We all have to start somewhere. It’s the one experience every surfer shares — yet it’s the one that seems oh so easy to forget. We asked surfer/writer Lisette Drew to remind us of how it happens. In part three, Lisette finds a way to fully commit…
Part One: “The Most Ecstatic Feeling” | Part Two: “The Biggest Wave I’d Ever Surfed!”
In September 2023, my commitment to surfing intensified.
Trying to fast-track my surfing skills, I’d received the same simple advice over and over: surf every day. It motivated me to sign up for SurfAid’s Make a Wave challenge, which encourages surfers to hit the water every day each September to raise funds for communities in remote surf areas.
Up until this point, I’d been surfing at least three days a week for the past nine months. Now, every morning before heading to work, I began my day with a sunrise surf. My first September surf was picture perfect, with the sun rising over a calm beach and clean waves greeting me.
Let’s face it, if every day was like this, you’d be bored. Wouldn’t you? Photo: Andrew Shield
But this calm didn’t last long! By day four, I woke to the rumbling of thunder and a wild light show over the water, forcing me to wait until the afternoon to surf.
Every day held its surprises, and sometimes they weren’t exactly pleasant. One surf session turned into a full-body spin cycle, leaving me dizzy and feeling like I’d been tossed around in a washing machine. The waves were always changing and I learnt to let go of expectations and accept whatever the ocean threw at me.
Getting out there regardless of the conditions transformed my skills. I learned to really read the waves and checked the cams on Surfline every morning to find the best spot for a sunrise surf. Surfing beachbreaks like Narrowneck, north of Surfers Paradise, on a morning with only one other surfer out, changed the way I approached each surf. I began to set myself goals each session – focus on popping up, focus on turns, focus on surfing down the line. I let go of what other surfers might think of me and embraced just being at one with the ocean.
Learnings: Just do the thing.
Lisette took the best piece of advice anyone will hear about learning to surf: The more water time, the more often, the more you grow as a surfer. Things just seem to build. In just a month of constant surfing, she got a couple of boards, some new friends, and a set up for a surf trip.
Lisette post-Challenge. You can already see changes here — a loose-fingered hand is a sign of a relaxed upper body, a key sign of improving technique. Photo: Richard Gosling
There’s worse places to learn than early spring on the Gold Coast. Lissette with her SurfAid team mate Veronica Russell at Rainbow Bay. Photo: Tavis Hebler
I won’t lie though – surfing every day was a serious challenge. There were days with huge sweeps, powerful northerly winds and flat-as-a-pancake surf, but I pushed myself to paddle out. My mantra was the words of Dale Webster, a Californian who holds the record for surfing every day for 40 years straight. Dale simply said: All you need to do is get three waves. I clung to this, especially on tough days, and it reminded me that even when conditions weren’t ideal, each wave counted.
Surfing daily also revealed muscles I didn’t know existed and left me with bruises as big as my head, but the discipline of showing up every day taught me resilience. I thought about the people in remote surf communities I was raising money for, and how important it was to do this challenge not just for me, but for people who lived in places that I dreamed about visiting.
Surf is a force that commands respect, and surfing every day brought me face-to-face with its power. One morning, I struggled to paddle out past deceptively small breakers. I’d only made it halfway before realising the waves were stronger than they looked.
Something you learn quickly: clean surface conditions have nothing to do with the level of energy in the water. Currumbin on a solid day. Photo: Shield
Learnings: Look for ways to stay involved.
Motives can fall out of the sky. For Lisette, it took a charity challenge to get her surfing every day. That might work for you, or maybe something else will — but one thing’s for sure, surfing is not a passive activity. Keep an eye out for the things that help you do more of it. You know it’s fun every time!
Watching a highly skilled surfer in waves you’re not sure you can ride yet can be a learning in itself. World junior champ Dane Henry, doing it easy at Snapper. Photo: Shield
Another day, I watched in awe as seasoned surfers glided into perfect barrels while I hesitated out the back, intimidated by the size of the swell. My confidence was knocked a few times, as was my go-to board. By day 13, I discovered a big compression in the bottom of my 6’8”, likely from the pounding surf I’d braved the day before. But the ding was a good excuse to try out a few new boards and explore different styles.
I introduced myself to local boardmakers who usually have a few demo models available to try. Just in the month of September, I added a 5’9” fish from local boardmaker Electric Avenue to my quiver, and I even shaped my own board with Ethan Shaw at Ushape. To use the tools real shapers use and feel what real shapers feel bringing a new board into the world really connected me to my new board, making it not just equipment I use but an extension of myself. It also brought the total boards I’d acquired in the last year to five.
The 5’9″ fish’s proud owner with shaper James McRobert.
In surfing, as in life, the small moments of triumph can be just as meaningful as the big ones. On day 14, as I was coming in, two women were catching waves in the whitewash.
As I rode past, one of them said to me, “You’re really good.”
I know the other surfers out the back might’ve thought differently, but I was stoked to be mid-way through the challenge and have someone compliment my surfing. These little milestones became the fuel that kept me paddling out day after day.
One of the successes of this challenge was the sense of community it fostered. My SurfAid team gathered to surf together at least once every week to cheer each other on and share a couple of waves. On one magical day, a pod of dolphins swam right past us in Rainbow Bay, leaping and riding the waves by our side. Surfers who saw me out there every day soon became my friends over a shared passion for the waves.
Above and below: Lisette’s Surf Aid team…
…And their meeting place. Photo: Shield
The final day of the challenge was a celebration as I joined my SurfAid crew for one last sunrise surf at Currumbin Alley. We laughed, cheered each other on and took in the satisfaction of completing 30 days of waves, wipeouts and wins together. Through our collective efforts, our team alone contributed over $5,000, helping raise over $500,000. It was heartwarming to know that our daily commitment would positively impact the lives of people in remote surf communities.
After a couple of days rest, I had an itch to get back in the water. A sunrise surf became a ritual, and it felt strange if I didn’t get out there in the morning for a paddle.
Start doing this every day and it may become an obsession. Oh no!! Photo: Shield
Around then I received a message from model, surfer and social media guru, Andy Kovszun, asking me if I wanted to join an all-girls surf trip to Raja Ampat, Indonesia.
In less than a year of surfing, I had gone from being a novice to signing up for an international surf trip.
Next week: Way outside the comfort zone.
Lisette Drew 