Summer surf lessons in Kissamos, Crete with Kalo Surf
Summer surf fun is on. We started our morning with a full group of girls that work in tourism here on the island of Crete. On their day off they decided to conquer the waves of Falassarna. Thank you so much, Stella, for organising this activity with your friends / coworkers! As usual we started early in the morning, so we catch the best surf and the best light. Plus the beaches are still empty! Surf coach Andy had his coffee prepared on the gas cooker this morning due to a general power outage, but nonetheless, he was super motivated to introduce our group safely to the first steps in surfing, while having as much fun as possible. Early in the morning a good warm up is just the best to start any sports activity. Then the girls got introduced to the basics of the surfboard and safety. With the first exercises we make sure everyone understands the motion of catching a wave and positioning themselves on a surfboard. And the high of the first glide never disappoints. Lots of laughter and shared emotions. Luckily we captured the best in our photo album! On the next step Andy introduced our first time surfers to the pop up! Tirelessly they practiced and practiced riding waves lying down, on their knees and in the surf position. No matter how, this is surfing and that's how you get hooked!
During our afternoon lesson the beach was slightly more busy with beach goers and swimmers. As the waves grew bigger throughout the afternoon, the surf got emptier and emptier though. For this lesson, Andy covered a little bit of everything: Safety of course (!), signalling, the pop up, the correct paddling technique and also catching waves by pushing in jumping. Our participants were pretty impressed by the size of the wave today in Crete but we had a lot of fun and each achieved their own personal victories. Isa for example was first intimidated by the bigger sets, but with Andy's help she got into a really good wave, stood up and made a front side turn. At least twice!!!
It's those small victories that make all the struggle worthwhile and gives you this incredibly satisfying feeling after the surf. Thanks also to Max for assisting us today for the first day.
