Real improvement comes from real instruction

Having spent around 60 hours in the water so far on this trip, I've not only done a lot of surfing myself, I've witnessed a good bit of surfing by others of various skill levels. As a beginner, it's often pretty humbling to realize that seriously that little kid is that much better than me? but it's also pretty cool that I now have enough experience to look at some of the other beginners out there and recognize what they're doing right and wrong. Aha, I think, you nosedived that time because you weren't going fast enough. Or, you missed that one because you tried to pop up a second too soon. Watching other people make mistakes that I've made myself reinforces the knowledge that I've acquired and the mistakes that I've corrected or am still trying to correct in my own surfing.

Of course, my critical monologue is strictly internal. It's not my place to be offering unsolicited advice. What drives me crazy is that quite often there is somebody present whose job is to offer advice and criticism - a paid surf instructor! If a novice like me can see someone fall off their board and think you lost your balance because you put both arms in front of you instead of keeping your leading arm back over the rail, then a professional instructor should have that and more to say.

Sadly, the impression I get is that many surf instructors in this world are really paid to assist rather than instruct - to push beginners into waves rather than teach them how to catch waves themselves. And I guess there's nothing wrong with that, if that's what the student wants. Some people undoubtedly just want to have a fun couple of hours, where fun means "standing up on a surfboard by any means necessary long enough for somebody to take a picture." And that's fine. I just think it's a shame that there are probably plenty of people who would enjoy and benefit from actual instruction who don't realize that they aren't getting it from their so-called instructor.

One of the reasons that I esteem the Surf Simply coaches so highly is because of their relentless focus on technical fundamentals, constructive critique, and real improvement. If your hands are off to one side, they will tell you. If you're exhibiting the dreaded poo stance, they will pause the video and show you.

And the passion for true teaching and real results makes Alex Wilkinson, my current instructor, worth his weight in gold, too. Aside from coaching me once a week on an official basis, Alex is constantly giving me feedback whenever he sees me out in the water. A few days ago I was surfing on my own when I saw somebody waving me in from the beach. When I went ashore to investigate I found Alex, in the middle of shooting some video footage for some other project, waiting for me. "You're looking down at your board when you pop up," he said. "Look all the way down the wave when you pop up. I don't ever want to see you looking at the board!" Two days later, I came in from an afternoon surf and ran into Alex again. "I can see you're looking down the waves now - much better!" he said. Real improvement!