1. CHOOSE A SURF SCHOOL
The idea of grabbing a board, hitting the beach and carving up the waves is a romantic one, but it’s not very realistic - unless you’ve got the whole summer to become a self-taught wavemaster. Learning to surf isn’t easy and you’re going to need more than trial-and-error autodidactism if you want to make real progress. Surf schools, founded by passionate surfers who want to share their love of the sport with other people generally appear at great surfing beaches. We highly recommend that you take advantage of their expertise. Besides, you’re likely to meet like-minded people this way, so what’s not to like?
You’re bound to find a school that suits you, no matter what it is you’re looking for. A lesson or two, a multi day course or surf camp, a session that’s specially adapted to people with disabilities, a kids party or a stag/hen do - you can find all of these and more at surf schools around the UK.
Of all the surfing hotspots around the UK, you’ll find the highest number of surf schools in Cornwall.
2. TRUST THE PROCESS
Like we say, learning to surf is tricky. Just like anything - riding a bike, driving a car, talking to people at parties - there are going to be scary moments and setbacks. That’s okay! You need to go through a lot to get anywhere near pulling the kind of stuff you see surfers doing on YouTube and TikTok. That means learning about waves, developing new skills, building new muscles, improving your balance, potentially building up a resistance to cold water and more. It doesn’t happen overnight.
Our advice: make sure you enjoy every moment of it. Follow your surf instructors, get some buddies to practise with and start investing in your own kit, these are going to help you stick with it.
Below you can see a real trooper putting the hours in while surfing in Pembrokeshire.
3. FIND YOUR WAVES
Not all waves are created equal. The biggest ones might offer the most force and the biggest canvas for competition-standard surfers, but they’re going to be of no use to you if you’re a newbie. You need to start smaller and work your way up. Your instructor will help you choose your first waves, which will help you learn to read the breakers and choose your own on instinct.
The best conditions for first-timers are relatively small (but not too small, we don’t want any ripples) waves coming in regularly to a beach with a gentle slope and no dangerous currents.
The kind of waves you can expect depend on the beach, the time of the year, the weather and the tides and more. If you go surfing in Porthcawl, you can find waves of different sizes on the town’s three beaches.
4. GET THE RIGHT BOARD
Surfboards come in all shapes and sizes. Should you choose the most stylish one? Probably not. As a beginner, you’re going to want to start with a longboard. These are the largest and most buoyant boards - two qualities that are going to help you enormously when you’re still finding your feet. Once you start getting the hang of it, you can experiment with more specialised designs like fish boards, a good intermediate step, and gun boards, for taking on monster waves.
Surfboards of all kinds are available to rent from surf schools around the UK.
5. DON'T LOSE HEART
You will fall off your board, you will get several mouthfuls of saltwater, you might get a rash on your legs or torso, you’ll miss plenty of perfect waves, and you'll probably make a fool of yourself a bunch of times. If you can come up smiling every time and prepare for the next wave, you’ve got the attitude of a surfer. That’s going to help you become one of the few people who go from first-timer to surf veteran, one of the most rewarding journeys anyone can go on. We wish you the best of luck, and we’re here to help if you need it. Just drop us a message in the comments!
Our final photo shows someone doing what everyone said was impossible - surfing in North Yorkshire. What more inspirartion do you need?
