Breaking the wave - Part two: We follow Lovisa Ståhl as she journeys through surf

Focused, determined, goal oriented are words that are very nicely used to describe me. Stubborn is a word that could replace all of them. If I could marry Google and the whole internet, I would. Because of this beautiful invention I had been in contact with an surf agency in Italy already when I was in Sweden. I ended up at Loca surfcamp in Buggerru, Sardegna (Sardinia) in the month of July.

So a month after my first surf attempt, I went with my little Fiat Panda (1996) to the airport in Milan and flew to Cagliari, rented a newer Fiat Panda with modern things like AC and a radio and drove to Buggerru. Panda No.2 was not as charismatic as the old one, but it would work for a week.

Lorenzo isn’t just only one of Italy’s best surfers, he’s also a very good instructor

I was greeted by my instructor, Lorenzo Castagna, he showed me where I was going to stay and we met up the next morning for my first surf lesson. In the morning, we had coffee and talked, before going to the beach. Lorenzo was a little doubtful about the waves since they were really small. He asked if I wanted to go in the water and try anyway.

Normally, I always go for what the person that knows the most says, but this time I just wanted to go into the water. It turned out that the waves were perfect for me. First Lorenzo gave me some instructions on the beach, I practiced until he was satisfied with my performance, then we went into the water. He pushed my board in the beginning and I fell a lot, but I actually stood up as well.

I was happy as anyone could ever be. Lorenzo suggested me to start paddling, since he thought I was doing very well. He said I was going to feel more satisfied. I said that I couldn’t be more satisfied than I already was, but agreed to paddle anyway. Of course it felt good when I did that part too, but when you’re already filled with adrenaline it’s difficult to reach higher. When the lesson was done, I felt fulfilled. Lorenzo isn’t just only one of Italy’s best surfers, he’s also a very good instructor and I couldn’t wait until the next day. I wrote to my friends that evening, in the same way as I would have
been a fourteen year old girl that just met a cute boy. For me, I met the waves and was totally in love.

I used to live in Malaysia and there I had a date with the sunset almost every night. I decided to do the same in Sardinia. Brought a guitar down and played the sun to sleep, before I went to bed myself. This was a good day. A very good day.

I found out that 24 years of guitar playing wasn’t going to make me a weather expert

The rest of the week, the water was… flat… Since I was right (pure luck) the first day about that the waves being big enough, I tried to read the surf forecast and convince Lorenzo that it might be waves some other place. I found out that 24 years of guitar playing wasn’t going to make me a weather expert. I tried to persuade Lorenzo that he might have given me the wrong answer about the water, but in the end I had to surrender to the fact that his 20 years of surfing experience, studying water and wind had payed off. There was no waves, no matter how much I wanted it to be. The law of attraction doesn’t apply on weather…

Lorenzo was sweet and brought me around, he does a lot of other activities, so I still would have my moneys worth. After giving up with my stubborn attempt to convince Lorenzo to find the non existing waves, I could enjoy my time, although it wasn’t as I had planned. Needless to say, my surfing is still more around and under the board, than on.

I guess this is a lesson you have to learn about surfing as well. The waves aren’t always there. When they are, you have to be ready, but when they aren’t, you have to be able to enjoy your life some other way. I’m lucky, since I’m a musician, ’cause there’s not always waves I can surf, but there’s always music to make me fly…