Riding the waves with surfers

So this summer I bought a 3-man raft to go floating down the Kings River. Perhaps three small kids could float around in this raft in their backyard pool; but realistically the raft comfortably fits one person - me! I took my raft camping this past weekend, and on Saturday afternoon after our group was done playing volleyball at the beach, I pumped up my raft - ready to experiment with it in the Pacific Ocean. I awkwardly got in the raft, oars attached (in clothes, of course - no swimsuit!), and my brother Mark towed me out into the ocean quite away from shore. I paddled out even farther with the oars, and despite the water that poured into my raft with each large wave (I managed to avoid many of the smaller waves by positioning my raft with my feet approaching the oncoming wave first), I rode the waves into shore! What exhileration! At one point I was afraid that I was barging into the territory of two surfers, but instead, I got thumbs-ups as the peak of the waves picked me and my raft up and carried me ashore. Twice my brother and I had to empty the water from my raft in order not to sink (or freeze - boy was it COLD!). It was the highlight of my camping trip and I cannot WAIT to take on the next waves I find myself in.