Winner of Surfer's Path Travel Operator of the Year 2007 - Shortlisted for Cornwall Tourism Leisure Pursuit Provider of the Year 2007 - Nominated for Sustainability Awards 2007 - Highly Recommended by the Fat Face Guide 2007 - Official Sponsors of Surfers Against Sewage environmental campaign group

Global Boarders All Girl

This All Girl specialist clinic is the perfect opportunity to learn and improve your surfing in a friendly, accessible and supportive environment free of the pressures which a mixed group might present.

Surfing is often perceived as a very male sport and if you're not entirely sure what you're doing it can be quite intimidating to go down to the beach, hire some equipment and just thrash about in the water on your own.

A lot of myth has been created around surfing - for instance that you have to be young, good looking, athletic and fit. Whilst the latter is true for the advanced surfer, to begin with you just have to have an interest in the spirit of the sport.

Parallels can be drawn with yoga, in that during each session you can take it to which ever level that you feel comfortable but still are still given the opportunity to push yourself to your limits. As the sessions will be taught in a non-competitive, supportive environment, it will be totally OK to take some time out on the beach whenever as required.

For beginners the aim is get everyone in the water and used to handling and lying on the soft foam beginner boards and then experience the rush of catching a wave into the shore. Learning to stand up will come next and most women will be able to achieve this during their first lesson - for others it might take some time, which is fine because you really can take it at their own pace.

Another fear some women have is that the water is really cold. This should not be an issue as our new Rip Curl suits and boots really do keep the cold out and they have the added benefit of pulling everything inwards and upwards.

For intermediates the lessons will cover paddling technique, duck diving, catching unbroken waves and making turns. We hope that the sessions will give women more confidence to get out there and have fun with the boys whilst exploring more about themselves, learning a new skill which will stay with them for life and perhaps tone up whilst making some new friends along the way.

Our instructors (we have both males and females) have years of teaching experience and are British Surfing Association qualified (levels 1 and 2) which includes not only teaching but lifesaving and CPR. Unlike some other surf schools, they have all been cleared by the Criminal records Bureau.

The maximum instructor ratio 1:8 (usually 1:10) unless you request a larger group size, allowing for detailed personal instruction each day. This package consists of accommodation and the beginner surfing tuition package.

The usual group size is 3- 6 guests but in the case of larger groups we can go up to 10 (the maximum size for safety plus guests will have to share rooms but they will receive a discount!). Should your group be larger again, we simply increase the number of instructors and split the groups - but all guests will be taught at the same time on the same beaches. You will all stay together in an All Girl House with full access to the yoga for surfers and in-house treatments as optional extras.

This is how the clinic works. The beginner tuition is as follows:

Basic safety instructions, consisting of whistle blows and hand signals allowing at all times for you as Global Boarders guests to have fun in the safest environment possible.
An in depth explanation of the equipment we will be using (although guests are welcome to bring their own) and which boards and wetsuits are the best.
Basic handling of the board allowing for ease of use and so we can get surfing.
From here we will go through getting out to the right depth, turning the board and getting ready to start surfing.

From standing we will aim to get you:

Making 'angled take offs' allowing you to progress along the wave instead of straight in.
Gaining a better understanding of how the board is working under your feet, i.e. transfer of balance to speed up and slow down and utilising these to help you turn.
Depending on personal ability we can then move on to riding 'green waves' (now we are really surfing!) - the art of riding unbroken waves.
For the absolute natural, at this stage we can start to turn on the face of the wave.

It is as easy as that we promise!

As with any of the tuition given by the Global Boarders instructors, it will be entirely guest led, allowing for a comfortable and productive surfing session.

We will always follow the most useful and progressive surf tuition package allowing for you to achieve a basic level of which you can then progress in your own time or come back and visit us again.