The day does not have to be perfect in order to catch a perfect wave. The sun does not need to be beaming down onto the glassy water nor does the temperature outside need to be blistering.

The day begins when my alarm clocks blasts in your ear at six thirty in the morning. I wake up with sparkles in my eyes because I realize it’s finally time to go catch the perfect wave. I prepare a big breakfast for myself so I can maintain the stamina to stay in he water all day. Two eggs on a role with bacon and cheese shall suit my hunger for the first half of the day. After flipping through the surfing magazines at breakfast I begin to dream what I would be like to be part of the pro surfing tour. That has been my dream ever since I was seven years old. By seven o’clock I am ready to begin packing the car. First I call my friends Sean and Mike and tell them that I will pick them up in thirty minutes.
I have three different boards so the biggest decision of the day is to pick out which one I want to use. On most occasions I use my 5’8" NEV board. I got this board a year ago custom made from Australia. I gently take down the board from my surf rake in my room and walk down the stairs very cautiously making sure I make no dings in my board. Personally I care more about my surfboard then the walls of my house. Surfing is my life so in my mind it comes before everything, even my health.

A year ago when I had bronchitis I left with out my parent’s permission to go surfing with my friends. Although, I got grounded and even sicker the waves were amazing so I really could have cared less. Sometimes I don’t really make the best decisions, because for the next few days I could not even get out of bed that’s how sick I was.

After carefully bringing my board outside to my care I have to assemble my surfboard rack on top of my 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It takes around fifteen minutes to do it myself, but if I had one of my friends to help me we could have been done with that task in only five minutes. By the time my board had been put on top of the car it was already seven ten.

It was now off to my basement where I would put all my surfing necessities in the backpack such as, wax, wetsuit, rash guard, sweatshirt, bathing suit, leash, and some money. Sean walked up through the woods with all his surfing equipment. He is my next door neighbor so it is pretty convenient. Putting his board on the roof of the car was easy since the roof rack had already been put together. Everything was packed it was now time to hit the road and pick up my other friend. I said bye to my sisters and Sean and I were ready for our expedition to Ditch Plains Montuak’s surfing beach. Mike my other surfing buddy was all ready. He to was looking forward to this trip for several weeks now.

"Its finally here," he exclaimed to me.

After throwing all his gear into the trunk of the care we were now truly ready to make our journey to Ditch Plains Beach in Montuak. The car ride is the worst part of the whole day it seems as if you are in the car for hours. We get this feeling because all we are thinking about is jumping into the nice cold crystal clear water of the Atlantic Ocean and paddling out to the horizon. Mike had brought a huge case full of CD’s for the long two-hour car ride.

When we pulled up next to the food stand that my uncle owns we grabbed a big box of nachos and seven grilled cheese sandwiches. Somehow he makes the greatest grill cheese sandwiches in his little wagon. Unpacking the car is not much fun at all because we are so anxious to hit the surf. No one, not even adults like to unload a car when they could be sitting on the beach sun bathing.

Now it’s finally time to go surf the best waves on the East Coast. After we help each other pull on our wetsuits and wax up our boards entirely so we don’t have to come back to the shore we are ready to hit the water.

We start running from the top of the beach until we jump and slide across the glistening water. Paddling and paddling and paddling duck diving and paddling and duck diving take up the next 5 minutes before we even get to where the waves break. Duck diving is when u put you knee on the board and push down as hard as you can so u can get under the wave that is coming straight at you at 50 miles and hour. When I was younger and not strong enough to duck dive I would constantly get crushed and pushed to the ocean floor by the immense and powerful waves of Ditch Plains.

The greatest feeling is finally getting past the constant breaking of the waves and being able to rest for a few minutes. Once you’re where the break is you often sit on top of you board. This is not as easy as it seems. For many of my friends it took them a full day to be able to just sit on the board without tipping over and having their board fly into the air. If you’ve ever falling you feel like a complete idiot when all the other surfers look and laugh at you. I have a lot of friends that live in Montuak so it feels good not to be a complete stranger while a mile off shore. Often times I talk with them about the surf for a few minutes before I actually begin to catch the waves. My advice is to ask someone who has been surfing for a while that day which way the waves are breaking.

It is finally ready for show time. While waiting for the next set to come in I think about what tricks I want to do on the next wave. Setting up is key you don’t want to just we waiting in front of the wave. When I want to catch wave I paddle towards it on a slant not directly towards the shore. When I "drop in" on an angle it’s easier to turn up the face of the wave. The face is the part of the wave that has not broken into foam. Therefore, the wave is chasing you and you’re not struggling to stay on your feet with the water smashing your legs. Surfing is like an art you need to knew when and on what part of the wave to pull off tricks. One little mistake could result in a fall, and your chance at catching that "perfect wave" has diminished. At times when the surf is good the waves can tube you. This means while you riding the face the wave beings to break over you head and form a barrel around you. That to me is the best part of surfing, because around here that very rarely happens. Surfing the barrel is the most exciting thing I have ever experienced. On most waves all you can really do is carve and do spins off the lip of the wave. On really good days when a cold front has just come in the waves break about a mile off shore and your ride can last for a good minute if you don’t fall. Only true surfers realize how long that is. When I walk out on my balcony that overlooks the ocean and I see waves just crashing down a mile off shore I know my chances in catching that "perfect wave" are good. For me I am used to riding a wave for a couple of seconds before it dies out. My definition of the "perfect wave" is a 10-13 foot monster that is a mile off shore that barrels the rider and lasts until it is destroyed by the jetty.

Montuak is like the most crowded surfing beach on all of the East Coast. As a surfer I have to know where to go and when to do moves so I don’t get cut off, fall and hurt the other surfers. The last thing you want as a surfer is to hurt a beginner surfer who has had no experience in the past.

I cant stand having visitors trying to surf where you are because you don’t want to harm them if they cut you off and also they are out of control and they can easily hurt me. I have been surfing in Montuak for a few years now and I have been excepted as one of them. I am no longer and outcast at Ditch Plains. I have been accepted finally as one of the Montuak surfers. Now I don’t have to worry about fighting for waves and getting cursed at if I steal someone’s wave.

I know when I watch surfing tournaments on TV or in person I go crazy when I see people doing flips and carves off the lip of the wave. My real goal in life is to be able to do what the pro’s can do. Every since I got my house in Montuak surfing has become solace in life. I’d go surfing before I did anything else in life. I have even been looking into colleges that are near good surfing beaches because my childhood dream was to become of the pro surfing tour.

Surfing is one of the most difficult sports I have ever tried to do. I am just beginning to become a legitimate surfer.