Lauren Tjaden

Let's go surfin' now, everybody's learnin' how! Hi, I'm Lauren Tjaden, the Adventure Expert with VISITFLORIDA.com, and this is my husband, Paul.

Paul Tjaden

Hi!

Lauren Tjaden

Today, we're at beautiful Cocoa Beach, which is widely known as the Surfing Capital of the East Coast. I'm told its gentle waves are perfect for learning on, and we both hope that that's true.

Paul Tjaden

[laughing] Yes!

Lauren Tjaden

Because today, we'll be taking our first-ever surf lesson and hopefully riding our first waves.

[cut to interview with “Paul,” a visitor from Virginia]

Paul [visitor]

Well, it felt great. You know, the waves here are so gentle and easy, it's a wonderful place to learn. That's why there's so many beginners here and I think it's wonderful.

Lauren Tjaden

Is Erika a good teacher?

Paul [visitor]

Erika's a great teacher. Where is Erika? She's hiding. Erika's a great teacher. She is very gentle and kind.

[cut to interview with Erika]

Lauren Tjaden

This is Erika Dippolito and she's with Florida Surf Lessons and she's going to be teaching Paul and I today. Is there any particular reason that this is known as the Surfing Capital of the East Coast? Why is this place so special?

Erika Dippolito

The waves here are mainly two to three foot in the summer time, and that's great to learn on.

Alright, so you're going to lay down on the board. You want your toes about here. And you're going to paddle. And you're really going to dig in, like you really want to catch this wave on this one. Then you go like you're going to do a push-up, and you just hop right up here. And you put her back foot back here a bit. Not all the way back, because this is a longer board. And you want this one right about here, and you're just going to squat down. Feet a little bit further out than your shoulders.

[cut to Lauren Tjaden and Paul Tjaden practicing on the sand]

Lauren Tjaden

Hey surfer dude!

Paul Tjaden

This is probably about as good as I'm going to do all day.

Erika Dippolito

Good. Good.

Paul Tjaden

And then down there. Okay.

Erika Dippolito

Yup. And remember to try to keep your feet right in the center of the board. When you jump off your board or fall off your board, try to cover your head like this when you come up and feel for your board.

Paul Tjaden

I'm ready to get wet.

[interview with Sandy]

Sandy

There's a lot of surf etiquette, and surf etiquette is something everybody that goes surfing should learn. Like, don't cut other people off. If somebody's on the outside, at the peak of the wave, they have the wave. Probably one of the biggest problems out on the water are the swimmers. They're probably the most dangerous thing out there. It's the people in the water that we call “bobbers,” that just kind of bob up and down on the waves.

[interview with Kim, learning to surf]

Kim

It's really hard just to balance and push up on the board. Getting up is half the battle and then staying balanced and not going too far forward, because then you nosedive and flip the whole board in the air. So that's the trickiest part, just finding out where to stand on your board. But it's fun and it's cool and it's addicting. I never thought I would love it as much as I do.

Lauren Tjaden

It's . . . You get to use your body, and get a lot of exercise paddling and falling down and stuff. Actually, it was really, really, really fun. Everybody's nice. And I could see, if you got to be a little better at this, this would be really fun.

Paul Tjaden

Anybody, it doesn't matter how old – I'm 58 [fifty-eight] years old – should get out here and try this. This is great fun and great exercise.

Lauren Tjaden

There's a saying that surfers use a lot, and that is, “You should have been here yesterday.” But it sure doesn't fit in this case because today was perfect and tomorrow is looking good too. This is Lauren Tjaden with VISITFLORIDA.com and remember – you only live once; make it count!