Adaptive Surf
We approach surf coaching with the belief that people are enabled through their environment.
We started out as an adaptive surf school, it's what we're passionate about. We have won multiple awards for our adaptive surf program and our extremely proud of the impact we have made. Over the years we have conducted our own research on adaptive surf, taken part in interviews, and had a couple of mentions in articles, all of which can be found on this page.
'Enabling people through their environment' is core to us because it describes the disabling and exclusionary barriers society puts up, rather than looking at disability through the lens of an individual's impairments or differences. People can be enabled through their environment with adaptations like working lifts for wheelchair users, or braille signage for people with visual impairments. In surfing we aim to make the adaptations necessary to meet the needs of anybody who comes to us. This can mean providing lessons for people at a one-to-one ratio, or sourcing and providing any additional equipment needed. We are currently in the process of getting a custom adaptive board made by a local North East shaper, so we can extend our reach to more people.
We make every effort to secure funding for adaptive surf and have provided it free of charge and heavily subsidised since 2020. With this model we rely on funding grants, we spend the winter applying for grants, so check back in the 2025 season for these sessions.
I asked him what his favourite part of his session today was and he said "falling in and it used to be the thing that I was most scared of" but not anymore.