Just been for to Newquay for the weekend decided to learn to Surf kinda last minute on Saturday. Turned up at 2:00pm with a mate to find that there was a session at 2:15. No prior booking just Jumped for a 2hr session for £25 Quid each.
The one downside is that me and my friend got stuck in a group of about 20 women who were on a Hen weekend. DAMN!
All the kit was provided (wetsuit and board) and this place had quite literally the largest changing room in the world. The 2 Hr lesson started with the standard safety guidelines, a warm-up, group photos, several jokes and an introduction on how to actually catch a wave we were in the water with the instructors at our side for any guidance. (It was a pretty simple method and suffice to say we got the hang of it quickly)
After a good 20-30 minutes practise we were back on the beach for pats on the back, more jokes and step 2 of how to surf (standing up). After several runs through the technique we were back in the water for more practise again with the instructors close enough for tips. Again me and my mate found this pretty simple to grasp and hey I figure we needed to be good in front of 20 women.
After the session was over we all had a good chat about the day and the best group hug I have ever had. So began the long haul up the beach to get changed. (The tide really can go quite far out in 2 hours)...
It turns out that we also had a few photos taken when we got back by a professional photographer. (he had either a Canon 30D or 40D for anyone who cares) Luckily I had my own photographer/Mrs taking shots on my SLR so we didn't need to buy any but they were there at a decent price.
After that experience day 2 of our holiday was decided immediately. go surfing. we had heard about a place called Fistral beach of a friend who had been to Newquay before. I was not in the mood to go looking for beaches I knew where i wanted to be and what I wanted to be doing.
But anyway we set off for Fistral with me mumbling "there better be surfing" all the way there.
Oh there was surfing alright.
Turns out this Fistral beach is quite big. After hiring some ripped wetsuits and boards from one damn rude lady we set off to the surf to find out the bigger the wave the harder it its to stand up. It was an incredible day. I've never spent 6 straight hours in the sea before. I caught the Surfing tuition there whilst i was practising on my own and although I don’t have a 1st hand experience. it looked like the tuition was quite messy with people just doing random things to try and get on a board. Offer nearly 3 hours most f the people hadn't come along half as much as we had with the Tuition on great western.
To sum up.
Great Western Beach was a great learner beach with excellent tuition and the waves seemed just right to build our confidence to tackle the waves at Fistral.
I really would recommend having a tuition at Great Western until you are comfortable with the technique. Then go to Fistral to try out your skills.
One thing about Fistral is that I wouldn’t rent any gear there. The woman at the counter was damn rude, we hired damaged wetsuits. Mine was ripped in the neck and every time I went under the cold water would get in (what was the point of the suit?) and maybe it was just me or the sea but it seemed a lot harder to balance the boards and stop them rocking me off. I don’t know if I can blame the board for that but everything else there was naff so I’m going to. Maybe it was just heavily used but I’m a stickler for quality.
I uploaded my Photos of the day if anyone cares to have a look.
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