Surf camp with no waves?

We’ve just got back from our very first intermediate surf camp with six awesome women. There were no waves for the trip but we left feeling so energised and so did the group.

We have been immersed in surf coaching recently. Pouring over the footage we have been collecting over the past couple of years, breaking surfing down into it’s component parts and piecing it back together in a way that makes sense to us and we are able to disseminate effectively. We are slowly but surely putting together a ‘Yonder Way’ - a method of coaching surfing that resonates with our client base. Our bank of resources, workshops and thought processes are growing and formalising themselves organically with the community as it develops. Some of that coaching happens in the water, sure. But a lot of it at an intermediate level can happen just as effectively on dry land with some of the workshops and resources we planned.

Laura told us via a review that she has “Just returned from an intermediate surf camp which was filled with breakthroughs for all the surfers. Sally's guidance & Tom's photo analysis make for a truly inspiring few days. I have left with a better idea of where I need to focus to progress & a group of like minded individuals I can now call to go for a surf”.

We made use of the time, energy of the group and location we were in. We catered the teachings to each individuals ambitions within surfing, for example Victoria is gripped by longboarding, others by shortboarding and the methodology and learning is really different between the two disciplines.

With a quiver of over 10 surfboards from 5’6 - 9’6 and different styles we were able to deep-dive into the design principles of surfboards and compare some of the uses, pros, cons and nuances of lots of different boards. All the women on the camp got the opportunity to take new styles of boards out and paddle, learn to duck-dive and feel out the differences.

Victoria was working on her body positioning on her compression.

Laura was working on her bottom turn and keeping her eyes on where she’s going. This was great for Laura to practice repeatedly on dry land.

We aren’t forcing women to skateboard if that isn’t something they feel comfortable with, but we are increasingly seeing the benefits from working on a few exercises on surfskates in a safe, supportive and comfortable environment. We have a small fleet of Carvers and YOW surfskates and the feedback has been great so far. We are increasingly finding more people have these boards so having some advice on how to use them effectively is something our groups can take with them over the subsequent months after a surf camp.

”I went on the intermediate surf camp with Sally and Tom and I had the absolute best time despite there being no waves. As the forecast was looking poor for the camp Sally and Tom went out their way to film all of the group surf a few times in the days before so we could still benefit from the video analysis. I actually think I learnt more about surfing through the theory, video analysis, the surf skating and the paddling on the flat than I would have had there been waves. I met a wonderful group of women on the camp, who I can’t wait to go out surfing with. Surf yonder is the real deal, run by two people who genuinely just want to help people improve their surfing, have fun in the water and stay safe. I think it’d be impossible to go on a camp and not love it, I can’t wait for the next one!”

As Zoe says in her review above, we managed to connect with all the women in the group in the week leading up to the camp to capture some really good photos and videos to analyse everyones surfing. This was really useful and it was great to share a few waves with the girls before the camp.

We are so excited to see where these girls take their surfing and feel privileged to be joining them on their journey.

We wanted to say a massive thanks to Finisterre for once again supporting our camp and spoiling our girls, to The Good Tempered Chocolate Company for providing the pick me ups and to everyone who comes along or books onto our camps and sessions! We will be announcing new dates for the Autumn soon - keep up to date on our Broadcast and Mailing List.