What is life in California without waves? Go to any beach on any day of the week and you will be able to enjoy the show of surfers, boys and girls, experienced and beginners, riding the waves along the beach. If you are interested in learning how to surf, surfing schools are available year-round on the beach at Mission Beach, California.
Pacific Surf School
735 Santa Clara Place
Mission Beach, CA
858-488-2685
Voted by the San Diego Tribune as the best surf school in San Diego, Pacific Surf has been teaching others how to surf since 1998. All equipment is provided for your surf lesson; you just bring your towel, swim suit and sunscreen. Each lesson includes 30 minutes of instruction on dry land and one hour of instruction in the water. After the lesson, you have one hour of free equipment rental so you can practice what you learned. Most students are able to ride a wave before they leave, after, of course, a few dips in the sea as well.
Lessons are held on the beach at the corner of Ocean Front Walk and Ostend Court in Mission Beach. The office is located inside the bakery on Santa Clara Place, just a few steps from the sand. Parking can be hard to find so get there early. Prices vary from $55 per person for group lessons and $229 per person for a package deal of 3 private lessons. Each lesson is 2.5 hours long and lessons are available all year. A three-day summer camp is available for children ages 6-17 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. If you have four friends and want to spend a full day in the sun, a Clinic Program is offered for $99 per person. The clinic starts at 9 a.m. and includes surfboard and equipment rental for the rest of the day.
Surfer Girls
735 Santa Clara Place
Mission Beach, CA
858-427-0644
Established in 2000, Surfer Girls is one of the few all-women surfing schools. Surfer Girls shares office space and phone services with Pacific Surf School so their prices and services are very similar. They offer training to women and girls in San Diego, Hawaii, Costa Rica and Brazil. They are the largest and first choice for female surfing and travel excursion around the world. In 2007, Surfer Girls was voted as the coolest surfer school for women and teens by the Travel Channel.
Surf lessons are scheduled daily at 9 a.m., 1 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Each lesson includes 90 minutes of instruction with a surfing instructor and one hour of practice time in the water. Video and photo packages are available so you can have a lasting memory of the time you first caught a wave and sailed toward the shore.
Lessons are held on the beach at Mission Beach, just north of the Mission Beach roller coaster. Prices vary from $55 per person for group lessons, $65 per person for semi-private lessons to $85 per person for private lessons. Each lesson is 2.5 hours long and lessons are available all year round. A three-day summer camp is available for children ages 6-17 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for $215 per person. If you have four friends and want to spend a full day in the sun, a Clinic Program is offered for $90 per person. The clinic starts at 9 a.m. and includes surfboard and equipment rental for the rest of the day.
For those not into surfing, watching the students learn how to stand on a board, fall off and get back on is a wonderful way to spend a morning. The patience of the instructors is evident as each student falls again and again and then finally are able to stand on the board as it catches that elusive wave. The classes can get full in the summer months so sign up in advance and arrive early for parking. Surfer wanna-bees and people watchers remember to keep your distance so as not to disturb the students.
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Surfer Girls at Mission Beach, California Phone: 858-427-0644
Pacific Surf School at Mission Beach, California Phone: 858-488-2685
