Our Surf Sistas Surf & Yoga Weekend Retreats are great for all surfing abilities, so its the perfect choice if you are coming with a friend or partner and you are at different stages of your surfing journey but would like a shared experience. Our coaching sessions are divided into small groups tailored to your level and our maximum 1:4 coaching ratio (standard surf schools are 1:8) means that we can really focus in on your surfing goals and help you progress quickly, wether these are your first waves or you are a seasoned surfer.

Choose a Surf & Yoga weekend if you are looking for an easy and fun escape to the coast as a solo traveller, you want to learn to surf in a supportive and friendly environment, you would like to meet some like-minded women or just experience a beautiful part of the UK for the weekend. With great waves on the doorstep, a beautiful 4 star hotel by the beach, attentive surf coaching, and even the option of a ride to/from London, all you need to do is block of a weekend in your diary, book your spot and let us take care of the rest!

If you have a bit more time to spare and are keen to progress your surfing quickly then check out our 4 day Beginner Surf Courses, which run Monday to Friday with Wednesday off for a chance to rest, recover and explore this wonderful corner of Cornwall! Why not take a hike along the stunning wild north cornwall cliffs, take a dip in a quiet cove (we will share our fave swim spots with you), stand up paddleboard or kayak along the Gannel river, hang out in Newquay’s much loved eateries, head to a beachside sauna or treat yourself with a session at one of the local luxury spas.

To keep our weekly courses as inclusive as possible we don’t include accommodation so that you can pick the option that is best for your budget. Drop us an email and we will send you the password to our online list of recommended hotels, airbnb apartments & rooms, B&Bs, hostels, surf lodges & campsites.

Find out more about our 4 day beginner courses and reserve your Early Bird Discount here

Our popular White to Green Improver Course is moving into its 14th year and shows no signs of slowing down. We designed this course as a stepping stone for women who have covered the basics in the white water, have maybe got into a bit of a rut there (or have found themselves back in the white water because surf progression is not always linear!) and want to gain the confidence and techniques to consistently paddle out and catch green waves.

Its a great opportunity to invest some quality time in your surfing progression, if you have been feeling stuck, have lost your mojo or lost confidence this is the perfect course for you! Read more about the course and snap up a £100 Early bird discount here for a limited time only!

Not sure which Surf Sistas Course or experience is right for you? Check out our guide here or drop us an email and we can help you decide.

Its easy to get frustrated when you feel trapped surfing in the white water.  We’ve got some drills you can do to keep yourself motivated and improve your chances of getting onto green waves as soon as the conditions are back in your favour. 

Finding yourself back in the white water can be frustrating when you have moved on to catching green waves.  At Surf Sistas we are always looking for the best conditions and the right time to surf with our students, but sometimes we all just have to make the most of what the wave gods deliver.  White water can still be our friend. In fact it can teach us lots of skills that will help us in our progression from white to green. 

If you find yourself stuck in the white water think of it as an opportunity to practice some skills and give these drills a try. Practicing them will give you a much better chance of catching a green wave when you paddle out back again: 

• Duck diving/ turtle rolls and pushing through the wave :: instead of walking out because it’s shallow enough, get on your board and paddle. Practice whichever technique you need to improve on and start to recognise the best technique for the size and shape of the oncoming wave.

• Wave selection; the good, the bad and the unexpected :: Learning to recognise the good waves from the bad ones comes with practice so always be aware of what works and what doesn’t.

• Angled take offs ::  If you go out back having never practised an angled take off, chances are you will be struggling to catch the wave and may end up doing a sideways James Bond roll over the falls! Practice angled take offs in the white water using your weight to lean into the wave and fix your inside rail into it.

• Riding waves left and right :: When you complete your angled take off you then need to keep that inside rail in the face of the wave (white water or green) so make sure your weight is on that rail through the pop up into standing.

• Length of ride :: Working on where your weight is on the board and adjusting this according to the speed and power of the wave will give you a much longer ride. Shuffle forwards and backwards and play with your stance to feel the difference it makes.  Remember to look where you are going and not at your feet, torso stacked, you want your weight evenly distributed over that stringer; a rogue bum or head sticking out is going to tip you one way or the other!

Try some of these out in your next white water session & let us know how you get on!

#SURFBETTER with #SURFSISTAS

Check out our improver weekends and white to green weeks!

hmmm it’s a bit big for me today ..

We asked Surf Coach & Fitness trainer Ale Munoz to show us a simple routine that anyone can do at home to prepare for an upcoming surf trip.

You don’t need any equipment, just yourself, the floor and maybe a mat.  The tropical beach is optional!

Don’t worry if you don’t usually work-out, Ale has included beginner versions of each exercise. There is no better time to start than now!

Do 3 rounds of the 4 different exercises in each session ..  you are really going to feel the difference if you incorporate this into your routine before you come surfing with us! Let us know how you get on!

Pre Surf Trip Fitness with FitnSalty from Surf Sistas on Vimeo.

Follow Ale on instagram @fitnsalty or join her for a Surfit class in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

Filmed by LuSea Films @luseafilms

So why do we want to cross-step?

Well, longboards are long – so you’ll need to move around the board to turn and trim. Unlike shortboards where you can simply apply more weight to the front foot to go faster and to the back foot to slow down, we use the entire board to change our speed. So we cross-step to control speed along a wave.

Not only is cross stepping an elegant way to control your board but is also serves a purpose. The motion of shifting your weight from one foot to the other to move keeps the board in the right position on the wave. If you shuffle your feet it is more likely that your board will lose the trim line as you are putting weight on and off your board.

Cross-stepping is only a part of noseriding, the motion of cross-stepping can be practised on any part of the wave.  However to successfully get to the nose and perform a noseride you have to find the correct section of the wave, by which we mean the steep top third of the wave, have your rail and tail firmly secure in the wave and perform any kind of stall to slow the board down before gracefully speeding up your board by wandering up the deck to potentially hanging your toes over the nose. We will write another blog post on this!

How to Cross Step: Step by step.  

1. The first step (pun intended) is to work on stance. Try and be as loose as possible and really feel the board under your feet and get used to the feeling of the board on the wave. 
2. Start with your weight centred over your back foot, so you’re stacking your head, chest and hips. To make the first step shift your hips forward to transition your weight over your front foot. Now your back foot is not carrying weight, you can lift this foot and place it in front of your leading leg.
3. Once this foot is placed down, you can pause here if you need to get use the feeling of standing crosslegged. Then to make the next step, shift your weight forward again using your hips and bring your back foot in front to make your next step, coming back into an uncrossed stance.
4. You can keep repeating this process if there’s the opportunity to get to the nose of the board. Or you can pause at any point if you find yourself trimming nicely down the face of the wave.
5. If you need to move back up the board, reverse the process, by shifting your weight over your back foot to bring your unweighted front foot behind.
6. Remember to keep your feet facing sideways on and not pointing forwards to maintain stability. 

3 Key Tips to help you!

1. SLOW IT DOWN

You’re likely dreaming of crostepping with finnesse up the board and securing a noseride. It is an incredible feeling. You might find the temptation once you’ve popped up to charged up the board to the nose! Not only is this not the most stylish approach, but you’re likely to take big hurried steps that cause the board to be unstable and increasing your chances of wiping out. And this is not a habit we want to reinforce.

Whilst lot’s of the pros, effortlessly reach the nose in seconds, the likelihood is that you’re reading this blog as you’ve not quite mastered the art yet. To start with. forget about getting to the nose and SLOW YOUR MOVEMENT DOWN. 

Start off by taking one step and pausing to recentre yourself before taking another step forward. I would advise you even start by taking one step forward then one step back. Stepping backwards is equally important as you need to successfully move back to get over the fins if you need to make a trimming or carving turn.

Hint: Keep your centre of gravity (head and torso) above your feet as you move backwards. If your lean backwards too much the board will run away from you and you will fall off the back.

By starting off with one step at a time, making slow movement and getting your weight centred, your cross step will be more controlled and you’ll be setting yourself up for more success when you start to attempt noserides.

2. Practise on the land

It so beneficial to get used to the action of cross stepping on the ground. Start cross stepping around your house, at work or wherever else you can get some practice in.

To get used to being a bit more off balance, you could also practice on a wobble board or a slackline, or just a piece of narrow pavement! This will improve your muscle memory and directly help with your cross stepping when you are next in the water

3. Commit to the cross step

Its so easy to make excuses and not cross-step, especially when the waves are really nice and you don’t want to mess them up! We can easily focus on not wiping out as a measure of success meaning we don’t allow ourselves to play around.

In reality when trying something knew like a crosstep, you’re gonna wipe out. A lot. So instead, try giving it a go once you’re popped up and are riding the wave. At this point you might not be in the perfect position on the wave, but don’t stress, the aim when you’re starting out if to get a feel for the movement.

Hint: if you surfing down to the bottom of the wave, that might not be the best time to step forward as you might nose dive. 

Come water dance with us!

Need some extra help getting your cross step dialled? Join us on a longboard clinic weekend, or a week in the longest point break in Morocco – Course dates being released soon – Sign up to our newsletter for exclusive first news!

Cross stepping is just one part of our courses, where you can learn all things longboard from technique to style.

Time the sets

If you spend enough time watching the sets come through before you try to paddle out, you’ll know exactly how often a set comes, and how long you’ll have to make it out. Knowing this makes it much easier to make a decision about when to go, and will reduce the chance of starting your paddle out just as a big set rolls in.

Watch the waves before you paddle out

As well as timing the sets, spend some time watching where the waves are breaking before you paddle out. This helps you spot gaps between peaks and see where other surfers are paddling out more easily.

Let the wave roll under you

If a wave does come when you’re paddling out, but it’s a white water wave that’s not too big, then often the easiest way to get over it is to just let the white water pass between you and your board. To do this paddle towards the wave then push up into a plank position as the wave goes under you (as demonstrated by Kara in our Costa Rica paddle school!).

Turn your back to the wave

If you don’t think you’ll be able to push up over the wave, another option is to sit back on the tail of your board, turn your back to the wave and hold on tight! This shouldn’t push you too far back to shore, so you can then quickly turn around and keep on paddling.

Learn to turtle roll

#TitsLegsGo turtle roll mantras in the pool with #surfsistas #surfcoach Krisha #surfsistas #nusalembongan #surfprogression

A post shared by Surf Sistas (@surfsistas) on May 20, 2017 at 10:10pm PDT

Often the best way to get through waves when you’re paddling out is to learn to turtle roll. Turtle rolling is easier than it looks once you get the hang of it!

Paddle towards the wave then pull on your rail to flip your board so you’re upside down underneath it. Hold on tight and pull your board towards you until you feel the wave has passed, then you can do the move in reverse and pull yourself back up onto your board.

Good luck on the next paddle out Sistas! Let us know how you get on, and if you’d like some more tips on mastering green waves, come along to our next white to green course this summer.

We’ve been running our signature ‘White to Green’ improver course since 2010, supporting 1000s of women to build the confidence and skills to consistently and confidently paddle out to those green waves, and have a great time in the process!

However, your surfing journey doesn’t stop when you get out to those green waves and we want to provide you with a course that will continue to support your progression. This is why we’ve introduced our new 2 Day Intensive Intermediate Weekends. 

Who is this course for?

Designed with a comprehensive fun-filled weekend schedule, this course is for our “green plus” water women. If you’re out the back catching left and right unbroken waves then this course is for you.

Perhaps you’ve reached a plateau where you’re feeling like you’re not making progress and you’re unsure how to move out of this rut? Or perhaps you have a specific technique goal in mind. You want to jazz up your style, work on your longboarding cross-steps or you want to ride a shorter board and learn manoeuvres that will maximise your ride? Maybe you want to start navigating bigger waves and boost your confidence. If any of this sounds familiar then book on and we can work with you to level up your skills.

Why have we created an intermediate course?

Surfing is your forever journey

When you’re learning to surf or moving through the improver stages, it’s easy to see big jumps and pivotal moments in your progress. Most of us begin with the simple aim of consistently paddling out to the line-up and riding green waves. There is no argument that this is one of the hardest steps to make, and takes time and patience. But it doesn’t stop there.

There is more to learn to maximise the enjoyment of surfing and move through times of plateauing. This could be working on steep wave take off, generating speed along the face, or making effective turns to maximise riding time. If you feel your current style is holding you back from the ultimate ride, we’re on hand to identify these habits and offer new techniques and fixes.

A course we would take ourselves!

Within the surfing industry, we noticed a distinct lack of intermediate courses available for surfers. I firmly believe I could’ve made a lot more progress if I had received additional coaching beyond the green wave riding stage. This is a course I would’ve jumped at to help me get over the plateau in some areas of my progress. So we want to ensure you can maintain the momentum in your progress and keep motivation high.

Getting an additional perspective on your surfing is incredibly valuable. We may be able to notice something that you weren’t aware of or hadn’t thought about. You might not realise you’re stalling on your back foot when trying to generate speed, and that’s totally ok. Thats where we can help!

More tailored tuition

On our popular  White to Green courses we cater for women with a wide range of abilities. This is great! It means we can learn from one another and we absolutely love it when many of you come back time and time again to benefit from our coaching (and of course the lovely camaraderie of our White to Green groups!).

However, we notice that sometimes the ability range can be broad ranging from those paddling out for the first time to those of you wanting to charge those bigger waves. We think it is time to create this new course space that will enable us to give more focus and tailored coaching for those of you at the more intermediate level.

A weekend course to fit with your schedule

We know life can be busy with work, family and other commitments. Sometimes it’s not possible to get away from the grind and into the ocean, and so we are offering this course on weekends to hopefully make it easy to find space in your diary.

It’s a short intensive course so that we can quickly get to the nitty gritty of your progress plateau. Perhaps you’re not opening up your shoulders on your cutback, or your paddling technique is setting you up for a late takeoff. With four sessions plus video analysis midway, we’re taking a smart and efficient approach to give you specific feedback and support that you can take forward in your own post-course surf sessions.

If you’re a Beginner or Improver looking for a weekend course, we’ve also got you covered. Check out our Surf + Yoga Weekend which cater to all of our weekend wave warriors, whatever your ability level.

Calling all our Early Birds!

We’ll be running three Intermediate weekends during 2023 and are currently offering these courses at a special early bird price (subject to availability)

Course Dates:

27/28 May

17/18 June

1/2 July

Early Bird Price – £199 (full price usually £239)

Click here for the full course lowdown or slide us a message at surfsistas@gmail.com

We can’t wait to surf with you!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a wall of death that I can’t get over and I’m going to drown!

That might sound a bit far fetched, but let’s be honest, as surfers, no matter your ability, we have all been in a situation where we have genuinely thought that we are going to drown, even Kelly Slater.

Unfortunately, that comes with the territory of being a surfer or partaking in any other extreme water sport. 

When we are learning  to surf, we usually start off in the white water, where we can touch the sand in waist deep water. Then we get comfortable there and it gets a bit boring, and that’s when we toy with the idea of paddling out to the backline, where we can see all of the ‘pro’ surfers bobbing around. 

This is the hardest part of learning to surf, transitioning from the white water to paddling out to catch green waves, it’s a whole different ball game, it can almost feel like you are having to learn to surf again.

Not only are you faced with waves breaking on you with more power, there are surfers riding towards you, rip currents and so many emotions to deal with, such as anxiety, fear, nervousness & excitement.

The adrenalin of paddling out to the green waves can be overwhelming and exhausting, even for a seasoned surfer.  Yet the reward is so worth it! I still remember my first green waves, taking bigger drops, the speed, how smooth the rides were and learning my first manoeuvres, honestly, these are some of my best surfing memories.

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Even so, after surfing for 15 years, I still find myself in situations out in the water where I can feel panic setting in, but I have learnt a few tricks to remain calm so that i can keep surfing or exit the water safely: 

• Find a happy song: whenever I’m in a high adrenalin situation, i think of my happy song, for me it’s ‘Anaconda’- by Niki Minaj, it’s a ridiculously bad song and it instantly makes me laugh in the line up no matter what situation I am in. 

• Count : If you are underwater in the washing machine, remain calm and count numbers in your head. In 15 years I’ve only ever reached 8 seconds, which really isn’t that long, it just feels like an eternity sometimes.

•  If in doubt, dont paddle out:  If you start to paddle out and you feel like its out of your comfort zone, turn around and come in, there’s no shame, even if you have to sit on the beach and wait for friends, it’s better than getting into a situation where you panic and lose confidence.  

REMINDER: fear is healthy, panic is deadly – it’s good to push ourselves, we welcome the butterflies once in a while, but we never want to be in a situation that leads to panic. 

• Breath hold course: I highly recommend these courses as you will be so surprised at how long you are actually capable of holding your breath for, you can even do them online now. I joined a 3hr introduction to freediving course, and at the start I could hold my breath for 45 seconds, by the end I could hold it for almost 3 minutes. Now whenever I’m getting a beating or I’m nervous, I always remind myself how long I can actually hold my breath for and I start to believe in myself again. 

Now, let’s talk about surfboards… 

Shortboards are harder to paddle than longboards because they have less buoyancy, but on the flip side this makes them easier to duck dive through waves. Don’t get me wrong, as a shortboarder myself, you can still get rattled, but generally I feel like I have more control in bigger waves because the board is more manoeuvrable.

You also don’t need to ride big ,steep, powerful waves in order to ride a smaller board, there are so many great designs out there today, small boards with lots of buoyancy, so you can shortboard in all conditions, even in 2ft waist high baby waves. You don’t need to be an ultimate shredder or love big waves in order to surf a small board.

If you’re unsure, it helps to talk with a surfboard shaper to see what’s right for you, to make sure that you have a big or small enough board for the waves that you feel comfortable in, and your ability. Talking to a shaper might seem a bit intimidating at first, but just remember surfboards are their favourite subject and in our experience they are always friendly and keen to help you progress.

Surfing has possibly the slowest learning curve of any sport, so go easy on yourself, don’t put too much pressure on yourself, set yourself small, achievable goals and have fun! 

In 2021 Surf Sistas are running 2 day Shortboard Clinics, perfect for you if you are wanting to transition to a shorter board or already ride a shortboard and want to work on different techniques.

Come on your own or with your friend/mum/Aunt/Sister/Partner/Grandma .. Many women join us solo so don’t be worried about that at all, its always really good fun and super sociable, come and meet some kindred ocean-loving women!

Click here to book your Beginner level Surf & Yoga Weekend

Click here to book your Improver/Intermediate level Surf & Yoga Weekend