'It feels like riding on a tiger!' So said my five year old, when he stood up and caught his first wave many years ago. It was one of his most natural outbursts. Pure elation. At that stage, I had never surfed, and his descriptions seemed so vivid and pure: ‘It feels like being in a tree, and getting blown all around.’ ‘It feels like the (window) blind, when you let go and it flies up, really fast.’ ‘It feels like riding on a bird.’ ‘It feels like you’re running away from a car going really fast.’ Now we are a surfing family, with some of our best times together spent waiting for and chasing waves. 'Mum, you dropped in on me!' my daughter admonishes me some days. As if she hasn't caught a thousand more waves than me in her life. My son takes wave after wave, as I paddle onto another face, only to be brushed off by a 12 year old. I am a late starter, a post-forty mum in a steamer. A few Christmases ago, the kids and bloke got me a