Well, here's the first blog post for Rainbow Beach Learn to Surf. I thought that first off I would write what we stand for and why we started a new surf school for Rainbow Beach.
JD and I noticed how many of our friends and their kids would love to have a surfing lesson (and JD being an accredited surf coach we got asked a bit) here in Rainbow Beach. I know surfing at Double Island Point is great and it's where we go for our surfing trips. We love it. But you just don't have to go for a basic surfing lesson.
We started thinking that there must be other people who would like the convenience of a surfing coach on the main beach. JD has lived in Agnes Water for the past years and there's easy access to surf coaching on the main beach there. The kids use it, tourists use it. It's like having access to a personal trainer or nutritionist or sports coach or swim coach. When you are a trained professional in a certain field you have experience and teaching skills to offer. You make the effort to go and become certified and learn how to teach those skills and tick the boxes so others can learn from you.
JD helped me finally learn to surf after 30 years of my dad trying to teach me as a child and then a teenager. But for all his help many years ago I never got it! But just a few hints and a couple hours of coaching then many hours of practice I can now say I surf. I like smaller waves. I love hanging out on my board soaking up the natural environment. Without a board or other toy to play on in the water, you just don't spend that time there. You see amazing things in the ocean. The view of the land is also incredible. So to me, getting a coach helped me to learn a new skill and a new hobby. Why shouldn't this type of coach be easy to access?
Hence JD and I have started Rainbow Beach Learn to Surf. Our goals are to be accessible to families, tourists, locals, mums, dads, kids, teenagers, and others who want to learn to surf or at least have a go at it. We wanted to come in with some credibility too. So we went through an accreditation process with ASI - Academy of Surfing Instructors, which are a global surf school accreditation body who also run coaching courses all over the world. We felt that gaining accreditation was the right way to go. It assures our customers, students and clients that we are committed to safe surfing, to being trained and qualified and to having all the relevant permits and insurance needed to operate on the beach. We worked with ASI through the accreditation process and now we are part of a global surfing community that has ethics and safety at the heart of their operation. We want to incorporate that into our business. We want to be an ethical business. We want to build good relationships in this community. We want to give back to the local community through being on the beach, being there for the local kids when they need a hand. Plus we want to simply show people how to have fun surfing safely.
We have also worked in with our local council to gain our permit to operate on the beach here at Rainbow.
We are proud to be part of the surfing industry in Queensland and Australia, and the world. So drop in and say hi to us on the beach today.
Also we want to say a big thank you to our first weeks of customers and friends who have made our start lovely and friendly and fun.
Yours in Surfing and Fun Times
Sarah & JD