Belly button-height. His. That used to be the limit of our youngest Azek‘s courage in the water. I know swimming, or surviving in water, is one of life’s necessary basic skills so I have asked my siblings to teach him to be drown-proof in our pool, with little success. I have tried teaching him on my own with the same result.
Then he got his first taste of surfing when we brought the Tres Barakos to Baler, Aurora — their first visit there.
He was hesitant to try. He kept on insisting I be his instructor, in my mind I was scratching my head. I assured him the surf camp’s instructors are more qualified than me.
As fate would have it Paquito of Aliya Surf Camp (where we stayed) was assigned to him. We later found out Paquito has won quite a few surfing competitions. His fellow instructors kept on reminding us Azek has a surfing champion for a mentor.
After that trip he now braves waters a foot deeper than his height; pounded home by their enrollment at the Philippine Surfing Academy’s Grom Camp at Club Manila East (read what he says about the grom camp here).
That’s one of the positive effects surfing has brought to our family, and I am grateful. 🙂
Barako Surf! 