My brother Bryan and I had so much fun on the "FlowRider" at Maverick's in Sunriver. This is a surfing simulator. While I can't say we are ready to catch a tube in the ocean, it was a unique experience and I definitely recommend it!
Here is the FlowRider at rest and when they first turn on the water. The entire surface and all the walls are padded. At the top is a rubber grate to drain the water but keep your mangled body afloat. You'll see what I mean.
The bottom 2 photos show the lifeguard demonstrating how to surf the fake wave. Looks pretty easy!
This is the first picture I took of Bryan:
Here is the FlowRider at rest and when they first turn on the water. The entire surface and all the walls are padded. At the top is a rubber grate to drain the water but keep your mangled body afloat. You'll see what I mean.
The bottom 2 photos show the lifeguard demonstrating how to surf the fake wave. Looks pretty easy!
This is the first picture I took of Bryan:
You can see his head at the top of the wave...he wasn't on the board long enough for me to even capture.
Bryan demonstrates the whole process:
1. Get set up
2. Push off
3. Momentary thrill
4. Wipeout
5. Regain your spatial bearings and hope (in my case) your swimsuit is still on
There were about 10 other people participating, so we had to take turns throughout the 90-minute session. I tried the wakeboard first: you start at the top and kind of leap face-first onto the board on your belly. Somehow I messed it up and instantly lost the board, leaving me face down with water forcing my swim top off my chest. So after one attempt I chose to focus on trying to master the surfboard.
Here are a few more pictures of Bryan wiping out before we get to some video action!
The pictures of him surfing look pretty good! Too bad he was usually down after only a few seconds.
Each of us on an early attempt:
We look so awkward!
Two of my better rides, including a gnarly wipeout:
I was the only girl out of about a dozen participants (except an 8-year old who mostly did the boogie board), and I am PROUD to say I held the record for the longest ride! Based on Bryan's counting, I almost mastered the bull ride, at 7 seconds. (I think one guy may have reached 8 seconds toward the end, but until then, I was their idol, ha ha.)
The whole thing was tons of fun, and much harder than it looks! I have no idea how similar that is to real surfing, but it must be very challenging. Also, I think I got whiplash because that night I could not lift my head off the pillow without using my hands for support, and my neck was quite sore for a few days afterward. Bryan and I agreed: it was totally worth it!
And now, just because WOW, here's that kid showing off:
In the second clip he's shirtless (you're welcome!) but it must have distracted him because he falls. One thing I didn't catch on video: he fell but the board kept "surfing" on its own on the wave. Bryan and I goaded him to walk through the water and jump on it, and he did it! It looked so cool, and we were awestruck nerds. :)
