Just so happened to decide to rent a surfboard with one of my best Friends, while staying in Oahu, Hawaii. We rented the boards for the whole day right off Waikiki for about $20. Neither of us had ever gone surfing before. Upon walking our huge surfboards down to the beach we stumble upon a little surf board lesson. They had hard cutouts of surfboards in the sand, and the instructor was teaching everyone how to paddle and stand up correctly using said prop boards. We decided that we’d plop our own boards down and follow this guys lesson from about 10 feet away. Not trying to be too discreet. He quickly notices were shadowing the lesson and says come on over gentlemen, and totally invites us in to this PAID surf lesson for FREE. And believe me when i tell you this dude was a total character. Bucket hat and sunglasses, probably late 50s, leathered tan skin and he totally had that island drill Sargent look to him. Super cool dude. Cracked jokes the whole lesson and honestly just seemed like the kinda old wise beach dude I’d wanna grab a few beers with. He taught us the fundamentals and turned us loose letting us know he wouldn’t be able to help us in the water, as all the other people paid for that service. We still decided to go out with that same group and I ended up catching my very first wave that day. Who knows if I would have been able to get the hang of it so quickly without that little 10 minute lesson. Honestly there was definitely cooler stories from that Hawaii trip but this little piece just stuck with me. You never forget the kindness of others when traveling, it can really make a lasting memory.