Trainer's Blog A Guide from Beginner to Advanced

About the author

First, a little about me: Among my fellow surf instructors, I’m something of an exception. I didn’t learn to surf until I was 24, while many of them were already standing on a board before they could properly walk. I was born in 1986 in eastern Germany and raised in Munich, far from the ocean. Starting “late” meant that I had to understand consciously what others had often learned intuitively. That experience still shapes the way I approach surfing and the way I teach it today. I never regarded my surf instructor qualification as the end of my education, but as its starting point. Alongside it, I qualified as a personal trainer, renew my lifeguard certification every two years and continue to develop my knowledge of surfing and how it is taught. As of 2026, I have spent eight years teaching surfing in Famara. More importantly, I know the surf-school business from three different perspectives: as a surf student, an employed instructor and now as the person running my own small surf school. Until now, I have shared most of that knowledge directly with my own students. I know from experience how overwhelming it can be when you start surfing, and even more so when you decide in your late twenties that becoming a surf instructor might be a good idea. You are quickly confronted with an enormous amount of information: well-meaning advice, clichés, half-truths, slang, preconceptions and plenty of hype. And, of course, everyone knows best. Much of it only begins to fall into place as you develop as a surfer and gain enough experience to put it into perspective. This blog is intended to help you find that thread a little sooner. I consider the first surf lesson the most important one, because those early experiences can shape your development as a surfer for a long time. So that is where we will begin: at the very start of the thread. Along the way, we will also explore why it can sometimes be so difficult to follow.

Personal perspective

Like any personal blog, this site is shaped by its author’s point of view. My assessments are based on personal experience, researched facts and professional expertise gained as a surf coach and by running a small surf school. I try to make the reasoning behind my conclusions clear, so you can decide for yourself what you find relevant and convincing. Some of the information on which individual articles are based may change over time, particularly laws, federation rules, standards and guidelines.

Look for Authenticity

When forming your first impression, pay attention to how authentic the website feels. The more stock photos you find, the less those images tell you about what the surf school and its lessons are actually like. Use Google Maps and Street View to check whether the images shown were actually taken in the area around the surf school. In some cases, you can tell at first glance; in others, you’ll need to look more closely. Stock photos often stand out because their visual style doesn’t quite match the location or the rest of the surf school’s presentation. Sometimes the filename also provides a clue: stock photos often have nothing more than a serial number as their filename or even include the name of the image agency. For Lanzarote, the comparison is usually fairly easy: if you see lush vegetation, Caribbean-looking sandy beaches or a modern skyline in the background, the photo was very likely not taken here. Stock photos don’t automatically mean that a surf school is bad. But they also provide no evidence that the school, its lessons and the local conditions are actually as portrayed.

Watch for Contradictory Marketing Claims

Check whether the surf school’s different claims add up. If one page advertises personal instruction in small groups while another mainly highlights the enormous number of students taught each year, it is worth taking a closer look. A high overall number does not necessarily rule out small groups. But it may point to highly standardised processes and a conveyor-belt approach, more about volume than individual attention. If the website gives you a clear picture of how sessions are run and groups are organised, that is a positive sign that the school has thought about the things that matter to you both as a customer and as a surf student.

Small Groups?

Almost every surf school advertises small or limited-size groups these days, partly because these terms perform well in Google searches. The promise is often accompanied by a specific number, for example:

Surf lessons in small groups, maximum eight students per course.

The crucial question, however, is whether a group of eight is really small. The number alone does not tell the whole story. How many groups are in the water at the same time, and how are they spread out? And why does group size matter in the first place? Crowds have never been what surfers are looking for. Put several groups of six into the same part of the beach and you have exactly that: a crowd. This is why the size of the surf school matters as much as the size of each group. Working with just one group gives me the flexibility to react quickly to the conditions and move away from crowded areas. Once the lesson begins, the number of students matters for several other practical reasons. In the noise of the surf, verbal communication is only possible across a limited area. A group of eight therefore has to remain relatively close together if everyone is to stay within speaking distance of the coach. With boards between them, students can quickly become a danger to one another when they get too close. More surfers also mean fewer opportunities to practise for each individual. This becomes particularly noticeable once everyone starts working on turns and needs more space. For safety talks and dry-land instruction, my experience is that a group of four to six students is the most efficient. That is enough to create social interaction within the group without anyone feeling constantly under the spotlight. At the same time, the group remains small enough that I lose nobody’s attention and nobody loses mine. Surf coaches have two eyes, two ears and two hands. They are not superhuman. In that sense, coaching in the water is a little like refereeing a football match: I am constantly repositioning myself around my students to maintain the best possible viewing angle, see what each person is doing and remain close enough to step in when needed. That is why I personally consider four to six people the best range. Coaching eight is not impossible, but it changes how I have to work. To monitor everyone safely, I need to remain relatively static in one position close to or on the beach. With eight students, my role shifts away from active coaching and towards supervising the group from a fixed position.

Group Size Is Not the Whole Story

Regardless of the number of surfers, the composition of the group also matters. Is it a closed multi-day course with a programme that builds from one session to the next? Or are students taking several days of lessons placed in changing groups with new one-day participants each day? When and according to which criteria are the groups formed? When does the coach find out whom they will be teaching? How much of the booked lesson time is spent on organisation and sorting everyone into groups? All of this affects how much you actually take away from the course for your own surfing. It is difficult to judge from a distance how a particular surf school handles these things. Reviews can reveal quite a lot.

What Reviews Can Tell

What guests actually write matters more than the star rating itself.

Are You Looking for a Surf Camp, New People and a Good Time?

Look for comments such as:

• “Great vibe and an amazing atmosphere at the camp.”
• “The BBQ and evening drinks were the absolute highlight.”
• “Great accommodation and lovely people.”

Do You Mainly Want to Learn to Surf?

Then look for specific comments about the lessons:

• “The coach spotted my mistakes and corrected them straight away.”
• “Currents, right-of-way rules and potential dangers were explained clearly.”
• “I understood why my take-off was not working.”

Reviews usually make it fairly clear which type of guest feels at home there and what they value most. From this, you can work out what to expect and where a surf school’s strengths lie. The number of reviews is not, in itself, a measure of quality. If one surf school has thousands of reviews while the school next door has only a hundred, the difference may simply reflect how long each school has been operating, how large it is and how many guests it teaches each year. More reviews do not automatically mean better instruction. How recent the reviews are also matters, as the quality of instruction can change over time. Many surf instructors work seasonally or freelance and move between different surf schools and countries. Larger surf schools also sometimes change hands. Older reviews may therefore refer to a school that now operates very differently under the same name.

Surf Schools and Coaches: Licences and Registration

When looking at association licences, you should distinguish between two levels: the certification of an entire surf school and the qualifications of the individual surf coach. For a surf school to be certified by an association, it must meet certain staffing, organisational and structural requirements, depending on the association. Small mobile providers may not meet all of these requirements, even though the coach has been trained and licensed according to the standards of an association. A lack of school certification is therefore not automatically a warning sign. What matters more is who will actually teach you and what training and qualifications that person has. Relevant organisations include the ISA, as well as the FES and FCS in Spain and the Canary Islands. Other countries have their own national surfing associations. An association licence shows that the coach has completed training according to that association’s standards. Statutory registration with the relevant authorities can provide safeguards in two further areas: the required qualifications of the staff and the provider’s insurance coverage. The requirements attached to registration, however, depend on the country you are visiting. In the Canary Islands, surf lesson providers are registered as Turismo Activo operators in the Registro General Turístico. Requirements include public liability insurance covering damage for which the provider is responsible, as well as assistance or accident insurance covering search and rescue, transport and medical treatment in the event of an accident.

Surf Coach or Surf School?

In the Canary Islands, the administrative distinction between a surf coach and a surf school is less clear than it might seem. The Registro General Turístico makes no distinction between a traditional surf school with physical premises, several coaches and large groups and a self-employed surf coach with a few boards and wetsuits. There is no separate category in the register for private surf coaches. Many self-employed surf coaches deliberately move away from the usual routines of a large surf school because they want to work in a more personal and individual way. In their online communication, however, they still have to use the terms that potential guests actually search for. They need to be found not only by experienced surfers already looking specifically for tailored coaching, but especially by beginners and people curious about surfing. Those people usually search for a “surf school” or “surf lessons”, not for a self-employed surf coach. As a result, many micro surf schools use the term “surf school” even though they see themselves more as personal surf coaches. If you are looking for private or particularly individual surf coaching in the Canary Islands, you should not dismiss a provider simply because it uses this term. What matters is how the actual service is structured. Other surf schools and people in general also see us as a surf school, no matter how much we resist the label. Here is a small anecdote from the year I became self-employed: In Famara, I ran into the shaper who has probably had almost every surfboard on the island on his shaping racks at some point, including the occasional one of mine. He called out to me: “Hey Conrad, I heard you’ve got your own surf school now.” I replied: “No, it isn’t a surf school. I have a few boards and wetsuits, and we meet at the beach. […]” He answered: “Well, then you’ve got a surf school.”

An example from my own surf school

I plan my lessons around the tides. That means sessions don’t take place at the same time every day. It won’t suit everyone, especially since you’ll need to arrange your own accommodation and transport to the beach.For anyone planning an active holiday, putting together their own activities and exploring the island by car anyway, that can be appealing. On some days, the best window for surfing falls in the afternoon. That leaves the morning free to use the cooler hours for surfskating, hiking, endurance training, sightseeing or other activities.I also try to be as flexible as possible when planning session times. For digital nomads and anyone else whose working hours make lessons between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. difficult, early morning or late afternoon sessions can be interesting.There are other advantages too: from the quality of the waves to an almost empty beach when you get to watch the sun rise behind the Risco de Famara during a session. On other days, we finish our session in the light of Famara’s famous sunset.One big advantage of small surf schools and independent surf coaches is direct contact. When you get in touch with me, you speak to the person who will teach your lesson. I can tell you directly whether I have availability and discuss how the lessons might fit into your day. You won’t hear “I’ll have to check whether a surf coach is available” from me.

Why All the Offers on Booking Platforms Look the Same

The profiles on booking platforms are largely standardised. They use the same vague slogans, such as “small groups” and “no waiting around”, or highlight additional services such as hotel pick-up. This does not make it easier to work out which provider is genuinely right for ME. If anything, it makes it more difficult. Why? Quite simply, the business model of large booking platforms depends on making very different offers appear comparable and bookable to the widest possible audience. The differences fade into the background. That is why, much like at many large surf schools and camps, you repeatedly find interchangeable slogans, similar images and almost identical offers that, at first glance, differ only in price and location. Whether YOU actually learn to surf during your lesson is secondary to the platform. Its goal is to generate as many bookings as possible, regardless of what is booked or by whom. The order in which surf schools appear in the search results is not a reliable ranking of the quality of their surf lessons either. A prominent position can be influenced by many things: a professionally maintained profile, convincing visual material, the number of bookings and reviews, or simply how well an offer sells through the platform. A five-star review does not automatically say anything about the quality of the lessons. If someone awards five stars for the friendly staff in the shop, the hotel transfer or the great atmosphere in the group, it improves the overall rating, even if the surf lesson was not mentioned in the review at all. This shifts the focus: everything surrounding the lesson becomes more visible and important than the surf instruction itself. A surf school that genuinely offers small groups rather than merely using the phrase as a slogan is at a structural disadvantage. A school that teaches fewer guests inevitably receives fewer reviews. And a provider without an all-inclusive package cannot earn additional praise for accommodation, food, parties or other extras. As a result, the very surf schools that choose not to focus on volume may never be found by the people who are specifically looking for them.

The Platforms Take Their Cut

Most guests are unaware of how high the commissions charged by these platforms can be. The exact amount depends on the platform, the country and the individual agreement. However, commissions of between 20 and 30 per cent of the course price are not uncommon in this market. From a €50 surf lesson, €10 to €15 may therefore go directly to GetYourGuide, Tripadvisor, or, more precisely, Viator, and similar platforms. Depending on the contract, best-price clauses may also apply. Although the surf school would save the commission on a direct booking, it may not be allowed to offer the same lesson more cheaply through its own channels. This means that the saving cannot simply be passed on to the customer. The only reasonably convincing argument I can see for booking through these platforms is the free or flexible cancellation they frequently offer. If your travel plans are uncertain, that can certainly be an advantage. However, it has nothing to do with what actually matters if you want to learn how to surf. Flexible cancellation is frequently highlighted in consumer guides as an advantage of booking platforms. However, it is not a form of protection offered exclusively by them. Many surf schools have long since adapted to this pressure and now offer flexible bookings and reasonable cancellation periods themselves. If you cancel several days in advance, you can often do so free of charge. Some schools also make allowances for last-minute illness: upon presentation of a medical certificate, the payment may be refunded, credited or transferred to a new lesson once you have recovered. Despite all this, depending on the agreement, between 20 and 30 per cent of the course price still goes to an intermediary when you book through a platform.

What About Data Protection?

Data protection is also frequently presented as an argument for booking through a platform. This can create the impression that the surf school will not need to collect your personal data itself. That is not the case. The surf school needs certain information not only to organise the lessons but is also legally required to collect and retain some of it. In the Canary Islands, providers of Turismo Activo activities must be able to identify and contact their participants. They must also retain the documentation created in connection with the booking, provision and payment of the service for four years. Additional customer information is required for a full invoice. If a surf camp also provides accommodation, the statutory guest-registration requirements for accommodation providers apply as well. Having this information available is also in the customer’s interest. Last-minute changes need to be communicated. And if, for example, a solo traveller is unconscious in hospital after a serious accident, it is far from irrelevant whether the provider can clearly identify that person and match them with the contact details they supplied. If a platform does not pass the necessary information on to the surf school, it does not prevent that information from being collected. It merely postpones the process. The details then have to be requested again upon arrival and often entered manually, between check-in, equipment distribution and the beginning of the surf lesson. A booking platform is not required for secure payment processing either. Hardly any surf school wants to store or process credit card numbers itself. Payment providers such as Stripe, PayPal or Redsys take care of this. With the appropriate integration, payment details are processed directly by the payment provider. The surf school essentially receives confirmation of who paid which amount, not the customer’s complete credit card details. A booking platform therefore does not prevent the necessary collection of personal data. It adds another recipient to the information chain while potentially causing the surf school to receive important details later, or not at all.

How Platforms Create Their Own Relevance

And this is where it becomes absurd: we surf schools are the ones who give these platforms their relevance in the first place. We produce the photos, videos and text, answer questions, earn good reviews and provide the equipment, insurance and, of course, the activity itself. Almost everything you see about a surf lesson on these platforms ultimately comes from the surf school. In other words, we give the platforms precisely the content that makes their pages relevant to search engines. That relevance remains with the platform, however, and does not strengthen the surf school’s own website, for example, through a direct link. Instead, we pay for every booking they generate using the content we provided. The platforms then use the offer we supplied to compete against us on Google. They advertise the same locations, search terms and activities that the surf schools themselves are advertising. The schools therefore pay commission for the booking and then pay again for advertising simply to remain visible alongside the platforms. A direct link to the surf school’s website or information explaining how to contact it directly is not normally published with the offer. That is no coincidence: if you could easily find the provider and book with them directly, the intermediary would become unnecessary. No surf school willingly pays a commission of 20 to 30 per cent. That is why a search on these platforms will often show you the same schools that also advertise independently, both locally and online: through their own websites, Google Business Profiles, Google Ads or listings on Google Maps. Surf School A might have its own website and Google Business Profile while also appearing on Tripadvisor or Viator, GetYourGuide and Sunbonoo. Several different online listings are therefore pointing to the same school, the same location and sometimes even exactly the same surf lesson. Try it for yourself using Famara as an example. Ads for booking platforms and surf activities regularly appear around the Google Maps listing for “Famara Beach”. At the same time, you will find many of the same surf schools on Google Maps that also appear in the Tripadvisor or GetYourGuide search results for Famara. You can often identify which school is actually behind an offer by looking at the rash vests in the photos, the boards or other recurring details. Or use Google’s reverse image search to see where else it appears. This multiplication of listings does more than make comparison difficult. It makes the range of surf activities available online appear much larger than the real market behind it. Every reseller gives the same lesson another shop window, increasing its visibility and generating additional demand. The actual number of schools, coaches and available places, however, remains much smaller. More and more bookings are therefore directed towards the same limited capacity. The result can be greater pressure on the beaches, more crowded lessons and upward pressure on prices, without any corresponding increase in genuine choice or coaching capacity. Apart from that, surf schools compete for visibility on the same channels as Tripadvisor, GetYourGuide and other platforms and therefore actually compete with themselves. This creates a cycle in which everyone is constantly trying to outbid everyone else. The surf schools provide the platforms with their content, pay commission on the resulting bookings and then spend additional money on advertising to compete against the reach they helped to create. In the end, it is the surf schools that hurt themselves the most. To remain visible in this competition, some providers operate under several brands, create additional websites and run parallel advertising campaigns. In some cases, they also create duplicate or only slightly altered Google Business Profiles. This also inflates the apparent number of available providers. It can look as though there are three or four times as many surf schools, even though several different names, websites and listings may belong to the same business. For customers, especially first-time surfers trying to find their bearings, this does not create more genuine choice. It simply makes it harder to recognise which offers belong to the same school and how many genuinely different providers there really are. It benefits neither the customers, the surf schools nor the destination itself.

Who Ultimately Pays the Price?

This cycle drives up the cost of online visibility. Ultimately, however, these costs are not paid by the platforms, but by the providers and their customers. Either the activities become more expensive or the quality declines because less money remains for staff, equipment and instruction. In the worst case, both happen at the same time.

What does the sea look like today?

Instinct and common sense are your best guides. You know yourself better than anyone else. If your first thought when you see the waves is, “Wow, that looks pretty big,” and you suddenly start wondering whether another day might be a better idea, trust your gut. Once you have booked and the group is heading to the beach, it is usually too late to cancel.

Arrive early

There are also practical reasons to arrive early. In Famara, most surf schools begin their lessons between nine and ten in the morning. Before then, participation forms need to be completed, wetsuits handed out and the remaining boards loaded. When it is busy, the last person to arrive may not get the best-fitting or best-kept wetsuit, but simply the one that is left. It is therefore better to arrive a little early, take care of everything without rushing and go for a coffee if you still have time.

One look is worth a thousand words

Arriving early also gives you insights that you will not get if you turn up at the last minute. Look at how the school operates and at the equipment actually being used in the lessons. Well-maintained boards and wetsuits can indicate that the school values taking proper care of its equipment and passes that knowledge on to its students: how to handle, carry and store a board and what is best avoided. It does not matter whether a board is new or old. Learning to surf is most enjoyable with equipment that is in good condition. Sooner or later, you may want to buy your own board and wetsuit. By then, it helps to have already learned how to look after them so that they last. More advice about boards, forecasts and conditions in the water will follow in the next articles. This is where we gradually move from choosing the right surf school to the technical part of this blog.

Surfboards: Dos and Don’ts

The most important rules first:

• Don’t simply sit on your board at the beach.
• Check the ground before putting it down.
• Don’t leave a board in the sun for longer than necessary, and never leave it in a hot car.
• Don’t continue using a damaged board if water can get inside.
• Don’t rely on surf wax to seal open damage.
• Don’t rush or let someone rush you while you are carrying a board.
• If you need both hands, put the board down safely instead of leaning it against something.
• Rinse your own board with fresh water occasionally and check it for damage.

Wetsuits: Dos and Don’ts

The most important rules first:

• Try to use the toilet once more before surfing.
• Rinse the wetsuit with fresh water after surfing.
• Don’t wring it out with a twisting motion.
• Don’t dry it in direct sunlight.
• Don’t place it in front of a fan heater, radiant heater or hair dryer.
• Don’t hang it wet from the shoulders in the usual way.
• Put it on gradually instead of forcing your way into it.
• Be particularly careful if you have long fingernails.
• Never store it while it is wet or damp.

Renting a Surfboard – Do’s and Don’ts

Choosing a surfboard

Whether you start with a small surf school, at a camp or on your own: What kind of board do you need, and what should you know about it? To avoid making your first steps harder than necessary, choosing a suitable board is important. I recommend starting with a softboard. Softboards differ in how they’re built, and we’ll look at those differences more closely later in this blog.

Why surfboard length and width make a difference

You can picture this quite easily: Compare a long canoe or an Olympic rowing boat with a conventional rowing boat of the kind you can rent for a trip around a lake. A long, narrow hull moves through the water more easily. But with less width, it also becomes less stable. For your first steps, a surfboard needs both good gliding properties and enough stability. The distribution of volume matters too. Enough width and volume around the middle and under your chest help when you’re lying on the board and paddling. A wide tail can make it easier for a wave to pick you up. This helps you gain the speed you need to start gliding when you paddle for a wave. How width and thickness are distributed along the board, as well as its overall shape, also affect how it behaves. These details become more important as your surfing improves. We’ll come back to them when they become relevant. For your first attempts, you already know what you need to know about choosing a board. Anything more would just be extra baggage at this point.

Why a damaged surfboard rocker sucks

To understand internal stability, take the boat comparison a little further: Think of an inflatable boat, especially one made more for children and a day at the lake. If it bends under your weight, moving forward and controlling it become harder. Something similar happens with a damaged softboard. If it gives too much, its shape changes under load. It no longer responds as it should, whether you’re paddling or up and riding. The rocker is one of the features that determine how the board moves through the water and responds on a wave. By shifting your weight, you change the board’s position in the water and how water flows past it. If the board bends unpredictably at the same time, its response becomes less predictable. That can make it harder even to catch a wave in the first place. Think of an aircraft wing: Its shape matters, but so does its ability to keep that shape under load. A surfboard also relies on its shape to control speed, lift and stall as it moves through water. If it bends too much under load, lift is reduced, the board can stall and you may lose the wave.

What about the fins?

Fins help keep the board moving in the direction you’re going and limit sideways sliding. On a typical softboard used for lessons, you’ll often find a classic three-fin thruster setup: one fin at the back in the centre and two farther forward on the sides. Depending on the setup, the fins may be the same size or different sizes. There are also boards with one, two or four fins. Whichever board you start on, its intended set of fins should be complete and undamaged. Not every setup needs a centre fin. Conversely, a board designed for a sufficiently large centre fin doesn’t necessarily need side fins to provide enough directional stability. Because beginners usually practise in relatively shallow water, three shorter fins are practical: Together they provide stability, but they don’t reach as deep into the water as one large centre fin, so they’re less likely to catch in the sand. You should still avoid hitting the bottom, as even flexible fins can break and damage the board in the process.

The surfboard leash

On top of the board near the tail, you’ll find a leash plug where the leash attaches. The other end attaches to your back leg: depending on the leash, either around your ankle or, with a suitable longboard leash, around your calf below the knee. It helps prevent you from losing the board when you fall. A leash should be at least as long as the board it’s used with, so you can get enough distance from your own board during a wipeout. But it shouldn’t be miles longer either, as it will trail through the water and create extra drag. If you’re renting a board, check the condition of the leash and its attachments at the shop, or at the latest before you enter the water. It’s no fun if the leash snaps during a wipeout or the Velcro cuff is so worn that it comes undone by itself. And it’s no fun for other people on the beach if they suddenly get hit in the face by a board someone else has lost. Pay particular attention to the connection points. Between the leash plug and the rail saver, there is a short piece of strong cord, the leash string, that wears down over time. Where the leash connects to the rail saver and the ankle cuff, you’ll usually find swivels made of plastic and metal. Small pins, sometimes riveted and sometimes screwed in, connect the leash to these two parts. They should sit firmly in place and not stick out on either side.