Our Flagship 10 Week Road Trip and Surf Instructor Course through South Africa started on 25th January 2025, which means that Ticket to Ride is 20 years old.
Wait what?
Hundreds of people have joined us on this life-changing adventure and it’s all the people involved who have helped us hit this milestone. Whilst everyone from the customers to the car park attendants who look after our gear on Muizenburg Beach all play a pivitol role, an important person to mention is
Chris Bond.
If you’re reading this chances are you’ll know Chris. He was the main guy at TTR, the real boss there from the start, integral to the popularity and success of the South Africa operations.
Whilst doing this he managed to coach a plethora of up-coming pros, a couple of WSL Championship Tour pro surfers and the South African team at the 2024 Olympics. So it was only a matter of time before he was poached and now he coaches the stars at the Kelly Slater WavePool in The Desert.
So I reached out to Chris, a straight shooter, to get his thoughts on the the Ultimate Ticket to Ride; the 10 Week Road Trip and Surf Instructor Course through South Africa.
“Surfing is an incredibly challenging sport, which is why this 10 week course is designed to condense what would otherwise take years to learn. Not only having the daily structured surf coaching and in-class learning, but also to have someone to answer all your questions, give you guidance on the best equipment to improve quickly.
South Africa allows the TTR team to teach you how to surf all types of waves, meaning that after this trip you’d be competent wherever your surfing journey takes you!
With almost 3,000km of coastline there is an abundance of beautiful beaches and incredible surf in South Africa.
On the stretch from Cape Town to Durban you start in the colder Atlantic water and move quickly to the warmer Indian Ocean up the garden route to the world famous point break Jeffreys Bay, through the Wild Coast where you feel like you’ve turned back time, slowing down and seeing a simple happy way of life, and the into the warm beach breaks of Durban.
In tune with the diversity of the country is the diversity of the surf adventure on offer in South Africa. Whilst surfing is the main focus, and seeing the improvement over just 10 weeks was always a highlight for me, a lot of the magic is found along the way, and for each person their favourite memory of the trip will be something different.”
The number of people that have reached out to me years later and said this trip changed their life is what ridiculous and keeps inspiring me to this day to do what I do (even though it’s in a wave pool ha ha).
Chris Bond. O.G. TTR.
For more information on this life changing surfing adventure click here.