Surfing and windsurfing
You've seen those guys with the long-blonde hair and salty faces tripping and tumbling through the waves'and you've always wanted to give it a go. The trouble is, surfing looks hard and you're not really sure where to start. Going on a surfing holiday is one sure way to crack the problem. Go to the right place and get the right tuition and you're certain to pick up a basic understanding of riding the waves.
Photo: Winter surfing at Newquay, Cornwall. Photo by courtesy of Hugh Lunnon, published on Flickr in 2007 under a Creative Commons Licence.
The basic idea
If you go on an organized surfing holiday, they'll teach you everything you need to know. But it doesn't hurt to know a bit about the subject first. It helps, for example, if you understand the basic science of surfing (for it is a science as much as an art). What you're trying to do is harness a wave's momentum so you get some momentum yourself. That means, for example, that you need "clean" waves (well-spaced, regular ones moving in clearly defined, parallel lines) toward the shore, not "messy ones". You need groundswell (nicely sorted clean waves travelling in from afar) rather than windswell (messy waves created by local winds). Ideally you need the wind blowing offshore (blowing from land to shore) to hold the waves up so they don't break too quickly. If you can read a basic introduction to surfing before you go, so much the better'but don't worry: a good teacher will explain everything when you get there.
Different types of surfing
There are several different forms of surfing: with a short surfboard (generally very fast and agile), with a longboard (as the name suggests, a much longer board), and with a bodyboard (a softer, sculpted, foam board about 42 inches high). Bodyboards are cheaper and easier to use than surfboards, but that doesn't mean you can't ride them skilfully and impressively.
Windsurfing is superficially similar to surfing (you stand on a board), but it has just as much in common with sailing. Unlike on a surfboard, you're propelled by the wind hitting the sail, not by the water pushing the board. You're supposed to stand up the whole time unlike in surfing, where you start off in the water and climb on the board to catch your wave. That means you can windsurf in pretty much any direction (including directly into the oncoming waves)'but obviously you do need some wind.
Kite-surfing uses a much smaller board than windsurfing and a huge powerful kite to catch the wind. It's one of the most agile forms of surfing you'll find.
One thing to bear in mind if you're thinking of taking up one of these watersports is the transport you'll need. Assuming you live near the coast, to start with, you'll need a car if you want to go longboarding, windsurfing, or kite-surfing. You can just about carry a surfboard or a bodyboard on a bus or a train (or even a bike if you're careful), but don't forget you also have to carry a rucksack or wetsuit back with the rest of your kit in it as well. This may well influence your decision of which watersport you want to take up. But it doesn't have to influence anything on a surfing holiday, because all the equipment you need will be waiting at the school: you just need to provide yourself and your enthusiasm.
Are you prepared?
The first thing you're going to find when you try surfing is that it's physically much harder work than it looks. After a day's surfing or bodyboarding, you'll find most of your muscles ache'including lots of muscles you didn't know you had. To ride a wave, you have to get yourself (and your board) through the breaking swell and start off in the deeper water beyond. It takes some effort to "paddle out", especially if the swell is vigorous, but this is one of the first things you'll be taught.
Obviously it's going to help if you're reasonably fit and it's important that you can swim a reasonable distance in case you get into trouble. Surfing in the sea can be somewhat more testing than surfing in your local pool! You don't want to endanger yourself or those around you. Your teacher will explain if there are any dangers nearby (such as "rip currents" where the sea drains back out from the beach at high-speed, potentially taking you with it) and how to avoid them.
Bodyboarding brings its own unique problems, because you have to wear swim fins (that's flippers to you) if you're going to catch waves. Walking in these things is a challenge in itself. One thing you'll quickly learn is how to walk backward down the beach into the sea, carrying your board, looking over your shoulder at the waves pounding in behind you. That's much trickier than it looks too. But all this stuff is fun to learn.
Where to go
Although there are surfing breaks pretty much all around the British and Irish coast, some places are much better than other. Cornwall, for example, is noted for its consistently good surf thanks to the steady, westerly winds and Atlantic swell. Most of the surf schools are found in south-west England. On the south (Channel) coast, you'd be looking at places like Bournemouth or Plymouth. Make sure you pick a school whose coaches are accredited by the British Surfing Association (BSA). You'll find quite a few surf schools team up with hotels or backpacker-type lodges to give a complete package of surf tuition and accommodation. Very often they organize evening entertainment too. There's obviously plenty to do in the evenings in places like Bournemouth, one of England's clubbing capitals, and that may influence your choice of surf schools too. But remember that the surfing on the south coast is usually poorer and less consistent than on the north-Cornish coast.
When to go
It's a fairly obvious point, but you can surf only when there are decent waves. Generally that means windy, low-pressure times of year mostly from September/October through to about April/May. But if you're just learning, you don't want stonking great waves that are "double-overhead", so quieter, calmer days outside the main surfing season are not necessarily a bad thing. It also helps to be in the water when it's not crowded with surfer wannabes calling each other "dude".
Equipment
Britain is not Hawaii or Tahiti. For a good surfing session, you're going to be in the water for maybe 2-3 hours. Generally speaking, even in late Autumn, you don't want to be in the water that long without a wetsuit. If you're surfing from about November to May, you'll need a wetsuit plus neoprene gloves and boots too. These aren't really optional. There's a very real risk of hypothermia if you're not properly togged up. You can never really be too warm in the water during the winter months. Being in the sea in January and February can be a bracing experience—but it's usually pretty exhilirating in the crisp, clear winter sunshine.
This doesn't mean you should rush out and buy lots of expensive equipment before you go on a surfing holiday. Decent surfing schools provide all the gear you need. It's much better to wait, try things out, and then buy your gear if you're certain you want to continue than buy a cheap wetsuit or one you'll never use.
What next?
And if you do want to continue, you'll probably find your surfing school offers a range of packages labelled beginners, intermediate, and advanced. Most likely they'll do super-advanced one-off sessions if you want them as well. So you have ample opportunity to develop your skills if you want to. And if you don't want to, well, you've hopefully enjoyed trying out a new experience, if nothing else!
Some helpful links
- British Surfing Association: Your best starting place for official surfing information.
- Surfers Against Sewage: A stonking team of Cornish campaigners who've been helping to keep our waters clean since the 1990s.
