I reckon the first session went for about three hours but we must have spent only about half an hour in the water. Putting on the wetsuits was the first job. Some kids had brought their own. If you didn’t have a wetsuit, you automatically got a steamer (a wetsuit with long arms and legs). A couple of kids had brought their own springers (short arms and legs), but as I’d just grown out of mine, I went with the flow and used what I was given.

We spent a lot of time on the sand going through the moves. I was dying to get out there. It was just a basic beach break but the waves looked pretty decent.

Finally we picked up our boards: yellow foam boards with thrusters.

‘Hey, Mitchell, will you stick with me for a while?’

It was Bubba, wanting me to stay in the shallows.

‘Yeah, for a bit, Bubba, but then I’m heading out. Okay?’

He looked nervous.

‘Hey, Bubba,’ I explained, ‘you don’t have to worry about the standing-up stuff. Just lie on your board and paddle with your arms.’

He gave this a try and seemed happy. I couldn’t see Jack anywhere. Bryce hadn’t yet made it to the water. He had found some sort of shell and was talking to one of the teachers about it.

It was great to be in the water.

‘Hey, Mitchell Grady, you gonna keep playing with the toddlers or are you gonna catch some real waves?’ It was Travis Fisk.

‘I’ll follow you out,’ I said.

‘Yeah, if you can keep up.’

We both threw ourselves on our boards and paddled out. He was strong and big and stayed a couple of board lengths ahead of me. I let him have his little victory. He kept going out past the break. I looked around to see if the instructors were watching, but they didn’t seem to be. We were out the back and waiting for a wave.

There was a good set coming. We let a few roll through, and then, like twins, we were both paddling like crazy trying to stay with a big swell. I noticed Fisk get up to his feet. Suddenly he was veering towards me. I swung away to my right, but not before the front part of his board came across mine and tipped me over. He pulled back the other way and managed to keep control, while I splashed about in the water trying to get back on my board.

‘Watch yourself, or I’ll ram you, not your board,’ he said as he paddled back out through the break.

‘Control your board, Travis,’ I said.

He just smirked and turned his board around so it was facing the shore.

‘Longest ride?’ I challenged him. He looked at me like I was a small dog.

‘Can you stand?’ he asked.

‘Travis Fisk, I can walk,’ I said.

‘Yeah, right.’

Another set was approaching. I started paddling early, wanting to set my own pace. I put Travis out of my mind and focused on the wave. I felt the force of it coming fast and picked up my speed. As I felt it come through, I jumped to my feet, pushing my right foot back for better balance. For a moment, I was up near the curl and I had plenty of speed. I looked over to where Travis should have been but I couldn’t see him. I got down to the bottom of the wave and turned to the left. Still no sign of him. Cutting back, I settled on the white water, letting it take me all the way in. It was an excellent ride to get in so early.

I paddled back out. Travis was still lying on his board, beyond the break.

‘I didn’t see you walking, Grady.’

‘I didn’t see you surfing, Fisk.’