My heart sunk as the owner of the kite center in Essaouira pulled up the wind chart which was colored blue and yellow the whole time I was planning on being there. The two worst colors you can see if you plan on kite surfing. No Wind.
With no backup plan and 3 days to fill before I was due to head to Spain I was talked into to doing surf lessons. There was a bit of disbelief amongst the guys at the center that I was Australian and had never surfed before. Part of the reason I had never learned was to avoid this exact situation, being placed in a group of 12 year old beginners and looking dumb as people on the beach looked on as I fell off of white wash that never peaked over a foot high.
However the embarrassment was short lived and after the first hour I was able to stand up on most of the waves and by the end of the second day had the technique to be able to ride both directions on the 4 foot waves coming in at the back which meant for the third day I could skip the lesson and head out on my own to practice. I should have taken this up a long time ago…
