Happy Days – Australia Surf Training

Feedback from Annie, Viv, Joe, Romy, Femke, Bobby and Lilas; the first thing they have in common is that they all trained as surf instructors in Australia. Secondly, they all loved it and had unique and diverse experiences.

Annie, 22, Denmark: "My best memory here was at the very beginning, when we'd only been here six days. It was just Mara, Léa, Georgie and me, eating a delicious dinner prepared by Daisy.

Because of the floods, we hadn't been able to surf for the first few days... That day, we finally did, and I understood why I was there. A great surfing instructor, a thoughtful manager and three great new girlfriends, drinking beers and chatting about everything for hours. It was perfect."

Viv, 23, Holland: "Waking up on the beach, surfing whenever you want, great people, sunset, animals, seeing everyone's progress is great. If I had to pick one memory in particular it would probably be that afternoon. It was just Grace, Nate and me. We were passing the bar to get to the point. I didn't know Nate very well yet, but we were laughing at all his jokes. He's completely crazy.

Grace and I were a bit scared, as the waves were bigger than usual, but in the end it was great and reassured us of our progress. We caught some incredible waves. Then this man came out of nowhere and for 10 minutes all we could talk about was how crazy it was that there was nobody on this incredible spot. Even though the conditions weren't great, everyone's company made the moment perfect."

Joe, 23, England: "By far my best memory is that sunset session.

A dozen or so of us had crossed the bar, the sky was beautiful, the sun was setting, there were those menacing grey clouds in the distance and their rains.

While we were surfing, dolphins were with us, it was magical."

Romy, 19, Germany: "My best memory here is when we went into the water for sunset. Dolphins were literally three meters away from me.

A beautiful rainbow, no clouds and I caught some great waves."

Bobby, 32, New Zealand: "My best moment here was probably my first wave. The conditions were top notch and I hadn't surfed in years, what an incredible feeling."

Femke, 20, Holland: "Monday morning at 8am we were in the water, Nate pushed me on a great wave. When I was rowing back dolphins appeared. Honestly, it was the best ten minutes of my life."

Lilas, 20, France: "Fragile by nature, after a week of surfing I sprained my left ankle (my front foot, a chance). Seeing everyone else take to the water without accompanying them literally broke my heart. Here, all emotions are multiplied tenfold. After a two-week complete break, I was able to resume surfing at least once a day. At the start of my stay, I only wanted big waves and to ride down "washing machines", so when people were rowing to pass a big wave, I was rowing to catch it. Since my sprain, my self-confidence in the water had disappeared.
I went from being the first to wake up with a smile, the first to warm up and the "post-bar hostess" to being the only person not smiling off the boat.
I no longer went into the water with a smile on my face, but with tears in my eyes, for fear of injuring myself and being benched for another week.

At first I was just catching waves without getting up, then with just my back foot, I was so scared. It was so frustrating not to stand up when I knew I could, and seeing everyone else on a resin board and me still on a foam board just demotivated me. I was in the new group because my level and my fear were stagnating.

Then Nate saw me crying on the way to the water and he understood. A few years earlier, refusing to rest, he'd had to have knee surgery and hadn't been able to surf for 10 months. So he grabbed my board and helped me over the bar (I never walked with my left foot in the water, so you can imagine my stability). Once we were seated on our boards, Nate told me we needed to heal my brain, "if your foot is strong enough to walk, then it can surf, it's your brain that's hurt now, trust me". So we let a few waves go by until we found THE wave. The one that would give me back my self-confidence, at least to stand up again. "It's your wave, start rowing, harder harder! Pop up NOW!", my brain didn't even have time to think that I was on my two feet.
I'm getting up on every wave now, and even if I still haven't found my thirst for "Mavericks" I'm rebuilding my self-confidence a little more every day.

Thanks to Nate. Thank you!".