Recently, OnTheQT spent a few days in Tenerife. Sometimes when you are on holidays, you stumble upon unique things or unusual activities and that is certainly what happened to us. Walking down the street, we spotted a few guys with body boards and fins(aka flippers) so of course being us, we had to follow and see what they were up to. Body boarding at home is somewhat seen as an activity you do on the one day a year you swim in the sea in Ireland! The weather shines and down we go to the beach with a body board and ride in the small waves into the sand on the beach. Childhood memories. Over in Tenerife, this was far from the childhood memory we had as children. We witnessed body boarding on a local beach with the local people and this is something we will never forget. This was far from the seaside activity we had grown up with, this was an extreme sport at its best. Sometimes going to a new place, opens your eyes up to new adventures, activities and gives you a new perspective on things. Sometimes you just have to see it to believe it, so being OnTheQT we took a little video to show you the EXTREME SPORT OF BODY BOARDING…Tenerife style!
Of course, we had a chat to the guys who were on the water and we even got to give it a little try(it is harder than it looks) but we got some tips from the pros themselves for you. Check them out below:
- Try pick up a pair of fins(Like flippers) as they will help you to catch the waves and move faster through the water
- While paddling out try keep your fins under the water…otherwise you will stay in the same place and that’s no fun!
- When you can see the wave coming, kick hard(but make sure your feet are under the water).
- To help you ride the wave, push down on the nose of the board with one hand while keeping paddling with the other.
Now some tips for people who want to have a little bit more of a challenge:
- If you want to turn right, move your body to the right side of the board. Also put you right elbow on the right edge of the board. To go right then kick out right away. The body boarders explained to us that your right elbow keeps you on the wave and your left hand gives you your direction and allows you to turn.
- To go left is the exact same but with the opposite side. So, move your body to the left side of the board and put your left elbow on the left edge of the board.
Thank you to the lovely body boarders in Tenerife for all your tips for our QT adventurers, we hope this has helped if you are thinking of trying something a little different. A childhood memory made into an extreme sport…we love it! We certainly enjoyed trying it but we also learned that it takes time to get good at it, similar to surfing. In order to progress, it takes time, practice and you should only do this with professionals and people who know all about it as it really is an extreme sport but one to remember.
