I had a beginner surf session. I had a surf lesson earlier on in the year in the sea where I got up to standing but couldn't balance. I assumed I would more or less pick up from there and hopefully get a bit of balance.
The session didn't go well though and I didn't enjoy it. Once we got on the water no advice was given. On most my goes I came off the board very quickly whilst just laying down. I didn't know what I was doing wrong and no advice was given. There were 4 children in our group who couldn't stand up at the depth needed so were taking up a lot of the instructors time and they were paying little attention to how the adults were doing. Also being 16 people in a group I felt was too many. I can see why they can't give advice with that many people to look at. It also meant I didn't get many goes. I didn't count, but know it wasn't more than 10, probably less.
My friend I went with is more natural at this sort of thing and was able to get up to standing a couple of times, although he said he struggled. And he remembered later on something he should be doing that he was forgetting. Why didn't the instructors notice at the time and give advice? Or if it isn't possible to see, perhaps give out reminders to people?
I found the waves stronger than I have experienced in the sea and found the crash of the wave around me a bit much. Perhaps it would be a good idea to start of shallower to get used to it? That would have helped also with the children who were out of depth. But they should probably not be in the same lesson at all when they do become out of depth and not strong enough to deal with the current. At the deeper depth I was struggling with controlling my surf board while I was meant to be waiting, no advice was given on this whilst in the water.
This was a very disappointing experience, and has left me wondering if I even want to surf again in the sea. And to be honest I was quite upset.
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