Surf Lessons with Hermosa Riders

We signed the kids up for surfing lessons with Hermosa Riders Surf School (in Playa Hermosa in Jaco). This Playa Hermosa (means beautiful beach and apparanently there are 3 different Playa Hermosas in Costa Rica) is a great surfing beach. I will share with you at a later date when we watched a surfing competition. This is the beach closest to us, but Jaco Beach is just up the road and the waves are softer there and that is where their lessons took place.

This top picture if of their instructor (Arial, runs the surf school with his sister) teaching them how to wax their board and the importance of it. They do provide the boards to use, as well as rashguards if you need one (my kids have their own), and a bottle of water.

They start out with some brief instruction on land so they can work out the sequence of movements before getting on the water, then it's time to get on the water and go!

So, here is my 6 year old son trying out surfing for the first time. Arial took them out one at a time, so while the other was surfing in they had to wait closer to shore. They certainly got plenty of surfing time in during their 2 hours out on the water. Each time they wet out he work teach them another skill (flipping a board, going under waves, getting up on the board if you fell off, etc.) I took a little video of each of the kids during the first hour of the lesson, so they certainly got better than this, but it's a start.

Next up is my 9 year old daughter. She is a more cautious child and had trouble feeling comfortable standing more upright, she wanted to be closer to the water if she fell. But also, being the cautious child she certainly listened to the instructions to cover their head right away when they fall off. She had better posture further along in the session, but by then I was done taking pictures and sitting comfortably in the chairs under the canopy (see below). She did a very good job on paddling out there and has enough strength to do it all on her own and after about 15 minutes she didn't need much help and was just getting more and more instruction out there but not the assistance.


Both kids loved it and are excited to do it again, although we won't be near an ocean until the summer and when we are that ocean is much colder and we would have to rent wet suits as well as surf boards. But maybe if we head to the Waterpark of America they can try it out there, or maybe it is time we buy a kneeboard or possibly a wakeboard for the back of the boat. Certainly I think they should try water skiing this summer!

For us parents, they set up a tent/canopy and brought a couple chairs for us. So, we were able to sit out of the sun and relax while the kids did their thing.

Kids lessons were $45 each, which was cheaper than the adult lesson (which are $55). I really wanted to take lessons myself, but there just wasn't time. Maybe we will go some where that I can take lessons this fall. I think it would be fun to try.


Here is a sneak peak at the collage I will be sharing on Save Green Being Green in March (still finishing up sharing Wordless Wednesday posts on there from Vancouver).