Surfin Sacramento

That's me!

It's not uncommon to go to Hawaii and try your hand at surfing. Waikiki is perfect for it because the long shallows allow for rather gentle rolling waves for the beginner surfer. This is where I took a surfing lesson myself about ten years ago. The instructor helped me out, helped me catch the first wave, and easily enough, I got up and surfed slowly into shore. I was thrilled.

The thrill wore off as I paddled out again. For those not used to it, it's murder on your neck and shoulders. You have to lift your upper torso up and paddle out. After only a few minutes my shoulders were screaming. I went one more run and then gave up. To try again in the future would mean doing shoulder exercises before I went.  Why can't they just have motorized boards to take you out and then catch the wave for the ride back?

Then surfing pools started showing up, particularly on cruise ships. You see those enticing commercials of folks enjoying their wonderful cruise and there they are surfing, on the top deck of a ship! This was the surfing for me. A safe environment with little water and no paddling involved.

Now we have that same opportunity here in nearby Elk Grove. SurfXtreme has the same indoor surfing facility like the cruise ships and I just had to go and give it a try. 

At SurfXtreme you can buy hour long sessions. After watching a brief video, you go in with a group of about ten. As you can see in the video, they can split the wave pool in two. There's only about three inches of water shooting over the surface. Underneath the water it is a stretched rubber sheet that is very bouncy like a trampoline. When you fall, you bounce. It's a little jarring, to be sure, but not too bad.

 

My friend and I went on Presidents Day. Two 48 year old women and the rest were kids under the age of 15. LOL!  You can either do boogie/knee boards or you can do flowboards and try to surf upright.  Our first two runs we did the boogie boards to get used to the wave pool. Then we moved up to flowboards.

The instructors are very helpful. They give you tips, position you, and hold the board for a while as you get the feel of it.  We got up every time....we just didn't stay up very long.



SurfXtreme is at 3443 Laguna Blvd in the Elk Grove sports complex. They also have trampoline rooms and paintball.

General Surfing Adult Admission

1 hr session (non-member): $19.95

1 hr session (member): $17.95

2nd hour (non-member): $12.95

2nd hour (member): $9.95

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