When you think of Cornwall what are the first things to spring to mind? Pasties, cream teas and seagulls, or sun, sea and surf? If it’s the latter then it sounds like you need to indulge your inner surfer in our beautiful county!
Global Boarders are a group of local surfers who are mobile around the Cornish coast, so you really get to see the best of what we have to offer from the locals themselves. They arrange surf lessons wherever the conditions best suit the group, so you could end up at Fistral, St Ives, Gwithian, Sennen or maybe even a secret spot…
We were invited to join them on a days surfing, and although planned months in advance, and with the weather being a bit of a lottery at this time of year, it ended up being the warmest day since last summer!
The best conditions on the day were at Gwithian, which was handy as it’s just down the road from our office in Hayle. On reaching Gwithian we made our way down to the cliff tops to check the surf and tide conditions and then returned to the vans to don our rubber!
Some of us had our own wetsuits, but for those that didn’t, Global Boarders provided everything we needed: boots, gloves, hoods, and even beach towels.
The six of us made our way down the beach with our oversized foam ‘swell’ boards, and were reassured the large boards would benefit us once in the water. We would apparently be grateful of the increased buoyancy.
After a brief safety talk, the two more experienced members of the group made their way hastily to the water to start showing off their moves. The remaining four of us stayed on the beach for the surfing tutorial and then made our way to the water’s edge, albeit with trepidation of the water temperatures…
After a few minutes we were frolicking around catching waves on our bellies like beached whales (or the seals just around the corner at Godrevy), jumping on and falling off the boards, hardly even noticing the nippy water temperature (the sun certainly helped with this!). The Global Boarders team were standing by ready with a waterproof camera and another one on the beach with a massive lens, ready to catch the imminent wipe outs (surf speak for the moment you very ungracefully faceplant the sea!).
After about 15 minutes getting to grips with our new large yellow friends we made our way back out on to the sand for a quick briefing on the next steps, the natural progression of getting to our knees and ultimately our feet! We practiced this new motion on the safety of the sand before braving the waves again.
Some of us got the hang of getting to our feet quicker than others – although a few had previously braved the waves the summer before – but before long we were all up on our feet, even if just for a few seconds at a time. It’s fair to say we were all bitten by the surf bug and were battling our way through wave after wave. Steve (who was in the water with us taking pics and videoing) was on hand to offer us all the individual advice needed to help us improve and stand up for longer.
Before we knew it, well over an hour had passed and we were all starting to get peckish and our bodies were tiring, but the promise of catching the next wave was teasing us to stay in. The walk back up to the car park was a lot quicker on the way back due to the incoming tide, and we quickly changed in to warm dry clothing. We were provided with a lovely packed lunch which we devoured in a sunny patch in the dunes.
Chris was busy editing our photos while we finished our lunch, and we then made our way to Sunset surf for a coffee before getting a sneaky preview of our mornings accomplishments. The two more experienced surfers among us enjoyed the limelight with some pretty amazing photos, while the rest of us took the lead in some awesome falls…
The boys went through the surf packages that they can offer; whether this involves just a one-off lesson booked on the day, a week long course, or even a school trip to Morocco they really can offer the true surfer lifestyle package! They’ll even pick you up from any of our holiday cottages in Cornwall, and return you later that day.
After seeing video evidence of us making fools of ourselves, we made our way back to the office, DVD in hand, and all promising we would go again! By the look on Katie’s face, she certainly enjoyed it!
Make sure you check out the video below of our new skills… Why not give it a go next time you’re here and find out which one of us you would be more like!
Find out more about Surfing at Gwithian and Godrevy on our blog.
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Tags: Gwithian | Surfing | Watersports |