Dec-2014
A Surf Journal: La Entubadera
After a surf movie night with the rest of the surfers, here at the surf house in Corralejo, I went to bed having the tubes in my head. With tubes I mean those beautiful curls of the sea where one can surf on the inside of the wave. Today we are going to explore the Flag Beach which is also known as surf spot La Entubadera… And having this nickname I am looking forward to seeing some amazing surfers riding the tubes.
Photo by Sebastian Manson
La Entubadera
They say that when you’re surfing a tube you find yourself in ‘the green room’, but the risk of getting inside the wave’s washing machine is high when you’ve not tried to ride tubes often. It must be a little piece of heaven to be in the green room, but let me kick myself back to reality as I am way not ready for this kind of surfing. Yet. Anyway, I can practice at this surf spot to improve my own surfing and watch the advanced surfers do their thing.
It’s 10:30am when we arrive at the beach. We came with a group of eight surfers in a van, with the long boards attached to the rooftop. Our surf instructor Marco is the one guiding us to the best spot on the beach to drop our things and do some exercises. He draws a line in the sand and tells us to go stand behind it and run on the count of three. And so we do. Marco gives us other exercises while running, like running in a circle around a couple who’s surprised when a bunch of wet suites are surrounding them and then continue the run. The warm-up is a whole lot of fun and the surfing hasn’t even yet begun.
I ask for a short theoretical explanation before I hit the sea, as it has been a while that I stood on a surfboard. When later I enter the ocean I notice that it’s a whole lot of rocks making me slip as I walk with my board into the water. I decide to go back for some water shoes to not hurt my feet and go back into the water. I have to say I’m not a big fan of the rocky part of this beach as I pay to much attention on the walking on the right rocks instead of minding the waves. That’s when I decide to tell our surf instructor and he tells us we can walk a few meters to the right for the sandy part of the beach. This was definitely a good choice! The sand makes is more easy to enter the water and I can focus on catching the right wave.
One board, but no soul broken
There’s a bunch of waves coming together and I don’t want to catch those since they’ll brake earlier, but after a while there’s a pretty green colored one showing up in the distance. I get ready by placing my body on the board, trying to be completely in the middle of the board to maintain my balance, and start peddling. The wave comes and pushes me towards the beach. I lift my head up, put my hands next to my chest and push myself up by leaning on my toes and my hands. Now here comes a problem. For some reason I’m automatically putting my left leg first which is totally wrong. I should put my right leg in position first, then take my hands of the board and put the left foot on the board. It takes me a while again to get it right, but you know winners never quit and quitters never win, so finally I get it again.
By now it’s two o’clock in the afternoon and we’re ready to drive back to the surf house to get some lunch. We place the surfboards on top of the van again and leave La Entubadera. When we get to the hostel the first thing I think about is getting a shower, but I soon realize that this is totally not a priority over here. I decide to lay a bit in the sun with a surf buddy and a cold beer. After a while we’re getting hungry and we decide to make a veggie meal for three. I go to the supermarket with my German friend Sebas and buy some healthy vegetables for lunch. We prepare a delicious meal in the surf house and eat it outside in the sun. Lovely.
Photo by Sebastian Manson
There’s a yoga session going on but I’m not concentrated enough to be doing yoga so I drop out after five minutes. When I get back to the lounge area a gin tonic is slipped into my hands and the chill party has started. Some of the boys are trying to balance on a piece of wood that’s placed on top of an actual tube and the pool table is also not left alone. The speakers from the surf house are playing relaxed songs from out of the window and everyone is having a good time.
I finally decide to go shower when it’s about diner time. By the time I get back into the surf house the others have bought some ingredients for Pizza and I am ready to make my hands dirty! We have fun in the kitchen for some hours with all the Pizza preparations together with some red wine and have one big table ready where we will eat the eight pizzas we make afterwards. Once almost all the pizzas have been eaten I leave to work a bit on my laptop, but once I’ve plugged the charger and place my head on the pillow I’m asleep.
Dreaming of catching some good waves tomorrow…
Photo by Sebastian Manson
About Renate Rigters
Ever since I left my home country I felt at home at any other place I went to. I enjoy getting to know more cultures by talking to strangers and hearing their philosophy about life. Speaking with gestures when you can not find a shared language, finding places only the locals go to and learn about their customs and values. Hanging out with local people makes me happy. The experience of every new place is a step out of your comfort zone where I like to wander around until it feels like a second home.
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[…] it’s great to be able to get some groceries. As I arrive I also get invited by the others to join for lunch and the ideas for diner later on are being said out loud to be joyfully discussed. Everything is […]