Surfin' Bird

I have never surfed before, but I have wanted to try it for a long time. Taiwan is home to some of the best surf in the world and as a result, boasts some really excellent surfing communities all around the island. For those in Taipei, there is no better day trip for surfers than to Ilan on the western coast.

The timing was right before a typhoon which always guarantees large breaks. But for someone's first time on a board, this was perhaps not such a good thing. I went with three Taiwanese buddies of mine down to Ilan at 7am in the morning. We got to a little surf shop and rented our boards. I seem to be out of touch with surfer lingo and have no idea what nicknames surfers use to call their boards, but it was gnarly.


We got down to the beach and I got a five minute introduction on how to use my board, in Chinese, before I was sent off to tackle the waves. I decided that it was best to approach this day in stages. I have been boogey boarding before, so I thought I should spend my first set riding the waves in on my stomach. It was tough at first catching a break and timing it just right to allow me to ride the wave in all the way, but it wasn't long before I got the hang ten of it.


My next time out I decided that it would be a good idea to try and stand up. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. Each time I tried to hoist myself up on my surfboard, I immediately fell off into the ocean. But not to worry, I collected my board and tried, tried again. About my hundreth attempt I finally got up on the board, rode for about two seconds and fell off. I figured now I was ready to take it off the beach and into the ocean. Just kidding, I really did surf!


We took a short break and played a pick up game of volleyball with some other surfers before going back out into the ocean. It was at this time that some guy walked by missing an entire eyeball, and instead geisers of blood were gushing out of ocular socket. Turns out he was hit in the head by another surfer and that was about time I decided to retire from the great sport.

After leaving the beach, we went into town to get some good beach food before we dashed off back home. From your bird, bird, bird, bird is the word oh well a oh well a did you know about the word, surfin bird, Michael.