How it Works

Students begin their day with warm up stretching and surfing instruction on the beach. The rest of the morning session is spent in the warm, beautiful water surfing and practicing skills with the professional instructor. Lunch is included and is served at a terrific beach side restaurant just a few steps away from our shop headquarters. After lunch comes a rest and a talk on the history and evolution of surfing. The afternoon session will focus on progressing student’s surfing skills and awareness. Students are always encouraged to surf and take rest breaks at their own pace.

The Word on Goofy Foot Surfing Instruction

Students learn to surf with a great degree of success which we attribute to the highly developed teaching techniques and surfing fundamentals we offer. WeThe great majority of the time, Goofy Foot instructors teach while riding a Softop Longboard. Since 1994 this has been a distinguishing feature of owner/founder Tim Sherer’s style of teaching and still is ongoing today at Goofy Foot. When done skillfully, teaching from a board can facilitate a much more safe, comprehensive, and expansive learn-to-surf experience than a style of instruction where the instructor stands stationary and pushes students into waves. Some of the most important advantages of teaching from a board include; the potential to surf or paddle to a student as fast as is possible, the ability to perform demonstrations and to surf the same wave with a student to provide up close coaching, as well as enabling the instructor to paddle around the surf zone with the student to provide maximum potential guidance.

Depending on their level of experience, students will begin their day with an introduction or review of the fundamentals of surfing and ocean safety as well as some warm up stretching. Surf Camps are great in that they allow more time for students to receive in-depth instruction in the areas of ocean awareness, tides, swells, waves, currents, and reefs.

Sand Surfing

The experience we have gained from teaching surfing since 1994 has taught us that a great beach lesson translates into a great water lesson. The first half-hour of surf camp is spent on the sand and in the warm water of the reef-protected lagoon beachside of our shop in Lahaina. The surf break is a quick paddle from there.

On the beach, students learn and practice an easy approach that is based on four fundamental stances and three proven ways to stand up and stay up in white water and open-faced waves. We will introduce easy methods for paddling, navigating the surf zone, timing and catching waves, control, regaining balance, maneuvers, emergency stopping, and even wiping out. Learning safety is paramount and our instructors instill in students the concepts of “360 degrees of awareness” and “constant readiness”. Both are vital to safe participation in surfing and always helpful for living life.

Beach time is important to give students and instructors a chance to warm up, develop rapport, and go over voice and hand signals together. Instructors will advise students of the day’s prevailing conditions and go over rules-of-the-road and cautions related to our specific Hawaiian reef break before their surfing session. They will also address any questions or concerns of students.

In Mother Ocean

Surfing, playing and learning in the same royal surfing grounds of the ancient Hawaiian Capital of Lahaina, where King Kamehameha III himself rode waves, is where students and instructors spend most of their time. Each morning we set up a small red buoy-ball near to the surf break as a fixed, easy-to-see reference point for navigation. This buoy marks the areas of the surf zone where there is minimal wave action, where students are able to rest or just watch in general calmness with relaxed awareness.

The instructor will paddle with students to the buoy and give directions on maintaining a position in a moving body of water and illustrate any prevailing currents. At that point, students work on a rotation from the buoy. One or two at a time will paddle with their instructor to the inner wave zone to prepare to catch their first rides. Students begin in small surf and progress according to their own abilities. After each ride they are instructed to paddle back to the buoy before heading back out to their instructor for more fun. Paddling and surfing in this manner helps to orientate students to any ocean currents and to navigating safely in and around the surf zone.

World Class Surf Instructors

Goofy Foot instructors are responsible for every aspect of maintaining this rotation with students until each student displays a sufficient grasp of the basics and displays a necessary level of comfort, understanding, and ability in the wave environment. At this point, with instructor approval, students are given more freedom to surf on their own as instructors continue to supervise and facilitate throughout the duration of surf camp. Instructors aim to divide time evenly among all students and to ensure that everyone stays safe, has fun, and exceeds their goals. The morning session generally last 3 hours or until students are ready to break for lunch.

For the full-day surf camp, the afternoon session will reinforce what students learned and practiced that morning. We will proceed to introduce intermediate or advanced skills and focus on taking students to the next level and to possibly bigger waves. We have over eighty surfboards to choose from and will match the right board to each student’s ability and desire for style and optimal success. Lunch time is for eating good, resting, relaxing and learning a bit about the 1000-year history and evolution of the art form/sport of surfing. Facilities also include a freshwater shower, changing room, private bathrooms, safe storage for your gear, pro photography, and video viewing equipment.

Multiple day sessions are available, discounted and definitely recommended for your surfing!