More surfing with dolphins...

A spectacular Sydney winter's morning this morning for my fourth surfing lesson. Not only were the ocean spirits out, but the dolphins were there again too. I was just wading back with my board after catching a wave, when I saw the silhouette of a dolphin gliding through the green of the breaking wave in front of me. There are few better ways to start a Saturday morning than to look up and see a wild dolphin. This time there at least eight or nine and they stayed to play - porpoising up and down amongst the surfers and surf ski riders for at least ten minutes. No photos, tragically, but it's something that will stay forever in my mind.

On the surfing front, I'm still on the broken waves, but I'm far more confident at catching them now. By the end of today's session, I still wasn't catching every wave, but I found myself expecting to catch each one. I had one go at catching an un-broken ("green") wave and never got close to standing up, but I think it won't be long now.

One of the funny things about surfing is that staying upright on the board is actually the easy part. This is because of a principle known as "steering for balance", which is the reason why it's easier to stay upright on a bike or a skateboard when they're moving than when they're standing still.

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