Your arms will fell like they are going to fall off.

if you have reasonable balance (most MTBers should have) you should be standing in a day and could be catching green waves after a few more. Enjoy!

In my experience it is by far the hardest board sport to master. It's great fun, but unless you're either a natural or get to spend lots of time at the beach you'll always be learning.

An hour a day doesn't sound like much of a surf camp to be honest; are they letting you use the kit for the rest of the day to practice?

As above you might get to your feet in that time and that's enough to get the hook, but it can take a long time to gain any kind of proficiency.

And like bluebird says, its an endless progression.

Getting standing up is easy*, on my last lesson half the people there for the first time were up first attempt, the other half managed it second attempt.

About 2 hours is the most you can do in one stretch as the combination of paddling, cold water and concentration drains your energy pretty quickly.

*looking good, being in controll and anything else takes much much longer!

Paging Surf Mat 😆

Cheers, Rich

I started to surf when i moved to Aus 7 years ago, i had one lesson to get the basics sorted. It then took a year of weekends surfing for an hour or two at a time to get to a point where i was standing and noticing real progression. After year 1 i started to get much keen and was going before work and progressed quickly. Now things are going well, every session is worth while, providing the swell is up.

I'm 39 and have been riding for 20 years, so have 'balance' but needed time to master balance on a board.

Its difficult but extremely rewarding - you need to put a lot of time in to get something out. If you have either skate or snow boarding skills it will help a lot.

give it a go....it the only way to find out!

If you going to make the most of it you really need to work on your "surf" fitness before you go.

I'm really no expert, but would say you should be aiming to be able to do 50 press ups, 50 squat thrusts and be able to swim a mile. Some soft of base fitness like that would then mean you can concentrate on the skills.

About 2 hours is the most you can do in one stretch

10 hrs in 12 is the longest I've been in the water. burnt to a crisp, rubbed raw and arms that didnt work properly for a day or two afterwards.

when its good in the summer in cornwall you get on it.

http://www.harlynsurfschool.co.uk/

that'll do ya

Worth getting lessons rather than just hiring a board and trying to teach yourself. If on a budget get at least one lesson before you hire a board to practice on.
I managed to stand up at my second attempt, think I managed about 30% standing up and looking good and about 70% falling over and looking a prat. Not trying anything fancy, just being able to ride it to the beach. Hardest bit is spotting which waves are going to be good ones.
I had 2 hrs in the water and felt absolutley fine afterwards, if you are a reasonably fit rider you should be OK. helped tat it was fairly warm though.
Went here, http://manlysurfschool.com/index.php definately recomended.

Just worked out who you are! 🙂 Nice to speak to you on the phone. 2h surfing is max they'll usually do but normally that includes getting suits on and sorting out which board is yours. You will be ready to stop after that IME. Doing a few days back to back is a great way to get better quite quickly, we often point guests to a surf school to do 2h in the evenings after biking and they generally see a good improvement. With the big boards you'll probably stand on day 1 and the rest of the week will be learning to turn.

Reading the other thread... we have used Central Surf in the past and they are good but the classes can be quite young. They have various times through the day which they teach at and it's all based at Hendaye, it's €95 for 5 lessons of 2 hours if I recall right. Hendaye is a safer bet for surfing than SS in my opinion because at that time of year SS can be quite big and its a short fast wave. Hendaye is a gentle wave, less crowded and less of the posers. Also less of those awful topless beach babes to distract you 😉

Thanks - that's really helpful! €95 for 10 hours sounds a steal.

Hmmm. On reflection I think I'm just going to arse around San Sebastian enjoying the food and ride when possible, and maybe squeeze in a little surfing lesson here and there in a half-arsed fashion rather than do things intensive style.

Then commit a proper trip to surfing by itself another time.

I'll definitely be there for a couple of days with bike though, at some point between 28 September and 3 October