What is your opinion when it comes to learning to surf and the ideal wave for learning on?
I believe learning to surf is something that for most people is a challenge far greater than they originally thought out. Like a lot of things in life, we flirt with the idea and romanticize the possibilities and the changes they potentially effect in our lives, and then we find ourselves in the thick of things, testing our will and desire in our endeavor to attain ‘the dream’. You’re in a sensitive position here though, vulnerable to all the unknowns, and it is your experiences during these stages of learning anything that can leave you inspired or dejected.
In the line-up
As it pertains to Surfing, these stages are critical and the right guidance is often the difference between pursuing it further or having a “one time I tried surfing.. wasn’t for me” story for the barbecue.
Muizenberg from the sky
It is no coincidence that we commence our South African 10 week Instructor Course in Cape Town at Muizenberg Beach. For the most part our groups are generally complete beginners with little to no experience surfing at all and we feel this is the best place to introduce their ambitions to the realities of surfing. We aim to blend the right information with the right locations and people, developing a system that gets you surfing and keeps you surfing.
So what makes Muizenberg such a beginners dream? Here are a few things for your consideration.
- The long and gradual gradient of this sand bottomed beach’s drop-off really diffuses most of the energy of any arriving swell, as the swell rolls in it slowly degenerates creating a slower, crumbling and beginner friendly wave unlike beaches that have steeper drop-offs meaning raw energy comes to an abrupt halt as it hits the sand bank creating larger, steeper and more powerful waves that aren’t ideal to beginners. ( imagine the back seat of your car is filled with water, if you were to brake very slowly less energy/water is transferred to the front seat, if you were to come to a grinding halt instead, then all the water/energy would transfer into the front seat.)
- Being a sand-bottomed wave means there are no rocks or reef that can compromise your safety in the water.
- There is usually very little to no rip currents at Muizenberg
- You get some incredibly long rides out here on a good day, one of the girls got a 32 second ride all the way to the beach a few days ago.
- The beach is very large, though it can get crowded at certain times of the year finding your own space in the water only means a short walk down the beach on most days
- It is well understood that Muizenberg is a beginners beach and so everybody is generally very tolerant of one another so no nasty altercations are likely to occur should you ‘break’ one of surfings many unwritten rules as you’re learning.
- The beachfront is alive with everything ‘surfing’, anything you could possible need to go surfing you can find along the beachfront in shops and restaurants. Along with Shark-Spotters and trained Lifeguards. Muizenberg beach is probably has the best beach infrastructure in the country!
On this trip we will get the chance to experience the many different kinds of waves there are, but for the purpose of progression we teach all the critical fundamentals of surfing at Muizenberg. So far the crew are loving life here, the foamy roll-in’s to open faced rides that sometimes seem to go on forever are really ideal to the beginner surfer. There are plenty of long rides on offer providing the perfect platform for improvement and everybody is looking in great shape going forward.
Keep checking in to track the progress of everybody via our blogs!
Happy surfing 🙂
Luke