What can happen when you wipe out?

August 09, 2019

It was a beautiful late summer afternoon. Sitting in the warm sand, soaking in the summer sun on the beach in Montauk, I was mesmerized by not only the ocean, but the surfers who were so elegantly dancing on the waves. It was in that moment that I decided I just had to learn how to surf. I figured if there were surfers in Montauk, there had to be surfers and waves to surf in New York City too? I mean, it was the same Atlantic Ocean and waves were waves, right???

Thankfully, trusty Google said that in fact I could learn how to surf in New York City; all I had to do was to hop on the A train out to Far Rockaway from my apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. Saweeeet! Well, since summer was ending, I figured it was best to start taking lessons that following summer so I’d have the whole “summer beach season” to take lessons to learn.

Ha! Little did I know, the best waves to surf on the East Coast come during the Fall and Winter. But, I kept my promise to myself, even making it my New Year’s Resolution to learn how to surf the summer of the following year.

So on a gray, rainy day that following June, I hopped on the A train to take my first surf lesson with a quintessential New Yorker named Frank. The conditions were horrible, and thankfully I didn’t know any better. After practicing a couple of popups on the beach with Frank, I was out in the water surfing...or better put, failing and flopping, but with the biggest grin on my face! It was love at first wipeout.

That was eight years ago, and I haven’t been back to Far Rockaway since that summer I traded my heels in NYC for a surfboard and camera in Costa Rica seven years ago...until this weekend. That’s right, I’m headed back to where my love at first wipeout all began to check out an awesome event, the NY Women's Surf Film Festival! So if you're on Instagram, come follow along as Gidget and I do the Big Apple this weekend!

And always, always remember...
Some beautiful paths in life can't be discovered without taking a leap of faith....and wiping out a whole lot!!!