Lifestyle

Time for a sea change: the rise of the surfing retreat



A yoga retreat remains the last word in aspiration for a certain set of time-rich, cash-rich Londoners: three-day stretches on the Portuguese coast — or perhaps Ibiza, on the quiet side — with Vinyasa flows scheduled from dawn until dusk, when a pink horizon stretches out behind you. As a holiday goes, it’s peerlessly zen, though usually prohibitively expensive — not to mention only catering to people whose idea of a good time is remaining fairly still for most of the day. 

But what do you do if green juice sticks in the craw, mass meditation sessions feel a bit … culty, and there’s simply a little too much sitting down? You need to join the new wave: surf camp is the anti-yoga retreat, and Londoners are getting on (a) board.

Granted, you do have to travel some distance. The northern Cornish coast, for example, to the Watergate Bay Hotel, a (four-star) sea shack positioned on the craggy cliffs above a two-mile surfing beach just around the bay from Newquay, 5hrs 30mins from Paddington by train. There you’ll find plenty of Londoners (and locals) kneading their thighs into wetsuits ready for a day at Extreme Academy, a watersports school attached to the hotel that runs a programme of weekend camps and experiences throughout the year. It includes surf camps and stand-up paddleboarding “safaris” — a new offering involving a two-and-a-half-hour expedition around the coast, complete with a cream tea on the rocks. Certainly, it’s more appealing than a spirulina shot.

“For us it’s about shared experience and being part of that journey,” explains Carl Coombes, a hale and hearty former air force man who’s been at Extreme Academy since 2005. He heads its programme of events and is rarely found out of a wetsuit. “Seeing children from the age of eight being able to ride their first wave by the end of one of our lessons, or helping others overcome their fear and enjoying being outdoors and having fun in the sea keeps us doing what we do.”

I envy that child of eight. I have surfed several times before; still, on my first afternoon in Watergate Bay, I launch into the water so inexpertly that the (strong) waves pummel me in the face repeatedly with the board. I then struggle to catch a single wave: after two hours of trying, I give up and start bodyboarding instead. Still, an afternoon in the waves more than equals a licence for (two) portions of piping hot, thick-cut chips drowning in mayonnaise. Following the requisite break after eating, I try another session in the water, then a hot shower, a four-course dinner and a bottle of wine. As retreats go, I could get used to this. 

We also spent a morning on the stand-up paddleboard safari led by Coombes. I’d always laughed at those people who cruise down the millpond of the Grand Union Canal with oars, but on the volatile Cornish coast, paddleboarding is perilous. Indeed, fighting your path through a persistent current and threatening waves in sheet rain was (whisper it) even harder than surfing; we wolfed the picnic on the rocks. The next day my arms, glutes and hips quivered. 

The magic of Watergate Bay’s (watergatebay.co.uk) offering is the high-spec facilities and the fact you are never more than three minutes from the sea — or 10 minutes from a chilled glass of Picpoul in the hotel bar. “The Extreme Academy is different to other surf schools in that we have a base right on the beach,” Coombes says. “So no walking with large heavy equipment, all the kit to keep you warm when you need it, changing rooms, lockers, hot showers  and a team available all year round.” Then, when you’re done, back up to the hotel for a steaming bath.

Home and away: rash-guard suit, £145, Perfect Moment (perfectmoment.com)

Unlike me, you don’t have to treat it like a boozy school trip. No wonder the surfers swaggering past — hair slicked back with salt water, wetsuits stripped to the chest — have washboard abs and sculpted biceps. As workouts go, a session in the waves is potent: paddling out and catching a wave engages the upper body, especially the triceps, biceps, shoulders and obliques, while riding it galvanises the quads and glutes. It’s an all-over workout that can turn water babies into powerhouses.

Surfing is a sport on the up: next year it will be in the Olympics for the first time and its inclusion has piqued interest (as has the rise of Instagram-friendly athleisure brands such as Perfect Moment, whose rash-guard vests are like something out of Blue Crush).

Moreover, a study finds that it might not be a million miles away from yoga after all: last year, the US Navy funded research investigating whether surfing could help with PTSD, depression or sleep problems. Findings confirm that the sport can minimise symptoms. Plus, it’s a bonafide digital detox: you can’t take your iPhone into the waves. 

Watergate Bay is not the only outstanding beach-based location. To get the best of both lives, head to Freewave Surf Academy, about two hours north up the Cornish bay towards Wales, which runs a surf and yoga camp: waves in the morning, Vinyasa in the evenings. (freewavesurfacademy.co.uk).

Drift, based in Jersey, runs four-day retreats on its five miles of unspoiled beach. Accommodation is in an extraordinary, restored granite defence tower and the food is vegetarian (driftretreat.co.uk).

Catch the next wave.



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