I absolutely love surfing.

I have never done a sport that is so amazing but also so frustrating. One day you nail it, the next day it nails you. Mother Nature has a way of just keeping it real and never letting you know who the boss is.

I have had a few close calls, and I am really careful compared to most others I go surfing with – big waves are scary and I don’t have the strength or stamina to fight through them. Also, I am a Longboarder, so high strong waves are no fun at all – you simply get washed away as your board is too big.

There are a few places I just don’t go to anymore, Tamri being one of them. I have been washed out to sea there and it took me an hour to get back in, then I got thrown onto the rocks another time – it’s just not fun.

Part of surfing is getting a few knocks and I have had loads, been wiped out more times than I care to remember, and been slammed into the sand on a beach break – but that’s normal.

Today was a bit of a funny one. I was surfing at Anza on my own on small lazy waves with not much power. I just wanted to get wet really and these lazy summer waves are nice to just pay about on.

I was just catching a few on the reef break and a surf school came out to join me. It wasn’t busy at all but these guys clearly knew nothing, so I just thought I would stay away from them. I took a really small wave, rode it into the break, and then all hell let loose.

I am still not sure what happened, but the wave caught my board and flipped it skywards. I looked up to see the 10-inch fin coming down. It hit me on the head, but I did not think that much about it – until the blood flowed!

Luckily, I was only in waist-high water so I got out and went to the car. When I looked in the mirror I saw the problem – a large flap of skin hanging down and pouring blood.

I always carry a first aid kit so managed to get a dressing on so I could pack up, get out of my wetsuit, strap the board to the roof, and head home. When I arrived, Karen was on the phone, but soon saw the problem. Luckily our neighbor was there and bundled me into his car and drove us to a good hospital in Agadir. By now I was feeling a bit queazy.

After a short wait, the doctor showed me to a treatment room for an examination and a laydown. One look and he went to get a specialist! 10 minutes later I had a plastic surgeon attending to me. He was really careful and soon had 14 stitches attaching the flap of skin into the right place.

So that was that – no surfing for 10 days and a neat new scar!

A freak accident but it could have been worse – still cant really work out what happened but that’s surfing!