Want to learn how to surf? Just want to rent kit? Hugh does all of that. I found him online and he was very quick to respond back to my email about lessons. He offered a lesson and kit for £30. Our lesson was around 2.5 hours... and he was willing to go longer if we wanted. Porthcawl was easy to find and Hugh was parked up near the entrance of the car park with a couple of other guys offering lessons and kit rental. He showed me how to put the wetsuit on and then we waited for some of the other people to show up. There were four of us in total, but two of the other ladies were late in getting there. That was probably the only downside to the whole thing... having to wait for other people when they were late.
He runs the lesson in three parts... first safety, second catching waves, and third... standing up. He was really easy to understand, taught us an efficient way of catching waves for beginners that was really easy to pick up. He gave us feedback as we caught waves. Once he was satisfied that we were comfortable with that, he taught us a couple of methods to stand. I didn't stand up, but I also didn't expect to stand on my first lesson. I did get to my knees, using a different method than the pop because I was having trouble with that.
Hugh also runs specials on weekday lessons and also after school bookings. He also rents out kit, as I was standing there some guys came up and asked about renting boards... he offered boards for £5 to use until they were done. He then said after our lesson that if we wanted to come back and rent kit to practice, he would rent everything to us for £15. He also took pictures and sent them to us. I really enjoyed the lesson and would highly recommend him if you're out in Porthcawl. read more