Surfing royalty

Just got back from a two hour surfing lesson with a truly excellent teacher, Rusty Miller. I'm staying up here in Byron Bay with my kids, sister and mother-in-law (I know - just get me my knighthood now...) and got a referral to Rusty from one of the locals. Apparently Rusty is a longboard expert from California who lobbed up here many moons ago and never left. Among many strings to his bow he is meant to have taught Elle McPherson to surf. Shared lessons anyone?

I arranged to meet Rusty at The Pass (on the way to the Cape Byron Lighthouse) at 7.30am - and he arrived dead on time in a battered Subaru with two enormous longboards on the roof. He got me to head down with a board and do some warming up on the beach while he got his wetshirt on.

For those of you who haven't been to the Pass - this is what it looks like:



Rusty got me to do the intro type stuff on the beach and then we headed out with his 10' Surftech longboard and proceeded to catch some little waves from right near the rocks at the tip of The Pass. We weren't using a leg rope at this stage, and whilst it was a bit exhausting retrieving the board, I can see why Rusty was doing it.

All in all, a great lesson from a Pro, and my first chance to surf the waters of another beach other than Manly. I'm really starting to gear up for my own board now!