I’ve been a windsurfer for about 35 years and so has Mrs BigJohn. But I’ve never been any good at surfing. The first time we both tried it was at Skewjack surf village at Sennen in about 1972.

This winter we fancy going somewhere warm and having a week or two trying to crack it properly. Also (or maybe instead) we might do SUP surfing (waves, not wafting around on flat water) I’ve heard Costa Rica is good for beginners this time of year.

Anybody got any recommendations or advice? And would a day at an indoor place in UK be useful beforehand? We can both windsurf on small boards in high winds and swell, so we’ve got a pretty good grasp of handling boards and are still fairly fit and flexible.

Anywhere warm will have waves good for beginners, just have to find the right breaks. Central America, Hawaii, Morocco, Sri Lanka the world is your oyster.

Corralejo, Fuerteventura would be the obvious spot, there’s about a dozen surf schools there, that and kitesurfing is why people go there.

Fuerte is a bit cooler than we were hoping for Feb. We were thinking of booking a proper surf school somewhere really warm to get us up and going. Sort of like Club Vass and i was hoping some STWers might have personal knowledge.

For the annual dad and kids adventure holiday this summer we are planning to head to surf school on Tiree. None of us have surfed before, should be a blast.

Hi John,
If you are thinking of Sri Lanka, I’d recommend giving these guys a shout, they don’t take absolute beginners but it sounds as though you are past that stage. Warm water, great waves to progress on, lovely and warm! Have to declare an interest, the owner coaches my daughter. https://www.surfschoolsrilanka.com/
They also run a school in Famara, Lanzarote, (https://surfschoolanzarote.com/ )

Costa Rica is supposed to be awesome as well, not been there so can’t recommend anyone.
I remember SkewJack as well from my first surf trip around Cornwall, stopped off there, great waves at Sennon and huge nights in the disco 🙂

Not sure there are any indoor pools in the U.K.

The new wave place at Bristol is supposed to be ok but brutally cold this time of year. Not cheap either. I’m waiting until summer to take a trip so I can surf in boardies.

Does the snowdonia one run over winter?

Ps. Not sure what’s wrong with learning to surf in a ill-fitting wetsuit and a woefully undersized board. Worked for me 25yrs ago, although I still have days like yesterday where I surf like a complete kook.

I hear Bude will be having 12ft tuuuubes to train in

Might be well worth doing it Point Break style
To break yourself in

I would head for Sagres in Portugal.

A freind of mine runs a surf/sup surf school and on site accommodation (6 guests only) and all food.

Its simply stunning.

pM me if you want more info.

I was in Sagres last January with a little kayak and a couple of friends with surf boats. Waves were good and you could always find a reasonable break. Water was warmer than the north sea in summer so was no problem.

https://morocsurf.com

I’ve been to Morocco with these guys three times. All you need to do is get to Agadir airport and they take care of the rest. It’s all very easy and the food is superb.

Not been to Morocco but everyone I know who has, has suffered due to the poor water quality.

My bro and his mrs went up to that new Brizzle place and found the expect advanced wave section weird as the waves are instant and bit tricky to work out

Had my first lesson at Manley, second one at Bondi. Both very good, but Manley were better. Been to Dunbar a couple of times since, good for beginners but will be cold this time of year. Went in Portugal, not far from Sagres which someone above mentioned, quite terrifying for a novice, it was quite a big step up! Not big waves by their standards, they said it would be fine for a beginner, but huge compared to what I’d done before. Fun though
Have a couple of lessons and then hire a oard and practice, abroad is good for this, you can keep going until you get tired rather than until you get frostbite…

This all sounds excellent. However, we’re thinking tropical and we did Sri Lanka last year, when my knee was buggered so we did neither surfing nor windsurfing. Don’t particularly want to go to Australia so any real life experiences of central America?

Has anybody gone to the indoor place in Bedford?

Can’t help you with the surf lessons but Skewjacks what a place! Went there mid-ish 80’s.Goods times.
As you were….

Yes,we went to Skewjack twice in the 70s in my Triumph Herald convertible. Stayed both times in the little stone hut with the woodlice. One of our cherished memories.

Have a look at the south of Barbados as it is mellow. Was also going to say Indonesia but it will be the wet season.
Practice popping to your feet at home before you go and get low and those legs apart.

Have done a session at surf snowdonia. It’s actually pretty good. Significantly warmer in winter than the North Sea too.

everyone I know who has, has suffered due to the poor water quality.

Having seen how the Moroccans treat their
mountain streams and rivers I’m not hugely surprised.

West coast of Ireland! Luton to Kerry. With a wet suit on it’ll be ok, as the Gulf Stream makes it surprisenly mild. I did my scuba course there.

A few of my surf mates winter in “indo”

They love it, it’s warm, cheap, waves if you move around to find them.

Its not hard to find accommodation either..

Ha! It took a couple of goes to work out indo meant Indonesia. I thought “indoor”, “Indo-China (Vietnam, Cambodia)” “India” at first. Nice suggestion, sounds a bit warmer than some of the places mentioned.
I’m still leaning towards Costa Rica though. A friend was there last Christmas and was sending back some great pictures of him carving down the waves on a SUP. Mrs BigJohn likes the sound of the cloud forest too.