I’LL BE SURFING FOR AS LONG AS MY BODY ALLOWS IT
Michelle Harris, 58, is a mum of two. She lives in Ware, Herts, and surfed away two-and-a-half stone All my working life I’ve been a sensible accountant, crunching numbers and bringing up my two children, James, now 25, and Vicky, 28. But in the last year I’ve undergone a complete transformation.
I’ve lost weight, bought a camper van, dyed my hair purple, had a tattoo and am selling my home so I can relocate to the South Coast to spend the rest of my days surfing.
It all started four years ago, on a family holiday in Bude, Cornwall, when I booked a surfing lesson for James, as a treat. He was on such a high afterwards. I thought ‘I need a piece of that’ but, as a bigger lady, I thought there was no way it would happen.
The following summer, on holiday in Newquay, I enviously watched a group of women learning to bodyboard and thought it looked so much better than just sitting reading a book, as I was.
I signed up for lessons with Rob Barber’s bodyboarding school (bodyboard-school.com). It was so much fun I went on his body-boarding holiday to Portugal the following year.
My daughter Vicky and I then enrolled on a Women + Waves weekend (womenandwavessociety. com) in Newquay to try various activities. I was still convinced surfing was out of the question and had to be coaxed into it. After 20 minutes practice on the sand we were in the water with boards. Getting up on to my knees on the board felt amazing.
There was just a sea of smiles – every single person was beaming and laughing regardless of ability.
I returned every spare weekend for more lessons. Riding a wave properly, for the first time, was exhilarating. Surfing is brilliant exercise and really works your core muscles.
I’ve lost two-and-a-half stone so far, thanks to my passion for surfing. You can swim out further and stay up for longer if there is less of you, so I’m walking more and eating healthily ready for my next course in May.