![\"\"](\"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Solo-group-300x169.jpg\")
<\/p>\nby Natasha Feduik<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I have been to Witch’s Rock Surf Camp six times now, but my first time was different from all the others. I had joined a friend\u2019s surf trip. Every time since that first time, several friends or family members wanted to join in the fun.<\/span><\/p>\n I learned to surf in Tahiti, when my mother won an online sweepstakes for Quiksilver Surf Company. \u00a0The free trip to Tahiti included surfing with Raimana Van Bastolaer. \u00a0I had never surfed but quickly fell in love with it on my first ride. When I returned to New York, I immediately bought a surfboard and booked lessons that summer. Everything in New York is hard, fast, and unforgiving\u2026 including the waves! \u00a0I struggled during our very short surf season, and never quite grasped it. \u00a0Frustrated, I reached out to a friend who had surfed for a few years. She had a trip planned to Witch\u2019s Rock. \u00a0She had booked a spot in the intermediate group, and I was going to take beginner lessons, starting from scratch. \u00a0Since my friend left daily at dawn, and didn’t return until dinner, I thought I would be alone all the time, but I was wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n There was always something to do and someone to hang out with at WRSC. \u00a0We travelled in groups to different restaurants in town for Taco Tuesday and Reggae Thursday. \u00a0Some of the instructors even accompanied us to Salsa night at the Monkey Bar. \u00a0We all congregated daily to watch the sunset, play volleyball, and relax by the pool together. \u00a0It was like summer camp for grown ups! \u00a0I have kept in touch with almost everyone I have ever met at camp and have planned return trips with some of them. \u00a0A few have visited me at home in New York, even one of the instructors, Pako! \u00a0And when word got out that he was in town, so many people wanted to come and see him, and spend time with him, which led to more life-long friendships. All thanks to Witch\u2019s Rock Surf Camp!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Natasha Feduik I have been to Witch’s Rock Surf Camp six times now, but my first time was different from all the others. I had joined a friend\u2019s surf trip. Every time since that first time, several friends or family members wanted to join in the fun. I learned to surf in Tahiti, when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":32247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-stories","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/164.68.121.224\/wrsc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Timmy-and-me-300x300.jpg\")
Witch’s Rock provides such a communal environment, I was never alone! \u00a0I quickly made friends with everyone else in the beginner group, and they always invited me to sit and eat with them, have a drink, or just hang out share stories about our killer waves of the day, and our epic wipe outs. \u00a0In my downtime, I befriended the instructors and staff. \u00a0Sometimes, I would sit at the bar at Eat at Joe’s, watching the surf videos and bloopers, and chatting with the bartenders who were determined to teach me how to order in Spanish. \u00a0Other times, I would sit and watch the ocean with Maxi at the board cage, and my new friends, instructors Andre and J Luis, who had been so patient with me during each lesson. \u00a0They encouraged me to keep trying, and taught me about the ocean, the tides, the currents, and swells. <\/span><\/p>\n