‘Intermediate’ surfers
The term ‘intermediate’ to a surfer is usually incorrectly applied. What exactly is an ‘intermediate’ surfer? Many people call themselves an intermediate when they have been on one or two surf camps previously, or have had some lessons before.
A real ‘intermediate’ surfer is someone who surfs regularly, paddles independently, selects their own waves, can already surf well down the line, do cut-backs and other surf moves. If you can already do the things listed above, you are a genuine intermediate surfer. Otherwise, we will still count you as a novice.
If you are a novice surfer, it’s actually about being lucky enough to get the right surf conditions to allow progression, especially into unbroken waves. Ideally, a novice surfer wants chest high, unbroken waves. No surf camp in the world will be able to promise you a particular wave height. Surf forecasts are completely unreliable if more than a few days in advance, so if they do, they are not being truthful with you. If the waves don’t cooperate during your surf vacation, you may not make the progress you hoped for, however good the surf coach’s skills are, so always manage your expectations. The truth is though that every time you go into the water, you are learning something, improving your paddle fitness for example, which makes up about 75% of the art of surfing, or learning how to turn a surfboard.
At Swell, our philosophy is that you must learn to paddle into your own waves: We are completely against pushing people into waves because it’s cheating. It’s not fair on the other surfers around you who are also trying to get into waves and you won’t ever be a real surfer if you can’t paddle yourself into one: It is the most important skill you need to learn. Surfing is a very hard sport to learn and it is counter-productive to take shortcuts because once a pusher is not with you in the water, you will not be able to catch your own waves. If you want to be pushed into unbroken waves, then you will need to find a different surf camp.
Our surf coaches will tell you what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong; we don’t have video analysis. We want to teach you skills that you can apply when you are in the water, without a surf coach. There are plenty of surf camps in the world who will push you into waves, and/or promise you perfect ‘intermediate’ surf conditions: We can tell you categorically that Swell is not one of them and rather than you arrive with expectations we won’t meet, we prefer to give you the ‘bad’ news now.
