Surf Camp with Holly Beck

Las Flores, El Salvador, day 1

My girlfriend and I are spending the week at a surf coaching clinic with Holly Beck. Its day 3 and already we've clocked up around 12 hours in the water. The camp is based at Las Flores, El Salvador, an incredible rippable long wave in the south. It is super fun and allows a nice amount to time to practise and link together turns.

There are six girls on the camp with Holly and Steph providing coaching and Jess running a daily yoga class. I thought I'd be mixing it up with twenty something rippers but the group is quite diverse in age and experience. Two women, Frazer and Isabel and particularly inspiring. Frazer has been surfing for over 30 years and still shreds on a short board. Isabel picked up surfing when she moved to Nicaragua for work and has developed such a beautiful style.

Each session is filmed and we spend the afternoon getting some critical feedback from Holly. Its is fairly confronting. Feeling yourself surf and seeing yourself surf are two different things. Over the past few years I've become more dynamic constantly shifting position in response to my placement on the wave. I have finally started turning and after a week of surfing rights in El Salvador, I am feeling pretty good on my take offs and heading down the line.

I've managed to put on 5 - 6 kilos over the last five months (care of trail mix) so I am not enjoying seeing myself on film and in photos. However, I've paid to much to be vain and understand the value of watching myself. I can see the tension I carry in my shoulders and how tight my upper back are, limiting my movements on the wave. 

I set several intentions for this week.

1. To relax in the surf and select better quality waves.
2. Refine my pop ups on the right side.
3. Work on compression and using my lower body to drive the board.

Attached is a short video that Holly made of our first session. I am at the 45 second mark. Its a small one but such a fun wave. 

Wanting to head home........El Tunco, El Salvador

So with a really heavy heart, I caught a flight from LAX to San Salvador for the final five weeks of my journey. I really want to be flying home but I've already made some commitments in Central America and I want to make the most of this opportunity. I'm unlikely to return soon. The final five weeks is nothing to complain about - a week with Holly Beck (ex pro surfer) on a surf camp in Las Flores, six days in San Juan Del Sur, five days in San Francisco and a week in Hawaii with my wonderful friend Steph.

It has been an incredible ride so far full of fantastic adventures with some amazing friends both old and new. I've surfed a lot less then I thought I would, fallen in love with the beauty and diversity of the United States, crossed Central America off my bucket list, been sicker then I've been in a long time and spent a huge amount of time distilling what I want in my life. I've ridden a motorbike in Java, surfed Bingin (Indonesia) and Punta Roca (El Salvador) on low tides holding my own and found my guru. But now my funds are running dry and my heart is just not up to the challenge of travelling solo through sketchy countries.

Its ironic that I'm hanging out for the routine and rhythm of life back home. To play down at the beach with Bear, drink good coffee with friends in Fremantle, have a glass of wine and a plate of pasta at Gino's on a Friday night and surf a wave that I know like the back of my hand. My friend, Christina asked me what would the first thing I would do when I got home..........I don't think I answered properly but it would go something like this...............grab the dog, drive down to the beach, walk barefoot through the white, white sand and the water in the setting sun, drive past the Boatshed in Cottesloe, pick up some fresh Salmon, kipler potatoes and a bottle of local Sauvignon Blanc and have a huge cook up at my house.

This time 10 months ago all I could dream of was quitting my job and thinking about me for an unforeseeable amount of time. Wondering around the globe following the waves, learning some Spanish and meeting new people. I had dreamed about surfing the waves of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Now I just couldn't care less and can't bear another day of this routine. I want something more then hmm, time for coffee, okay, where am I going to sleep tonight and jesus, time for dinner again. Ironically, I feel that my surfing has gone backwards despite all the time in the water.

It really is all a question of balance. This time last year I was out of control. My job was incredibly stressful, surf rowing was tougher then I ever remembered and my body was not up to the challenge and I was trying to fit part time study around full time work. If I've learnt anything over the past five months, its that I just have to find balance in my life when I return home. I need to apply those lessons I learnt in my yoga teaching course earlier this year and spend more time being and less time doing. More time breathing and less time running around.

Enough waxing lyrical and whinging about my situation.............its time to change the wax on my surfboard and bring out my fins.

LA Style with the Dump Rider Crew

I was lucky enough to surf with some locals while transiting through Los Angeles. Considering the size of that place, having access to a car and some new friends is necessary to get around. Public transit in LA is a pretty scary concept and it would take a committed surfer to bus to the good surfing beaches.

My Hawaiian friend, Randy who I met in Pacitan, Java put me in contact with Matt, his younger brother. Through Matt, I met various members of the Dump Rider Crew - a group of local LA surfers.....'struggling to improve' (ain't that the truth!) and surfing at every opportunity possible.  'Leave egos at the door, and surf for the love of it!' is this crew's philosophy.

Old Man's, San Onofre State Park

My first surf was at San Onofre State Park over a long weekend. A 4 - 6 foot swell was forecast and Matt had a friend with a beach side campsite on the army base. Christina, a fellow yogi, surfer and good friend of Matt's, picked me at from the hostel at a very early hour and together we drove to Matt's place in El Segundo. From there, we piled into one car and took off an hour south in San Diego county.

The swell was rolling through when we arrived with a number of different peaks firing nicely. Being a long weekend and all, it was unbelievably crowded but a wave is a wave is a wave and its always nice to get wet. I didn't even stop to consider that the water temperature would be significantly less the Costa Rica and my bikini's and rash guard were not going to cut it. 

The first duck dive was a killer and I was lucky enough to score six on the head on the way out. It is always nice to time the entry well. I tried to take off on a few but struggled to find my rhythm. It was really crowded, really cold and my buoyancy in the water was different to that of Indonesia and Central America. I felt like I was sitting lower in the water and just couldn't move through it at the same pace as I had. I gave up after 45 minutes, sprinted out of the water and run to Rick's campsite to warm my hands up over the stove top. 

The rest of the crew - Khang, Sheryl, Rick, Christina and Matt dribbled in over the next few hours and joined me for coffee and breakfast. I'm not sure anyone had an epic surf, with that crowd it was almost impossible but each had a few fun waves. 

The wind picked up for the rest of the day, so we sat reading, eating, chatting and waited out the late afternoon glass off. I managed to borrow Matt's wettie for the session which made all the difference. I had such a fun surf at Old Mans on a 6'1 Spyder (similar to a fish) belonging to Rick. At 22 inches wide, it was so easy to paddle on to the waves and pull down the line. After such a dismal surf in the morning, I was relieved to have some fun and take nice little waves. 


My final surf with the Dump Rider crew was at Manhattan Beach, their local break. The wave is a series of beach breaks running from the sewerage factory along the coast for a few kilometres. It reminded me way too much of surfing Scarborough Beach over summer to really enjoy myself but it was nice to meet more of the local crew and catch up with Christina and Matt again. Looking forward to surfing waves in the warmer waters of El Salvador!

Wise words from a well travelled friend

Pavones, Costa Rica

Niall and I hired a car and drove to Pavones, Costa Rica to ride the second longest left in the world. We timed it on the back of a large swell coming through for the weekend hoping that we would avoid the crowds but still get to surf this amazing point break at its best.

It was here that the homesickness hit. It pervaded every thought, feeling, moment and took the happiness and enjoyment out of everything. The swell was pumping, my travel buddy, Niall was having the surf sessions of his life and I just wanted to go home.

I felt so lost, so far away from everyone and everything I loved. I emailed a good and well travelled friend. Here is what he wrote back. 

Travelling is not easy.
Everything is heavy.
The food, the little risk, the bad beds, the roosters, the rats, the annoying people....
I understand you when you say that you are tired.

Take it easy...slow down...eat well and try to sleep well.
So you will soon have the batteries full again and you can continue to travel.

but remember...all the heavy things are actually good for your spirit and your knowledge.
I am sure you are learning a lot during these days...
A lessons that only travelling can give you.

Ancoro Imparo.

Surfing with las chicas at Santa Teresa

Fun peaks at Playa Santa Teresas

After five weeks of intense travel driving a motorbike through Java and staying at a shag shack in La Libertad, I was excited to catch up with my friend Niall in San Jose. We planned to head straight to the coast, find a cute little apartment and surf fun waves for two weeks. 

Santa Teresa seemed like the best place to do this with a plethora of yoga schools, restaurants and a mixture of reef and beach breaks within easy reach. It is a tiny jungle village on the Nicoya Peninsula, a five hour bus and ferry ride from San Jose. As long as I have good coffee nearby, fresh fruit and vegetables, things to explore, a running route of some description and good waves to surf, I am a very happy camper.

We totally scored with the accommodation staying at Hotel Meli Melo paying $30 a night for a twin room, shared kitchen, wifi and living area. The waves were crazy fun. We were so lucky to time our arrival with a building swell. Playa Santa Teresa is a series of super fun peaks that easily holds a crowd. Its a great wave on a smallish swell maxing out at around 5 foot. On the other side of the peninsula are several reef breaks that fire when the swell gets bigger.

Aside from the waves, the town was full of chicks that ripped. Every session there was at least 3 – 4 girls in the water, more then holding their own. I got to meet and chat to a couple and was so inspired by their stories...................Evie Johnstone is a Jaco based surfer trying to break into the professional circuit, Josie Green had been surfing for four years and blogs about surf life and surfing chicks in Santa Teresa, Veronica Quiros designs surf bikinis (Tica surf) and teaches Spanish and Margerit is a local artist and owner of Zwart Cafe / Art (a perfect local whilst on vacation). These were just the girls I chatted to in the line up.

I was also stoked to discover a wicked brand of surf bikini – Calavera. Every girl that surfs has a ridiculous obsession with bikinis and finding the perfect pair that will stay on when wiping out is pretty important. I don't know how many times I have paddled out the back, sat up on my board and realised my bikinis are undone and my nipples are pointing to the line up. I spotted Evie wearing a pair whilst surfing and paddled over to her to ask her who made them. Luckily for me, she is a Calavera sponsored rider and had a few pairs for sale. They are the only bikini I have ever surfed in that truly stays on in all conditions and their pretty damn sexy as well!