Longboard Surf Retreat in Remote Indonesia
Our first longboard retreat was a huge success! With an awesome group from all corners of the world, we gathered together in remote Indonesia to practice our cross-step, embrace the natural serenity, and share in good vibes with each other.
We stayed at a beautiful oceanfront retreat at a remote Indonesian island amongst the coconut trees surrounded by surf breaks in all directions. The tides and winds were in our favor for glassy sunrise surfs every morning – perfect longboard waves!
Every morning we loaded up the cars with boards and happy humans and drove a few minutes to a secluded bay. In true surf safari fashion we carried our boards through the jungle along the white sandy beach to our paddle out spot. We paddled out as the sun rose and the morning light hit the water and were often greeted with views of Mount Rinjani to our right. Lucky for us, being the only people in the water we had plenty of waves to choose from and play in.
Surf Coaching, Video Analysis & Mindfulness
Dana, our surf coach, and our two local guides, Deka and Azri helped each guest in the water with choosing the right waves, reading the water, and working on the skills they were focusing on. Uriel and Melisa filmed from the shore and in the water capturing beautiful images for the guests to take home and learn from.
The afternoons were filled with sharing delicious meals from locally sourced food, mindful meditations to invite in clarity, peace, and presence, yin yoga to release and restore the body and nervous system, and video analysis.
The analysis is often where guests found the biggest takeaways. We discussed reading waves, the underlining concepts of long boarding in regards to choosing a wave and deciding where in the wave to ride (highline or low line), the concept of riding the energy of the wave and finding your individual flow with the ocean, how and when to cross step on the wave, body positioning, toes on the nose, and more.
Land drills were then incorporated to help guests embody the analytical skills discussed in video analysis.
Open to all surf levels
Guests arrived to the retreat with varying surf skills and goals but the improvement of every person on the retreat was astounding! It was truly mind blowing to witness the shift in confidence, trust, body awareness, and overall surfing that happened throughout one week.
And the best part was seeing the smiling faces of everyone and hearing their takeaways at the end of the week. The week was no short of jokes, laughs, new friends, new insights and perspectives, and a whole lot of surfing!
Long boarding is definitely not just surfing a longer board…it’s a completely different sport
A favorite quote from one of our guests, a 52 year old short boarder from Malaysia is that “long boarding is definitely not just surfing a longer board…it’s a completely different sport.” And he’s right! Long boarding is where surfing started and we are honored to be able to take people on a journey back to the essence of surfing and re-connect with themselves and the ocean through these retreats.
