Frequently Asked Questions

At Take Off, you can try surfing, build solid foundations or work on specific details — from your very first attempt to intermediate and advanced coaching. The offer suits you if you want to choose your accommodation independently from the surf course and combine surf sessions, courses, private coaching or additional modules in a way that fits your stay, your level and your goals. You will find more information in this FAQ to help you decide whether Take Off is the right fit for you.

For me, an advanced surfer has already fully understood the concept of harvesting energy in the pocket and steeper sections, and is able most of the time to make use of their skill and knowledge. Duck dive and turtle roll are already routine, and loss of control only happens occasionally. Wave choice and timing have become minor issues, occurring mainly when surfing at a new spot, where waves may break differently than at your home spot. You are looking more for refinement and for a closer look from a trainer who can give you hints on how to improve certain manoeuvres, strengthen the connection between your anatomy and the board's anatomy, and build more tools to link manoeuvres and different sections of a wave. It is not about the type of board you are riding. I do not care if you prefer shortboard, longboard or a foamy, as long as you are able to perform and have fun with your favoured board choice.

Intermediate is a horrible word. It leaves so much space for interpretation. In general, an intermediate surfer is not working on the basics anymore. Paddling and pop-up work. Most of the time, when positioning and timing are good, you are able to ride along the wave and control speed and direction. Typical struggles at that stage are: wave choice and timing, lack of technical precision in manoeuvring, problems with duck dive and turtle roll, and finding your way back to the line-up without getting caught on the inside. What you should consider when you are in doubt about which format fits you best: in intermediate and advanced lessons, we paddle into the line-up, catch a wave and paddle back several times. We surf in the breaking zone, where the water is too deep to move or hold position by wading. That means, to take advantage of intermediate and advanced lessons, you should not be afraid of a lot of paddling to come back to the line-up and hold position while waiting for the set. I can empathize with the sentence “Yes, they have shown me the turtle roll, but I do not like doing it,” but it is a clear sign that you are not ready yet. On the other hand, “I do the turtle roll routinely, but I want to get into shorter boards and want to learn how to duck dive properly” fits a lot better with an intermediate or advanced session. Diving techniques — and understanding which one to use with what kind of board — are essential to not waste time and energy getting stuck on the way back. If you decide that you do not like either of them, you will not practise them, they will never work as they are supposed to, and you will never like them.

In my experience as a coach, this is usually either a sign of the wrong strategy in board choice and finding the way to the line-up, a technical issue, or both. If you are in doubt, do not hesitate to contact me. We can write or have a call to figure out what is best for you. There are always options: either private lessons or joining one of my beginner & refresher sessions. I know most of you are not very keen on the first option, and even less on the latter, but hang on a second. It doesn´t mean a step backwards: My philosophy is that each surfer in a group has a unique profile that needs individual treatment. While methods used for certain topics might be the same, the topic itself is not necessarily the same for everyone. That is why my group limits, both in beginner and in intermediate/advanced lessons, are below the per-instructor limit of eight people established by national and international surf federations. While many schools, especially in a touristic environment, try not to bore beginners with background knowledge, I teach important concepts from beginner level onward. Not all at once, but step by step. Each piece of instruction comes with the related theory to understand the dynamics between you and the properties of the board. For example: how foil (the cross-section profile of a board), rocker and rail shape, together with the outline of the board, interact with stance and footwork when working on the face of the wave. Or in prone position: using the same features of the board for an easy paddle, or to trim the board right for your take-off, using posture and body tone when catching a wave. That means, for the beginners in the group, the input that you bring into the session might be a useful outlook and insight, even if it is not on their agenda yet in the water. And the other way round, you can benefit from content that either has been skipped during your beginner stage, or use it as a reminder, reactivating stuff from your first lessons that may have faded into the background over time. I divide levels only because we need to stay together somehow, as I am not able to be in two places at the same time. In intermediate and advanced sessions, staying with you when you get stuck on the inside, to show, help and guide you through, means the rest of the group is waiting in the line-up unattended, missing important feedback on the waves they surf in the meantime. For fairness and safety reasons, I try to avoid this situation. In beginner sessions, it is easy to keep the group together, as we surf in hip- to chest-deep water on the inside. Guiding you a bit further out, showing you how to find and use the channel and practise your diving techniques is no problem. You practise alongside the lower levels to get into the line-up and come back to the shallows, rather than the other way round: having to be able to paddle out quickly to benefit from the session. This allows me to attend to all participants at all times. When your arms get tired, you can stay on the inside, take short recaps and build routine in what you have already learned.

If I take an exercise seriously, I need at least 3–5 minutes per student to explain, check and correct it. In a group of 8 people, three basic exercises can easily mean one and a half to two hours on the beach, with most of the group mainly watching and leaving a ridiculously small amount of time for actual practice in the water. In a small group, one exercise becomes a useful 15–20 minute block. Everyone stays close enough to participate in what is happening, even when it is not their turn. That way, the theory behind the exercise comes in naturally for the group through the individual corrections — and then we take it back into the water. I have two choices: pack the group to maximise revenue and let important parts fall short just to fit the timeframe. Or keep the group small, do the work properly, and enjoy the session together with my students as I see everyone involved, having fun and making progress.

In general, every booking requires a similar amount of office work, whether it is for one, three or more days. But especially for beginners, the first lesson is the most important one. After the first session, things get easier for both you and me: I already know your level, your goals and the areas we need to focus on, and you have already learned how to handle the board and the waves. Easier for me, less expensive for you.

You can book single sessions or plan several days — depending on your goal, your stay and the conditions. A single session is a good starting point if you want to try surfing, get to know my coaching style or get back into it after a break. Once you feel safe enough in the water — or if you have already been surfing for a while — it can make sense to alternate coaching sessions with independent free surfing. This way, you deepen what you have learned, gather your own experience and use later sessions to discuss difficulties, correct mistakes and add new skills.

Many surf courses work with fixed morning or afternoon times. At Take Off, lesson times are based on the tide, waves and wind, because not every moment is equally good for learning. For beginners, for example, gentle, long-running waves are often much more valuable than spectacular-looking conditions. They give you more time, more repetitions and more safety. The exact times therefore depend on the dates of your stay. Low tide, high tide and tidal range follow the moon cycle and shift from day to day. Once I know when you will be on Lanzarote, I can tell you which time windows make sense for your course or sessions. This is a little less familiar than a fixed timetable, but it has a clear advantage: we can use the best moment of the day instead of fighting the conditions.

For adults aged 18 and over, the most suitable time on Lanzarote to take a beginner course is usually between mid-April and mid-November. During this period, long-lasting winter storms and winter swells are less likely, and these can bring wind strengths and wave heights that make beginner sessions difficult or impossible. Added to that, old rules of thumb are less reliable today than they used to be. In recent years, it has repeatedly been possible to observe typical weather patterns arriving later, appearing earlier, or turning out very differently from what used to be normal over longer periods. Check out the 5 Days +Plus offer: a programme designed around the only exactly predictable data throughout the seasons — the most favourable tides.

When you go free surfing, the idea is to turn what you can already do into fun, adrenaline or simply a good time in the water. No question: you still gain experience. When you are learning to surf, the goal is different: you want to surf better after the session than before. A surf coach helps you make sense of your experience: What just happened there? Why is something not working the way you want it to? And what will actually help you move forward at this point? Trial and error is useful — but before the next attempt, the “error” should turn into an insight. Sometimes a small correction shouted from the side is enough. Sometimes a movement needs to be refined and adjusted again on land — or we take a closer look at how board, wave and body work together in a specific situation.

Yes, you can still learn to surf as an adult. Whether you are 25, 35, 45 or older: age alone is not the decisive factor. More important are swimming ability, basic fitness, mobility and a realistic attitude towards the ocean. Children often learn faster because many of their reflexes are not yet so deeply set, and for them many things are still completely new. Adults, on the other hand, instinctively rely on reflexes that have worked for them for a lifetime when it comes to balance and unexpected movement. In return, adults are usually better at abstract thinking, concentration and dealing rationally with fear, shock or frustration. In other words: it balances out. So do not worry too much about age — especially if you live an active, sporty lifestyle. If you are unsure, we can look together at whether a group session, private coaching or a more adapted start would suit you best.

It depends. You do not need previous surf experience. But of course, you should feel comfortable in the water and around waves. As for fitness, it is quite simple: surfing is a sport whose intensity changes with the conditions. The fitter you are, the better. But you definitely do not need to be an athlete, although it helps if you generally enjoy being active and doing sports. If you are unsure, just let me know and I can advise you on which format and which season might suit you best.

Fear makes it hard to learn, focus on what matters and enjoy the process. Respect for the ocean, on the other hand, is good and important: it helps you avoid situations in which panic can turn a challenge into real danger. On the one hand, surfing can help overcome fear; on the other, the attempt can also backfire. The best thing is to get in touch with me, and we can talk personally about the right solution for you.

Yes and no. Some things can be adapted to your body, level and the conditions — and should be adapted if a technique only creates frustration. For example, there are different ways to get to your feet, depending on mobility, strength and the situation. Other things leave much less room for variation. A good example is your position on the board when paddling: if you lie too far forward, the nose can dig in more easily and the board may flip you over in the wave. If you lie too far back, paddling becomes difficult and you will hardly catch the wave. That is why we talk about finding the sweet spot. Good technique therefore does not mean doing everything the same way all the time. It means understanding which adaptation makes sense in which situation — and where there is very little room for variation.

Personally, I like both — depending on what the wave offers, how fit I feel that day or simply what I am in the mood for. Longboards paddle faster and can catch waves while they are still round and not very steep. The bigger board offers more stability and allows a more upright posture, a narrower stance and more movement on the board. A shortboard is more agile, but also less stable; that is why it is usually surfed with a lower posture and a wider stance. Strictly separating the two styles does not make much sense to me — especially for occasional surfers — unless it is a conscious personal preference or a specific goal. In longboarding, you sometimes benefit from movements that come more from shortboarding — and vice versa. If you can use both, you have an advantage, because in both styles there are moments when you need to draw on the other technique. For beginners, it therefore makes sense to work on a bigger board with a more stable, lower posture and a slightly wider stance. This gives you more control at the start while still keeping enough flexibility for your first turns. The same idea applies to more advanced surfers: if you do not lock yourself into one surf style or one board type, you can adapt better to the conditions and get more out of the waves that are actually there.

No — but if your time by the ocean is limited to holidays and surf trips, you need a realistic plan. Limited time, travel and costs are part of the reality for landlocked surfers. That is why a clear strategy often helps more than simply spending “as much time as possible in the water”. Once the basics are in place — paddling, gliding, standing up and feeling safe in whitewater — it can make sense to alternate independent free surfing with focused coaching. This way, you deepen what you have learned, gather your own experience and can later work with feedback on recurring problems or new skills. Being landlocked is not only a disadvantage. If you rent boards locally, you can try different board types depending on the conditions and better understand which shapes are made for which conditions. Over time, you notice which equipment gives you more wave count in weaker, rounder waves — and which board gives you more control and performance in stronger, steeper conditions. Practical tips on board choice, spot choice, what to look for when renting or buying a board and how to keep learning in a useful way naturally flow into the sessions.

Skateboarding has its roots in surfing, and modern surfskates are designed to reproduce as directly as possible how a surfboard responds to weight shifts, pressure, timing and speed. Exercises can be repeated much more often than in the water, and manoeuvres can be broken down into small, simple parts and practised that way. This makes it much easier to focus on movement patterns and balance without already having to think about wave choice, paddling, timing and many of the other things that come into play when surfing in the water. With surfskate, you maintain and improve your skills between individual sessions and between surf trips — and you shorten the time you need to get back into it after longer periods without waves.

The best spot is not automatically the most famous or spectacular one. What matters is whether you can practise there in a useful way for your current level: Do you get enough waves? Is there enough space? Do the waves and the bottom they break over match what you are working on and your level of experience? At very crowded or demanding spots, many surfers often compete for only a few waves. Intermediates can then spend a lot of time waiting, avoiding others and watching, instead of really learning. A less spectacular spot with more achievable waves can often be the better choice. Choosing a spot also means understanding the line-up: Where should I position myself? When is it better to wait? Which wave actually suits my level? I do not treat these topics as dry theory, but bring them in when they become relevant in the water or during session planning.

Yes, of course. That is exactly what surf lessons are for.

Yes. Being able to swim confidently is a basic requirement. Even in beginner-friendly conditions, the ocean remains a dynamic environment. If you still feel unsure in the water, a group course is often not the best place to start. In that case, private lessons or open-water swimming can be the more sensible first step.

The main reason is that the people in the group should be similar enough in terms of size, weight and resilience. But group dynamics, communication and the practical organisation around accommodation, mobility and the overall setup also play a role. Parents of almost grown-ups remember: asking is always free. Factors like mellow wave conditions may allow for exceptions.

The GoPro is always part of the sessions — on land and in the water. Footage recorded during the course can be made available afterwards. If you would like a more detailed review, a separate video analysis can also be booked as an add-on.

The accident insurance covers accidents that clearly occur in connection with the booked activity — for example if you are hit by a board, twist an ankle, dislocate something or injure yourself at the spot. It does not cover medical incidents or complaints that were not clearly caused by the activity itself or that are related to pre-existing health issues, even if they were previously undetected. You can find further information in the terms and conditions.

For surf lessons, water-resistant sunscreens with strong hold make the most sense. Zinc sticks or thicker creams usually stay much longer on the nose, cheeks and other highly exposed areas than thin lotions. The latter are more likely to run into the eyes because of spray, drops coming down from the forehead and constant contact with water, which can be especially unpleasant if you are not used to salt water in your eyes. What matters is whether a product holds well, protects well and is well tolerated by the skin. I tend to recommend robust surf sunscreens with good hold.

Depending on where you stay, a rental car is often the most practical solution. Smaller local rental companies often offer better conditions and fewer surprises than comparison portals or large international chains. Local providers available directly at the airport include Pluscar, Payless, Autoreisen and Proa. This keeps you flexible with the meeting point, lesson times and your overall island plans. It is also a plus for surfskating, since the best beginner spots are on the other side of the island. Famara does have a small skatepark, but it fills up quickly.

I do not offer a transfer service for organisational reasons. Contact me anyway if you cannot rely on public transport or hire a car, and I will help you find a solution.

Lanzarote offers almost every setting you could wish for: rural villages, small towns, busy resort areas and surreal volcanic landscapes. The main question is transport. Rural villages — including Famara — are still not very well connected by public transport. So the easiest option is usually: rent a car and stay where you feel most comfortable. Staying directly in Famara without a car can work well for surf lessons, but it makes it harder to discover the rest of the island — and Lanzarote is definitely worth exploring beyond the beach. Here you can find a selection of accommodation offered by partner hosts.

Famara is not just a backdrop for surf lessons for me. I do not want to make sweeping statements in the wider debate about tourism saturation on the island — I depend on tourism myself. But I would still like to be teaching here in ten years’ time, ideally on a beach whose conditions and character have been preserved. I have lived on Lanzarote since 2016 and have seen how much the place has changed. As a former geography student, some connections may stand out to me more clearly: beach preservation, dunes, the village, surf tourism and the socio-economic fabric are all connected. Famara Beach is not an isolated surf spot, but part of a sensitive natural and landscape area within the UNESCO Global Geopark Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands. This also includes special wildlife and plant life. In the area around Famara and the Chinijo Islands there are endemic and protected species, such as the Corregüelón de Famara (Convolvulus lopezsocasi) or the Canarian houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata fuertaventurae). Fragile systems like these suffer when they are used very intensively during the season. That is why I want to keep my own impact as small as possible. As long as I can make a living from my work, it matters more to me to keep my sessions personal, attentive and creatively evolving than to turn Take Off into a bigger operation.

The main reason is the small groups: surf instruction works better for me when I have enough time to really observe each participant, give direct feedback and adapt tasks to level, conditions and the energy of the day. This small structure also brings practical advantages. On the beach, we are more mobile with a small group and can react more easily when conditions change. If something shifts between sessions, it is easier to organise. And in surfskating, a small group also makes sense — with too many people, you quickly start getting in each other’s way at the skatepark. There is also an economic side to it: the bigger an operation becomes, the more infrastructure and fixed costs it creates — and the stronger the financial pressure becomes to put as many participants as possible into each course. I want to make a living from my work, but I do not want to build Take Off in a way that eventually requires high volume just to keep the system running.

When I decided ten years ago to move to Lanzarote to become a surf instructor, I was 29. It felt like: now or never. Back then, I still had a pretty classic picture in my head: surf lifestyle, a surf house, maybe a small bar or a place for guests to meet. The plan at first was to get a foothold on the island and one foot in the door of the “surf business”. Improve my Spanish, train, work, do the necessary qualifications and learn what everyday life on the beach really looks like. In short: get a feel for how things actually work. Over the years, my perspective changed. Through my own development in surfing, my work on the island, my training as a surf coach, lifeguard and personal trainer, and many observations on the beach, that initial idea turned into something else. Take Off Personal Surftraining is, as the name suggests, surf instruction — enriched with methods from personal training and a touch of didactics. The concept grew slowly: from working on the beach, from many experiences with students, from trying things out, observing and learning along the way.

A good surf stay does not look the same for everyone. It depends on how long you are here, what conditions we get, what you bring physically and how you want to shape your holiday around the surf sessions. That is exactly why, for me, a good surf camp would not be a fixed programme, but a flexible framework. Much of what I would later like to bring into a camp with accommodation, I already use now on the beach or as additional modules: surfskate, swimming, functional training and short theory blocks. On surf-free days, I can organise hikes on request: a way to get to know Lanzarote from the land side as well. Depending on your goal, level and stay, you can build your own surf week from these elements. You can combine single sessions, several surf days, private coaching or additional modules such as surfskate, swimming or active recovery.

I try to keep surf coaching accessible, because for me, as a landlocked surfer, cost was always one of the biggest barriers. My prices are based on a small structure: no shop, no big office, no large staff system — but well-maintained equipment, insurance, preparation, coaching time, the work around each booking, and much of the website and background work I keep in my own hands to keep the structure lean. I want Take Off to be sustainable enough to keep the material in good condition, improve what I can offer over time and give something back to the sport that has shaped my life over the past 15 years.

I am Conrad, an ISA-certified Surf Coach, trained lifeguard and IFBB Personal Trainer. I have lived on Lanzarote since 2016. I originally came here because of surfing — but I stayed for more than just the waves. At Take Off, I teach all sessions myself. This keeps the coaching personal, and I know what you are working on — whether you are standing on a board for the first time, getting back into it after a break or trying to make focused progress. For me, both surfing and Lanzarote are connected to movement, nature, challenge and perspective — but also to slowing down, switching off and getting some distance from everyday life. If you come to Lanzarote, don’t miss the chance to discover the island beyond the surf. Surfing keeps reminding me that an idea, a dream or a plan only becomes real when you work on it. Surfing reflects real life: if you want to build something, you start with the foundation — and every solid foundation needs a plan to begin with.