Do I Need to Be Able to Surf? The Honest Answer for Total Beginners

Can I let you in on the question I get asked more than any other? Before a single person books, they message to ask some version of the same thing. "I have never surfed. Am I going to look like an idiot?" So let me answer it honestly, the way I would if you were sitting across from me with a coffee.

The honest answer is no

You do not need to be able to surf. You do not need to be sporty, or fit, or young, or any of the things you might be quietly worrying about. Most of the women who join us have never stood on a board in their lives, and they are exactly who these weeks are built for. If you can walk into the sea and laugh at yourself, you have everything you need.

Everyone is a beginner, and that is the point

Here is the thing nobody tells you. On the beach, everyone is a beginner. Nobody is watching you, because they are far too busy falling off their own boards. That is half the fun of it. The woman next to you who looks like she has it all together is wiping out just as much as you are, and by day three you will both be cheering each other on.

We all learn together, in the water as one group, with coaches who have taught hundreds of first-timers. No one gets split off or left behind. The women who arrive the most nervous are almost always the ones who cry when it is time to leave.

What a surf session actually looks like

A gentle start on the sand, going through the basics with the coaches. Then into the water, in a spot chosen because it is kind to beginners. You will catch a wave on your belly first, then have a go at standing, and when you pop up for the first time and ride it in, I promise you will scream. Everyone does. Then you flop back onto the warm sand and do it all again.

There is no pressure and no test. Just you, the sea, and a group of women willing you on.

But what if I have surfed before?

You are just as welcome. Plenty of our guests have surfed a handful of times and want to build their confidence in a group that feels safe and social. The coaches meet you where you are, so you will be challenged just enough without ever feeling like the odd one out.

You will not be the only one nervous

If you take one thing from this, let it be this. Whether you are looking at a women's surf camp in Portugal or our surf and yoga days in Cornwall, you will not be the only one arriving with butterflies. You will just be the normal one. And a few days later you will be the one telling a nervous first-timer that she has nothing to worry about.