I found out about Ambrose Curry from an article in National Geographic's Adventure magazine. It described an eccentric surfer who would share his surfing knowledge and philosophy for $25 an hour. I was actually afraid of the prospect of swallowing lots of seawater in the heavy Kauai surf, but the author of the article shared my apprehensions and survived.
I found Ambrose's Natural Foods easily. It was across from the McDonald's in Kapa'a on the main highway. There was no indication that a surfer ran the place except 1) it was always closed, and 2) there are a couple of dozen surfboards out back and a shed filled with dozens more. Many were obviously the work of Ambrose, with his name and odd bits of resin on them. According to the article, if a bug fell into the resin before it was dry, Ambrose just considered that part of the process. I went next door to Marta's Boat, a women's and children's boutique run by his wife. She told me to return in an hour if I wanted to see Ambrose.
A couple of hours later I returned to Marta's and saw a man who I recognized from the magazine article - bald with pale blue eyes rimmed red from the surf. Ambrose Curry, tribal elder and surf guru. Ambrose grew up in San Francisco and moved to Kauai thirty years ago. His California roots revealed themselves in his metaphors. He said that catching a wave was like taking the bus. If you knew the schedule, you could go where you wanted; If you didn't, your life was all pain. I hoped that the pain was just metaphorical and didn't involve me getting whacked in the head by a surfboard.
The surf was up in Hanalei Bay, so he agreed to meet me and a friend up there. We found his old red Ford Ranger by the pier and soon saw him cruising up along the pier on one of his boards. He wore a black lycra top and loud yellow surf jams. He soon gave us similar lycra tops so we wouldn't get scraped on the boards. We followed him to the next beach over, Pine Trees. We hauled a couple of twelve-foot boards off the top of his truck to the water. I got a board called "Barge VII". The calm bay was punctuated by sets of waves. "That's a stomper," he said, indicating a long wave breaking near shore. "Is that because it's crashing everywhere at once?" I asked. "And because it's six feet high," he replied. I squinted. Not having my glasses on was a mixed blessing.
He started the lesson by telling us a bit about the ancient Hawaiians and their view of surfing. "It's a water activity, not a sport." Surfing puts one in touch with the earth, and elders knew how to travel on the waves.
Ambrose tossed two large pebbles in front of us and told us to pick them up with our feet. My friend and I gave each other puzzled looks before curling our right toes around the pebbles and lifting them. This, according to Ambrose, indicated that we should stand with our right feet forward and left feet back on the board. Visions of "Karate Kid" moments flashed in my mind - "wax on, wax off, wax on, wax off".
The next part of the lesson was learning how to stand on the board on dry land. This was just foot placement and practicing going from lying on one's stomach to quickly standing securely on the board. We were soon in the water, where we did the same with less stability and less success. Ambrose put on a pair of fins and swam out with us to keep us balanced on the boards and to give us an occasional assisting push.
After we were able to stand on the board for a few seconds, he had us trying to catch waves. He gave my board a shove and told me to paddle hard. Within seconds, I heard a whooshing sound and I was moving fast. I got up from the board as it beached itself on the breaking foam in a euphoric daze. I paddled back out to Ambrose and we did it again. I stood up on the speeding board amazed at how easy it was, then was knocked down from behind by the crashing wave. I did this many times before deciding that this was best left to another lesson. Ambrose told me that I wasn't used to keeping my balance after getting hit from behind.
The lesson lasted for two hours. Our arms were a bit tired, but we were exhilerated and ready to rent boards for the afternoon. I'm glad we found Ambrose, who showed me the difference between a teacher and a guru.
Marta's Boat, 770 Kuhio Hwy, Kapaa, (808)822-3926