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Totally agree with this article; with so many newcomers & transient surfers we have lost the education from the older legends of our local spots. I have managed and worked for surf schools and see so much bad education in their approach. Where I live in the Algarve (Portugal) each surf school can teach up to 30 students per day and sometimes you will have 6 surf schools all trying to use the same beach running around with flags trying to corridor off a section of whitewater. The message to these students is that it is ok to all surf together like this! its mayhem. The same school owners then go ballistic when x beginner surfers rent a board and venture out to the line up. I have left this system and gone out on my own. The sport I love is being raped yet again, but instead of bitching about it I decided the best way is to try educate this intermediate level, just like Linton in Byron. I coach a maximum of 4 and mostly teach just 1 to 1 private. The focus is on etiquette and the rules of the road! So if you reading this Linton when my clients are travelling to Oz I shall recommend you buddy and if you have any of your guys coming to the Algarve in Portugal sling them my website justinwestcoaching.com
To all surf instructors/coaches if you love your sport go out on your own, you don´t have to work for a factory. You will enjoy teaching again and the financial rewards for sure are better than what you would be earning working for somebody else.
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