WE LOVE TO SURF, WE LIVE TO TEACH IT
Experienced Surfers + Skillful Teachers
"[Surfing is] like the mafia, once you're in - you're in. There's no getting out." – Kelly Slater
Together our instructors have over 50 years of combined surfing experience and more than 30 years of combined surf instruction. Our surf instructors excel at providing students with the theory and then helping students put that theory into action, but they don’t stop there. Each of our instructors is knowledgeable about the area, has a passion for surfing, and most importantly a sincere desire for helping others start their own path to becoming a surfer.
Luis
Gabrielle
Travis
A Typical Surfing Lesson
Our surf lessons are structured to teach you more than just how to stand up on a surfboard. We cover the basics of surfing, including safety and surfboard management, catching waves and standing up, but we like to go beyond the typical surf lesson spiel and share our knowledge and experience with our students.
Our surfing clinics and group surf lessons are for beginners and broken down into two beach portions and two water sessions.
The surf lesson begins with a beach portion where your instructor talks a bit about the national park, explains basic ocean and surfing safety, explains what makes the beach at the Marino Ballena National Park a good place to learn, and goes over the parts of a surfboard.
Next, your instructor will explain and demonstrate techniques for how to carry a surfboard properly and safely. Following that, they will explain and demonstrate the surfboard management and control drill which you will then put into practice by catching white-water waves on your stomach.
After riding some waves and gaining a feel for how to control the surfboard, you’ll head to shore for a drink of freshwater and a 5-minute break.
Once the group is ready your instructor will explain the “pop-up” technique for standing on your surfboard, explain how to properly dismount from the surfboard, and go over how to fall safely to reduce the risk of injury. You will then practice popping-up on the sand and finally head back out into the water to attempt standing on the surfboard for the last 20-30 minutes of the lesson.
If you have prior surfing experience, your instructor will ask some questions to obtain a general sense of your surfing ability and assess what specifics skills or techniques need to be reviewed while on the beach.
What Will I Learn?
Topics that are covered during a beginner surf lesson, depending on factors such as the student’s level and the ocean conditions of the day, may include:
- Factors that contribute to a good beginner surf break
- Parts of a surfboard
- How to carry a surfboard safely and properly
- How to walk the surfboard through the surf
- Proper positioning and paddling technique on a surfboard
- How to ride a wave and control the surfboard in the prone position
- Technique(s) for standing on a surfboard
- How to fall safely from a surfboard
- Practice turning the surfboard
- Sitting and turning on your surfboard
- Understanding how/why waves form and break
- The kinds of surf breaks that exist
- How to paddle through the white-water waves
Start your path
to becoming an independent surfer
Sign up for a single-day group surf lesson or for a 2-day surf clinic.
