Luna has ridden a bunch of waves in her life starting at age 10 months, but this was the first time she wanted to paddle outside with me.

We had been spending a lot of time on the inside, playing around, riding broken waves with her on my back.

One day the waves were pretty small and I saw that there were long enough gaps between sets that I could probably get her outside without having to pop over a big wave. I asked if she wanted to “go out to the amigas” and she said “ok!”

We timed it just right and made it outside with dry hair. She was a little nervous but also happy to be out there.

I saw a little wave coming, turned and paddled for it. I wasn’t sure we’d be able to catch it or what I’d do when we did catch it. Should I just stay laying down as we’d been practicing? But once we were in it, instinct kicked in and I slowly stood up. She was gripping tightly, and I reached around and got an arm on her just in case.

We rode it all the way in! I asked if she wanted to paddle out for another and she said yes. On the next paddle out, I didn’t time it quite as well and we did have to push through a little wave. She got splashed in the face and wasn’t too happy about it, but calmed down once we got outside. The swell was small but long period and building. After having to paddle quickly to avoid a couple of larger waves, I decided not to push our luck and we paddled in.

I’m looking forward to the next opportunity to get her out there again!