A Coaching Marathon Across the World’s Best Bodyboarding Waves
Our intrepid leader, Rob Barber, has been on the road, running coaching holidays and retreats since the middle of December. He’s headed up our coaching holidays to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Sumatra and Bali. Then also hosted coaching trips for our sister company Women and Waves in Costa Rica and Bali. He’s back in the office now and looking sun tanned but travel weary, we asked him to tell us about his trip, using numbers!
Number of…
- Surf & Bodyboard Camps delivered – 8 (El Salvador ×2, Costa Rica ×2, Bali ×4)
- Shark sightings – 0
- Legit new secret spot discovered – 1 (El Salvador)
- Times your head was caught in a fishing line while riding a wave – 1 (Bali) ‘See the video here‘
- Total hours in the ocean – 244 (= 10 days, round the clock in the ocean!)
- Sickness days – 2 (sun-stroke / exhaustion, “Bali belly”)
- Scorpions in the bedroom – 1
- Most expensive beer purchased – $22 (Miami)
- DJI cameras broken – 1 (battery door left open, El Salvador)
- DJI cameras found floating in the line-up – 1 (Bali)
- Guests coached – 125
- Staff worked with – 17 (Indonesian, El Salvadorian, Argentinian, French, Portuguese, Costa Rican)
- 5-star TripAdvisor & Google reviews gained – 48
- Guests already booked again for next year – 52
- Manta rays seen while snorkelling – 14 (Nusa Lembongan, Bali)
- Most barrels in one session – 50+ (perfect Sumatra pits—shooting, not bodyboarding)
- Beach cleans attended – 1
- Reef-restoration projects supported – 1
- Water-time spent shooting (vs. bodyboarding) – 80 %
- YouTube instructional videos created – 28
- Action-figure dolls made with AI – 1
- Houses sold / bought on the road – 1 & 1 (sold Newquay house, bought another via Zoom)
- Times the emergency whistle was used – 2 (guests caught in rips)
- Guest injuries – 1 (over-the-falls head-plant, Costa Rica—checked out fine)
- Insane sunsets witnessed – LOTS (Bali & Costa Rica take the win)
- Storms ridden out – 1 (cyclone off Java, Bali)
- Flat days – 0
- Days at home in 5 months – 8
- Family holidays overlapping work trips – 2 (El Salvador & Bali)
- Video-analysis sessions delivered – 64
- Waist size – 30 in (four hours a day in the water will do that!)
- Dolphins surfed with – 4
- Reef cuts – 1 (shin—stepped in a hole pushing son into a wave)
- Turtles spotted – 11
3. Legit new secret spot discovered - 1 (El Salvador)
7. Scorpions in the bedroom - 1
9. DJI cameras broken - 1 (battery door left open, El Salvador)
15. Manta rays seen while snorkelling - 14 (Nusa Lembongan, Bali)
16. Most barrels in one session - 50+ (perfect Sumatra pits—shooting, not bodyboarding)
17. Beach cleans attended - 1
18. Reef-restoration projects supported - 1
21. Action-figure dolls made with AI - 1
30. Video-analysis sessions delivered - 64
