The Courses are aimed primarily at newbie or beginner surfers looking for professional surfing tuition at a suitable beach break. Each day your instructor will pick you up at your accommodation and take you surfing.
Most afternoons you'll be off enjoying alternative outdoor activities or game viewing which you will plan together with your guides depending on the surf, tide and wind conditions.
All the surfing lessons take place at Jeffreys Bay main beach and all equipment is provided.
A beginner surf lessons are broken down into 2 hour sessions. Thecourses cover the following aspects of surfing:
• Introduction
• Stretching exercises.
• Basic surf theory.
• Beach safety, currents/rip tides, Weather and Wave formation
• Surfing etiquete
• Equipment - How to handle it in the water
• Proning, stalling and accelerating board
• Paddling techniques
• Safe Wipe-out technique
• Position in line-up, wave selection, and timing
• Catching broken waves
• Popup/stance refinement
• Take-off (straight)
• Turning right or left
• Paddling “outside”
• Entering and exiting the water.
• Learning how to stand on a surfboard.
• Catching green waves and angled take-offs.
A typical Surf session
After putting on your wetsuit and rash vest (for easy identification), your surf instructor will take you through some basic surf theory.
You will learn about your surfboard, a leash, fins and top and bottom decks. Then your surf instructor will determine your stance, are you a 'Natural' or 'Goofy' footer?
You will then hit the surf. At this stage you will go no further than waist deep water. You will be catching white water (or broken waves, also known as foamies) to the shore.
Your surf instructor will help you into your first few waves as you learn to paddle your surfboard into waves yourself. You will catch and ride waves lying on your belly until you are comfortable catching waves by yourself.
Then the real fun starts! The surf instructor will take you to the beach and teach you a technique to assist you in standing on your surfboard.
After a few practice runs, it’s back into the water. The rest of the lesson consists of you standing up and learning how to keep your balance. After your first lesson you should be able to get to your feet and ride (even if its for a few seconds).
Thereafter carry on practicing by yourself for the afternoon or join the group on a game drive or go sandboarding... Don't overdo it though as you will need to save some energy for tomorrows lesson!
After a few lessons you will feel more confident in the water and your instructor can show you how to execute turns and finally help you catch your first green (unbroken) waves.
The surf school also offers advanced lessons where you will be paddled out to an intermediate level surf break in Jeffreys Bay to catch 'real waves'.
