Surfing For Fun And Fitness in Cape Town

Ever watched in awe as an incredibly fit, bronzed surfer takes off effortlessly on one of the biggest waves you’ve seen all day? Ever fantasized about being fit, tanned and the keeper of cool knowledge? Now you can. Get down to Muizenberg any day of the year, take a walk along the beachfront and sign up for a surfing lesson.

There are at least three surf schools offering surfing classes to students of any level of ability. All three offer a minimum of a two-hour lesson or until they can get the learner up and riding a board. Classes are open to anyone from the age of five and up. Gary’s, the oldest surf school in Muizenberg, claims the oldest person to pass successfully through their course was 65! In addition to the two-hour course, all the schools also offer half-day and full-day surf experiences taking students to a few other hotspots around the peninsula. Fees include board and wetsuit rental and the sort of personal attention that comes from assigning only two students to a teacher.

Muizenberg may be a long drive from the city centre but the trip is well worth it as it is one of the few surf spots around Cape Town that remains surfable 360 days out of the year. As such, you are almost guaranteed a good wave for the trouble of making the 35-minute drive.

Apart from being a fun way to spend a morning or part of a morning, surfing is a very enjoyable way of getting very fit very quickly. The combination of muscles used incessantly in trying to get up on the board, keeping your balance as you ride and learning some of the more advanced manoeuvres means that your whole body gets a workout while you’re having a whale of a time.

Your first surfing lesson will focus simply on getting you up onto your feet on a surfboard in the water and then keeping your balance while up there. Getting your balance right is like learning to ride a bicycle – you’ll spend a lot of time falling off but the first time you get it, it’s like flying.

Once the surfing bug has bitten, you’ll find it’s an obsession worth cultivating. Cape Town has several surf spots around the peninsula offering a variety of conditions suitable for beginners and experts alike. Within a short drive of Cape Town there’s even more variety to be had. All these treasures of the coastline are waiting to be discovered by the latest convert to the global surfing community.

The surfing courses offered by the schools in Muizenberg – Gary’s, Roxy Learn To Surf and Cape XTreme – are designed to take learners who have never stepped on a surfboard and turn them into competent surfers. Gary’s also offers surf camps aimed at overseas tourists – a three-week holiday spent chasing waves from Cape Town to Jeffrey’s Bay.

Sign up for your first surfing lesson today, it’s the sport that keeps on giving.

Cape Town resident and writer.