Sri Lanka. First off, I loved it. I met some great people and scored some great waves.
Normally, I spend most of my time surfing in wave pools in Bristol, in the UK, so what I found really hard was actually the line-up in the ocean โ and most of that difficulty was just in my head. My mind was getting in the way.
To explain this better: I was surfing the best point break in Sri Lanka, and because of that, the line-up was rammed โ maybe 50 people in the water, all sorts of abilities, people dropping in all over the place โ but very long rides.
For the first session, I kind of just sat on the shoulder a bit and watched. I could see who was getting the most waves and where the take-off point was. It was a fairly small area, but I just didnโt have the confidence to sit there. I was so bothered about the people around me, and whether I was even good enough to be in that spot.
Anyway, even after knowing all this and having a good talk with myself in my room the next day, I still couldnโt find the confidence to sit in the right place in the line-up โ even though I knew what I should be doing. At that point, I was catching about one wave per hour!
It was only when I found the โSurf Psychologyโ course on the OMBE app that I was able to reframe what was going on in my mind. The next day, I sat in the take-off zone and caught a load of waves. I just had to get my mind out of the way.
Below is a clip of my surfing in Sri Lanka. Itโs not my best surfing, and thereโs plenty wrong with my technique on this wave โ but thatโs not really the point of this post. Itโs more about understanding that sometimes, itโs whatโs going on in your mind that matters more than how your body moves