“Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Lewis the Lion knew that his friend, Helen was rather nervous and afraid of driving in America. It would be the first time that she had ever driven a car on the right hand side of the road and the first time that she’d ever driven an automatic car. It seemed funny to think of grown-ups being nervous: surely they just did these things naturally, so Lewis the Lion thought? However, Helen told Lewis the Lion that that wasn’t always true and that grown ups, like children, could get nervous too, especially if they’d never done something before. She then told him that sometimes you just have to be brave though and try something out, however nervous you might feel inside.
The hire car arrives safely in Napa Valley
It was just as well that Helen had this positive, can-do attitude as otherwise Lewis the Lion would never have got to visit some of the amazing places he did on his journey through California.
Helen faces her fears
Even though Helen is a teacher, she told Lewis that first of all she classed herself as a learner and in fact, you never stopped learning things throughout your whole life, whoever you are. This was one of the great things that made life so exciting!
With this thought in mind, Lewis the Lion watched on as Helen did something that she always dreamed of doing: learning how to surf on a Californian Beach!
Lewis the Lion spots the Surf School!
She blamed the 60s Californian pop group, the Beach Boys, for putting stupid notions in her head as a teenager!
‘Surfin’ USA!’
What made this extra special for Lewis the Lion though was that as he watched on the other surfers catching waves, he could see dolphins playing in the water behind them. What a magical moment to see dolphins swimming freely in the wild like this!
Behind the break, dolphins play in the waves
After Helen and her friend, Larissa, were kitted out with wetsuits, their surfing instructor and local celebrity, Marty, was very clear with his explanations, firstly teaching them about the parts of the board:
The front was called the nose and the back was called the tail.
Larissa in her wetsuit with her surfboard
He then got Helen and Larissa to practise over and over the 4 step process for standing up on your board to surf, whilst they were still on the sandy beach!
The surfing instructor teaches the basics on the beach
He told them that would make it much easier when they were in the water.
Lewis the Lion gets ready to watch Helen’s surfing lesson
The steps were the following:
1. Hands in close to your chest on your board.
2. Toes pointed down, push your arms up on the board, keeping your bottom down.
3. Swing one leg forward to step on the centre line of the board.
4. Stand up and pivot into the surfer position, whilst trying to look up towards the shore.
Lewis the Lion thought that some of the surfers on the beach made this look easy but he was sure that was not the case.
A surfer gets into the upright position
As absolute beginners, the friends were given longer, soft boards which had back fins and a leash (a type of cord) that velcroed around your ankle. This allowed you to keep your board close to you, even when you came off it or the waves tried to carry it away.
Helen found that it was hard work pushing the surfboard against the oncoming waves and a couple of times got dragged under with the current and that was before she’d even got onto her board!
The girls took it in turns to get up onto their boards whilst Marty then pushed them against the waves, getting them prepared to catch a good wave. They had to push their arms up straight against the board to ride up over the waves. When Marty then saw a good wave, he turned the surfboard around so that the nose pointed towards the shore and then pushed it away from him, shouting the instruction, “Go!”
Marty trusted implicitly in the girls’ ability to get up onto their surfboards and this confidence must have rubbed off on them as both girls managed to stand up even on the first attempt…even if it wasn’t for very long and they came crashing down into the water below. However, they kept on practising, taking it in turns and trying to catch as many waves as possible within the hour and a half’s lesson.
Helen felt like she was using every single muscle in her body as even jumping up onto the surfboard whilst treading water was a challenge in itself. Even though she didn’t manage to stand up for very long on her surfboard, Marty never gave up hope that the next wave would be ‘the one!’ Eventually, on her very last attempt of the day, Helen managed to ride the wave for a good few seconds before tumbling off her board. What an achievement and she felt really proud of herself for having got up on her board and surfed in her very first surfing lesson!
Helen stands by her surfboard at the end of the lesson
She was sure that Marty’s belief in her had spurred her onto success. What a great teacher he was!
Lewis the Lion and Marty, the surfing instructor
Lewis the Lion wants you to imagine that you have to teach someone a new skill.
How would you inspire confidence in them that they could do it?
What qualities do you think a good teacher should have?
What qualities do you think a good learner should have?
