And the Surf Continues.... Great October Waves
As long as there is waves we don't stop surfing. Today we kicked off the first surf session of the October swell. While in the morning the weather was still cloudy it gradually became sunnier and hotter throughout the day.
In the morning we welcomed our guests directly on the surf spot. After we did the formalities and changed for the surf lesson we headed to the beach and placed the surfboards in a half circle. The participants learned how to put the leash on the board and the importance for checking for knots. If there is a knot in the leash it can easily break when the surfboard gets pulled away from you by a strong wave. Then it was time for the warm up followed by the theory part covering safety and communication. Before we enter the water we practice with dry runs on the beach the individual maneuvers each participant should put their focus on. Today this was the pop up for the more experienced surfers while it was finding the position on the surfboard and the prawn position for the first timers, followed by the pop up at a later stage during today's lesson. Andy demonstrated the exercise in the water first and then all entered together. He showed how we can catch waves on our own with the push & jump technique. This is an energy saving technique that allows you to last longer throughout one session. We also placed focus on how to safely walk in the water, overcoming the wave and how to turn around in order to catch the wave. It is important to never have the surfboard between your body while turning around as the oncoming wave could push the surfboard to hit you! Also new for the participants on the agenda was how to stop after having completed the ride.
In the afternoon we met at the meeting point and then drove together to the surf spot that was determined by the surf coach after he saw the live conditions. The lesson started with a warm up. Then we brought everyone to the same page as of safety and communication. The dry runs on the beach consisted of the pop up, turns and paddling. Andy gave individual tips and corrections, and also answered specific questions that the surfers had at this stage of their surfing journey. Then the group went in the water together to catch some nice green waves. Today we laid focus on choice of wave, timing and an early take off. Fabian made nice front side turns today and Sibel had front side and back side turns. Laura, Simonas, Vicky and Stephen had long rides by optimising their take off as well as their balance and weight distribution on the surfboard. Sarah optimised her rides by throwing her weight and arms more in the front. The session concluded with a great vibe at the golden hour and by the time we packed up and drove off the sun was setting.