Already in August, when I was still in Germany, I booked a surf camp, which was offered by my organization. It should start Friday night and end Sunday night. The Surf Camp was specially designed for beginners. And at the end of the weekend everyone should know the basics of surfing.

Together with a friend, I made my way to the meeting point on Friday evening. Already before I knew that many people had booked this surf camp. Even more places were offered and in the end we were around sixty people.

We were divided into two groups. One group went to the surf camp by bus and the other by train. With my friend I was in the group that went by train.

We drove for over two hours until we finally got there. At the train station, we were picked up by small buses that brought us to the camp. At this time it was already dark outside.

There we had to wait for a while until the group that came by bus was there.

Welcome to the Surfcamp

It was 9:30 pm when we were all finally complete. Then we got a short briefing about the accommodation, the surroundings and the course of the following days.

After that we should join in groups of seven people with whom we will live in one room for the next two days. We all lived in little bungalows. The bungalows were very small, four bunk beds were squeezed into the rooms and that was it. The bed linen and the floor were also quite dirty. I was only there for an hour and wanted to go straight back to Sydney because I just don’t feel well there. Then we all went to the beach together, but we could hardly see anything, because it was already dark. But then we all went to bed, as we wanted to be fit for the next day, because it started very early in the morning.

Already at seven o’clock we were all sitting at breakfast again. We were already divided into two groups the evening before. While one group was surfing, the other had its breakfast, lunch or break.

Getting in touch with surfing

Right after breakfast we got our wetsuits and learned the first basics of surfing. Shortly afterwards we made our way to the beach, where we got our surf board. We still had to carry the boards quite a way to the water and they were incredibly heavy.

Again we were divided into smaller groups and then we started. We all introduced ourselves once again within our group and were then explained by our two surf teachers how to get on the surfboard, how to get up to surf and how to jump down again.

Surfing for the first time

After we got all this explained, we already went into the water. In the first moment the water was ice cold on the feet but after only a few minutes I had already got used to it. I got direct help from one of the surf teachers. He helped me with all the steps you have to take and then told me exactly what to do as soon as a wave came. I actually managed to get up and surf a little bit until I fell into the water again.

I tried it two or three times alone but I didn’t manage to get up.

Some of the other ones actually made it with a lot of practice. But I also watched a lot of them trying to get up and fall into the water again.

After about an hour in the water we went back to the camp where we ate burgers for lunch.

After the meal and a short break we started again. We put on our wet and sandy wetsuits again and went back to the beach.

Catching the high waves

Before we went back into the water we talked to our surf instructors about the three most important things to consider when surfing: The wind, the time and the water.

Then we went back into the water and should continue to practice getting up and standing on the board.

This afternoon it was very windy so the waves were even higher than in the morning. I’ve seen a lot of them fall off the board in the high waves. I already had a little respect for the waves so I didn’t dare to surf without the help of the surf instructors. But because we were such a big group, they couldn’t help us very often. Luckily another girl felt the same way as I did that she had great respect for the waves. After a time in which we only stood in the water, we sat down on the beach and watched everyone else.

When the afternoon was over, we went back to the camp. There we first had a shower and then had dinner. After we ate, we watched the pictures on a TV that the surf teachers took of us that day.

After that my friend and I went to bed, because we were very exhausted from the day.

The Motivation fades

The next day we luckily had to be at breakfast at nine o’clock, because the other group was bevor us this morning. It was a little cooler that morning. I didn’t had much motivation to surf that day either. So we all put on our surf suits again, which were still wet from the day before and then made our way to the beach. It wasn’t windy this morning but the waves were still quite high as the water was still quite restless from the wind the day before.

From our surf instructors we learned how to speed up or slow down on the surfboard.

Than we should try it out in the water. On this day it was quite cloudy which is why it was a bit cold. The waves were even higher than the day before and because I was already afraid of the waves there, I didn’t dare to surf this morning or to lay down on the board at all. The girl with whom I had left the water earlier the day before was fortunate that we had already taken our surfboards away and watched the others surfing.

After the surfing hour we went back to the camp where we had a shower and then had burgers for lunch again.

Back to Sydney

After lunch we had to hurry to pack our things and take off our bed linen, because we already had to go to get our train. After more than two hours we arrived back in Sydney after a long drive on which I mainly slept.

I generally didn’t like it that much. Because the accommodation was so dirty and not at all comfortable, I didn’t feel comfortable at all.

I would have dared to surf more if the weather had been a bit better and we had been a smaller group. If about 20 people are in the same place in the water at the same time it can happen that you collide with someone else.

Had we been fewer people, the surf teachers would have been able to help us even more, which would have given us a bit better practice.

But anyway the surf teachers and the team leaders of the camp were all very nice and open and it was an interesting experience. At least I can say I was surfing (even if it was only a few meters).