Surfing Week No 42 - Sunny October Sessions
Surfing lessons from 18 - 24 October 2021 After arguably a challenging week weather-wise for tourism providers, guests and locals on Crete the outlook for week 42 was sunny with good waves for our surf lessons.
On Monday, 18 October, the weather on our surf spot in Falasarna was nice and sunny, the waves glassy, hardly any wind and perfect size for beginner surfers to learn and train all kind of maneuvers. The ones with a little more prior experience really had the chance to relax, calmly catch one wave after the other and try the newly acquired skill - the turn! For Emilia and Pascal this worked out nicely in both directions. A perfect reward after surfing in harsher conditions the days prior. For the participants that we saw today for the first time, Andy introduced the skill of catching wave with pushing & jumping, corrected details in the pop up, and showed stalling & trimming and ultimately the turn.
On Tuesday, 19 October the surf lesson took place in the bay of Kissamos as the swell direction changed to Northern Swell. The sandbank had a new shape once again, a frequent occurrence after a storm or heavy waves. But this shape was just right for long whitewater waves in the front and a spilling wave further out. Gyujin who surfed for the second time with us today was coached in making front and back side turns, how to angle into the wave and the line that he should follow, surfing the face of the wave. He achieved bottom turns, mid-face bottom turns, mostly front-side and sometimes back-side. His choice of wave was great and the selection of where to go.
Claudia and her family were coached in the exercises of the first-day course. First comes the theory part on the beach, including safety, basic board theory and exercises on land. Then we went in the water and they practiced catching white water waves on their own, positioning themselves on the surfboard, keeping up the speed and in the end the pop-up.
On Wednesday, 20 October the conditions in Kissamos were similar as the day before. Long whitewater waves and spilling waves further out, hardly any wind, side-onshore. Emilia and Pascal joined us for an extra round today, surfing yet another surf spot during their stay. Our coach went through individual corrections and tasks with them, explained how the bay works and then they paddled out. It worked like a charm, they did great with choosing the wave on their own and had long rides. For our newly joined surfers Lale and Fynn it was also a great surfing day. They learned how to catch waves on their own and how to balance on the surfboard without slowing it down. After a set of exercises to make them familiar with the surfboard they learned the pop up. And to top it all off they even paddled out together with the rest of the group to catch waves further out. They did so with a lot of confidence and also had a couple of longer rides.
Our surf lesson of Thursday, 21 October was sweet and cozy, super relaxed and great fun. Claudia and her family were in for the second session! The size of the wave dropped a lot over night, as did the wind. The sun was shining through and through, and the waves were glassy clean. All in all you can not ask for more ideal conditions especially for the kids to learn the next step in surfing and gain even more confidence. The lesson started with a fun warm up and explanations on the beach. The dry runs on the beach included the pop-up, stalling and trimming, and paddling! Later on we even covered the turn. In the water everyone had a great time paddling into the wave, popping up on the board, stalling and trimming. Then of course there is no reason to hold back and introduce as a next step the turn. Everyone made turns today, in one or both directions. Great and super fast progress for our family!
On Friday, 24 October the new swell was pushing from the West and arrived on the West Coast of Crete. Our group consisted of beginners that were at the stage of making turns, beginners that focused on catching waves and making the pop up, and first time surfers whose goal it was to learn catching waves on their own and gliding on a surf board in the prawn position. On the beach we had a warm up, covered safety rules and made the dry runs for each level individually. Explaining the exercises, the goals of the day, and giving corrections on the technique. Andy demonstrated on the wave the exercises for each group: Catching waves, gliding in the prawn positions, stopping. Catching waves, popping up, stopping or falling. Catching waves, popping up, making turns, stopping or falling. In the water Andy showed everyone who surfed with us for the first time how to catch a wave with the push & jump technique. This safes a lot of energy and allows you to catch many waves in one session. Claudia and her family on only their third lesson with us, paddled into the wave, were making turns, were prolonging their rides and really enjoyed surfing. Frank did great in choice of wave and early take-offs. We did a small break on the beach, and then introduced the correct pop-up to our first timers. Paying attention to the correct pop-up pays off in the long run, as it is key for all the surf skills that are acquired after. Back foot - front foot. After the break it clicked for most of our participants and they caught many waves on their own!
On Saturday, 23 October the waves were nice and easy going. The sun was shining. Ideal conditions for a relaxed session and in order to learn all kinds of surfing skills. The surf lesson started with a warm up and the theory part, including the safety rules. Then the exercises on the beach for the pop-up and something new: stalling & trimming. It is super important to adapt your stance to the section of the wave in order to prolong your ride. In the water we practiced on around 10 waves and our participants were ready for the next skill: the turn. After the instructions and practice, all our participants today were able to perform backside and front side turns. To top it all off, they learned the correct paddling technique and tricks how to get back on the board, turn around and so on while being back out.
