Sore shoulders and feet plus a couple of questions

[Hanwyz]

I nearly stood up today!! Sadly, on my last wave, I was very nearly up, then fell off. Injured my knee by landing on it when it was at a really odd angle. Unluckily I was right at the point where it was only a foot deep, so my entire weight went onto my knee and straight into the seabed. Oh well - hoping ice and rest will get me back out tomorrow! I'm so close to getting to my feet properly...

[dtc]

(and, also, learning another common lesson most of us have gone through: shallow water is not your friend!)

[Hanwyz]

Haha yup!

Problem is, the sea was basically flat so the waves were breaking close in. Hopefully in three weeks or so when I'm allowed back in the water, then I'll be able to be a bit further out!

Seems almost counterintuitive at first that shallow water is more dangerous than deep

[RinkyDink]

It was seriously crowded (I had to deliberately wipe out multiple times because I couldn't turn fast enough on my knees to get away from a group of kids or others that suddenly turned up in front of me)

This rarely goes away. It's part of surfing. You'll need to figure out how to deal with it if you continue surfing. We often start surfing visualizing clean, perfect wave faces with nobody on them. The reality is, if you surf you're going to have to learn how get out of the way of SUPs, children, other surfers, objects in the water, the randomness of waves . . . the list goes on and on. It can be stressful and frustrating, but the good rides you have make up for it. Some lineups, however, aren't worth the hassle.