Level 2 surf coach!

Hey folks, another wee update from Narosa in Aus. Still having a great time out here, the banks have improved and the swell this week has been really fun. I spent the last few days doing my level 2 coaching qualification which was an unreal experience. I was truly humbled on the course by the experience of the coaches and the others taking the qualification. There were a few professional surfers and even ex world champion Barton Lynch were taking the course with me!

There was a great deal of information to take in on all aspects of surfing from fitness and nutrition, to sports psychology and plenty on dynamic balance and surfing technique. They mixed up the course with a surfing assessment, beach and pool fitness and specific training techniqes. Everyone on the course was great fun and really good to talk to about surfing, the more you learn the more you appreciate the difficulty of this exceptional sport!

I am really looking forward to coaching surfers with Narosa this year from that novice stage right through to advanced maneuvers and competitive surfing. There are so many people that can improve their surfing ability with a few simple changes in technique and when it starts to work for you, the extra enjoyment you get from the waves is unreal!

I am back in a couple of weeks but looking forward to a trip up to the sunshine coast to see a good friend, visit australia zoo and get into some more good waves. Also got the first event of the world pro tour coming up just down the road at snapper rocks! The bank is looking good and Kelly Slater is in town!

Leeroy

So far so good

Ozland is an interesting place. We are currently just south of the gold coast and have been surfing a few different spots including, kingscliff, cudgen, kirra and waves at byron. It's a really different experience from back home, the points here seem to be off key at the minute, generally fat waves and a fair few closeouts. That said i have had a couple of screaming barrels at Kirra and have seen parko, luke egan and a fair few others in complete rhythm with the waves out here.

On our first morning out at Kirra I watched parko catch a wave from the point on what could only be described as a mediocre day in the surf, he snuck in and out of a completely unmakeable barrel and ripped five turns down the line. I was chatting to him for 5 mins or so walking back up the point and he was such a positive guy to chat to, chatting about waves in Scotland and Ireland and turns out he scored a wee session at my local break in Donegal and was so stoked on the wave! I then paddled back out into the line-up and on catching my next wave I see parko hands up hooting me and Luke Egan with a big smile on his face as I did a cutback past him! Really awesome to catch waves with some true heroes of the sport.

The thing about surfing waves like Kirra is the paddle. It is completely foreign to me to have to jump in the water half a kilometer up the beach because by the time you're out back you've been swept all the way back down to where the wave breaks! Once you are in position you have to paddle at about 70% strength to stay in position and you can easily do this for half an hour before getting a wave! Once you have caught a wave most guys will then get out and walk all the way back up and do the same over again! It's mad because you can literally be in the surf for 3 hours and get 5 or 6 waves!

I think we're definitely learning a lot out here and getting good paddle fitness, so far though the waves back home seem of higher quality, but its great to get inspiration from the best and take what you have learned back home. We have had a few coaching sessions from WQS (world qualifying series) surfer Samba Mann. The guy rips and is so chilled it makes a great environment for learning new techniques. We have also been doing dynamic yoga classes which are great, more work definitely needed at this though!

I picked up a new board after much deliberation from a famous shaped called Gary Dorrington. Buying a board from him involved a full learning experience of surfboard shaping and a few cold beers while I decided on the right one. We've been privileged so far to have met some of the best known shapers in the world and learn so much about board design. We've met DHD, Dorrington, Hammo, Chris Garret (a true innovator) and about 10 other amazing guys. Mike Peters and Stevo (who does unreal surfboard graphic technology-more info to follow) over here have introduced us to amazing people so the Narosa Shop will have some of the world's finest boards this year-cheers guys!

Plenty of more updates to come, oh and a note to say parko and the crew were towing right out front of the house into some sweeeet kegs, and a 5m tiger shark was also spotted at the local break, shaaaks eat fish tho maate!

over and oot.