“It’s always ourselves we find in the sea”
I wasn’t sure how best to start this blog apart from first acknowledging that it’s been a tricky few months since coming back from #Park2ParkUK.
There’s been a lot going on and I’m sure you can relate — I’m certain that I’m not the only one that’s had a bit of a bumpy ride. Derailed projects and uncertainty is nothing new these days but it felt like I needed to hit the refresh button, big time. The solution? A week of intensive salt water therapy — aka a week with Surf Sistas.
Although I love surfing, I don’t manage to do it nearly as often as I’d like. The thought of having a whole week of waves is something I’ve been looking forward to since first arranging this trip back in January. I had no idea how much I’d need it by the time September came around!
Basecamp for the week was the newly opened Mordon Lodge — perfectly located. With the exception of the first day when we drove to Praa Sands for the day, I was never more than a 15 minute walk to either of the beaches we based ourselves at — Fistral and Tolcarne.
Similarly, it was a 10–15 minute walk to the facilities of town, including a huge Sainsburys supermarket (and the bakeries that sold delicious vegan Cornish pasties…). I could see the sea from my window and collapsing into my outrageously comfy King size bed each night was absolute bliss.
The lodge is run pretty much single handedly and very impressively by Ash.
Ash wears many hats; he’s bartender, bookings manager and in charge of everything else, too! Despite having his hands full, Ash gave me a really warm welcome and went above and beyond to make sure I had a brilliant stay. The rooms are basic but clean and comfortable. Although there are no communal kitchen facilities, my room had an ensuite and I brought a travel kettle with me for the all important morning cups of tea. As I do at home, I also made overnight oats for breakfast each day:
Overnight oats: 4 tablespoons of oats, 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder (as per usual, I use Nuzest — “laurakairos” for 15% off!) and half a mini carton of chocolate or strawberry soya milk, topped up with nuts/fruit & maple syrup for extra energy. The mini cartons of soya milk don’t actually need to be refrigerated so it’s a brilliant breakfast to have when travelling, making sure you’re fuelled up for the day!
Speaking of food, here are my top 3 (vegan-friendly!) places I enjoyed some post-surf grub at during the week.
Lost Brewing Co. Cafe. A brief visit on the first afternoon. I had the vegan burger — it was delicious!
Sea Spray cafe. Not my first visit but a firm favourite. Perfectly located for enjoying some sea views plus super friendly staff and very tasty food!
The Slope. We went here as a group on the Thursday evening and this place instantly became a new favourite. More beautiful views, more delicious food and more lovely staff. Perfect!
Okay, on to the actual surfing…
At the heart of Surf Sistas is a mission to empower women and this is something they excel at. From the incredible coaches to the culture of their trips, our week together is a strong contender for my favourite week of the year! I joked at the beginning of the trip that I hoped to make up for my lack of skills with enthusiasm (standard!). Whatever energy I put in was matched 10x by the group. There was a mixed group of abilities in the group (many of the women returning after attending previous courses with Surf Sistas!) but it couldn’t have been more inclusive or supportive; we were all rooting for each other and whenever any of us caught a wave, it was celebrated within the group. The whole week was full of encouragement and laughter.
We covered tonnes of information during our week — from reading sea conditions (paying special attention to rip tides, see below!)
to turtle rolls, to etiquette, to board control/positioning, to surf-specific fitness and board maintenance! Special mention here to the Magic Seaweed app for checking out surf conditions in advance!
However, much like life, one of the biggest things I needed to remember whilst surfing was incredibly simple: to look where I wanted to go (not where I wanted to avoid)
It sounds obvious but I can’t tell you how many spectacular nosedives I achieved because I had my eyes down, concentrating on my board/my foot placement instead of ahead or along the wave, where they should have been!
Surfing is such a brilliant full body workout and although I finished the week feeling satisfyingly tired (we had 2 sessions a day for 4/5 of the days!), my body also felt really great for the cross-training. I’m planning to blend some surf specific training into my regular routine going forwards — not least of all because I’m determined to improve my pop up speed/ability for the next time I hit the water! As recommended by one of the lovely women on the course, the Surf Athlete app is a good place to start if you fancy mixing things up, too!
Perhaps my most favourite thing about surfing is that it shuts out the external life noise like nothing else. Running and cycling often provide their own kind of moving meditation but for me, especially as a beginner, surfing is fully immersive and it keeps me completely focussed on the present moment. It’s absolutely magical when you catch a wave…
and it’s sometimes brutal when you wipe out and get thrown around like you’re in a gigantic washing machine.
It always has my full attention either way!
I returned from my week away feeling recharged and more like myself than I have done in months — it reminded me of one of my favourite poems by E E Cummings (which inspired the title of this blog):
maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)
and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles, and
milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;
and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and
may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea
Thanks to Surf Sistas & Mordon Lodge for a brilliant week! I attended the Surf Sistas White to Green Improver Course. The last time I joined Surf Sistas was for a weekend in 2017, you can also read about that trip here! Here’s a snippet:
“I can’t stop smiling. I’m getting repeatedly smashed in the face with frothy waves; the salt water is making my eyes sting and it’s often also invading my nose, which is obviously pretty unpleasant — but I can’t stop smiling.”
— a sentiment that still holds true for my time hanging out with Surf Sistas years later… and I still can’t recommend them enough!
