DFC Surfing Academy

Thank you SO much!! My kids had a blast and can't wait to do it again. 10/10.... Let's do it again, now - 16 yo boyIt was fun! I'd try it again - 12 yo girlIf I lived here I'd do this everyday - 11 yo girlOur instructor was kind and patient and fun. I'm grateful to DFC for sharing their passion with my family. Mahalo!

Booked a surfing lesson with this place and I would definitely do it again. Jacob, our instructor was very patient with us and was such a professional. My friend and I never surfed before and we were both very nervous! First wave we caught was such an adrenaline rush but we started on our knees. When we finally got comfortable, we started to stand! There were lot of people surfing but other than that we had an awesome experience! Thanks Jacob for being there making sure we caught the best waves and giving us a push!

First time surfing and spent time out on the ocean with Chris as our instructor. He was great and we both were able to stand up several times. He was very nice and an awesome instructor!

My daughter (10 y/o) was looking for last minute surf lessons. She had never done it before. We called around a couple of places. DFC was available and was the cheapest ($99 private 1.5hrs). I booked it online. Makana was our assigned instructor and he the texted me the night before and gave me exact location of where to meet. The place was not hard to find and he texted me to make sure.We arrived at 7am and he was promptly there and ready to begin. Makana was the best. Super friendly and professional. My daughter was comfortable right away. The conditions were perfect and she got up right away and began surfing. We couldn't have asked for a better instructor or location. They stopped once for a water break. Otherwise, they were out there the whole 1.5hrs.Tip: Get Makana if you can. I recommend the first time slot at 7am. It began getting crowded around 8:30am.

DFC Surfing Academy is a wonderful place to learn to surf either for the day as an excursion, or if you are serious about learning to surf. Both Joshua and Kekua were wonderful with myself, my friend and our two sons. We actually booked the surfing lesson ON Thanksgiving day and they were wonderful about spending part of their holiday patiently teaching how to surf. It was an exceptional experience and I highly recommend their services.

I signed up my teenage daughter and her friends for surfing lessons. The instructors were all very good and patient. Very reasonably priced as well!

This is the first time my daughter tried surfing. She is 7 years old and is scared of going so far out into the ocean. But Chance, her instructor, was very patient and got her to stand up and catch a wave in no time. At the end of her lesson she had so much fun she wanted to know when she could go surfing again. According to her surfing with Chance was the best part of our Hawaii vacation.The location at north shore was perfect for catching waves for beginners. The only thing that might be an issue is parking since there's limited street parking and no parking lots. But if you schedule the lesson early in the morning that won't be an issue.

Update - we did speak to owner and was refunded our money with many apologies for our experience. Matthew did not represent the company well nor follow proper protocol, stating there were other concerns regarding Matthew's behavior. I feel the experience we had needs to be shared but we are now neutral about this company in general. We called on the Friday before our lesson (following Wednesday) regarding the forecast - storm, rain all day. We wanted our five year old to have a great experience and thought rain and choppy water could hinder that. During conversation we were told it wouldn't be a problem, if needed there would be life jackets, wouldn't go out too far, blah, blah, blah. They make it especially great for the young ones - ha. The day of lesson it is nasty and was worse than forecasted on Friday. Our lesson was pushed back an hour to 330p due to weather and should be better conditions. We arrived and met with Matthew (I believe) who clearly was not himself - backwards shirt, filthy shorts, terrible equipment, everything was awful! He decided we should change locations due to weather - rain is coming down, water is so choppy - since over there was a sand bottom and water was only up to chest (yes, but over my five year old's head). We asked multiple times if safe for our child and the response was, "Yes, I will be with him the entire time, but there is only one of me so it will be hard to teach all of you because I have to stay with him (there were three in our party, ages were all filled in on website. So not my problem you did not plan ahead with this awful weather....or cancel and give us a refund). We asked for a lifejacket because the surf was so active. He says, "Can he not swim?" I respond, yes he can, but this is rough for a full size adult, let alone a child. He responds, "I think I have an adult small." hmmmmmm... that would be way too big for my tall, slender child. But again, he states he will be with him the entire time and will not go out that far. On to land instruction. My husband have I have done this before and have wonderful instructors. This guy was an absolute chaotic mess - all over the place, lost his train of thought, laughed constantly saying you know or just kidding or just nothing. We also had our 17 year old nephew who is very athletic and he was asking my husband and I for more instruction because we have had multiple experiences. After a 5 minute lesson it was into the water, and again, he told my husband he would stay with our child close to shore. Then after he pushes my husband out, he reminds me there is only one of him and if my child comes into close to shore I would have to catch him so the board wouldn't flop him around in the surf (again, not my problem, I paid for all of this and you should be prepared!) Well, the instructor and my child head out and they are paddling and paddling and paddling until they reach where my husband and nephew are. The waves are so high you cannot see them when the wave goes down. Well, my child does a run, is doing great just laying on the board, getting the hang of it, riding the wave and he falls off. You can hear me in the video panicked that he is off the board, video cannot find him and I am pleading for the instructor to get him! He is just floating in the water not really paying attention and teaching my nephew. My husband told me he told the instructor to go get him and he said he was fine. oh no he was not! I finally did see his head and board pop up and my child can be seen attempting to get on the board and than another wave hits and he is gone. I threw my phone on the shore and was headed out to try and get him, but the waves were so strong. I was screaming frantically, my husband was trying to get to him. It was awful!!!!!!! Finally the instructor gets to him and my child gets on the board and the instructor pushes him into shore. Didn't come with him, didn't console his fear and talk to him about the experience he just had, but rather left him to me and the crashing waves to unleash him while trying to control the board. And as I am getting him to the shore he is crying and says, "mom why didn't you help me?" I was helpless and just hugged him, thankful I could.

We had surf lessons through DFC for us and 3 teenagers. All with little to no experience surfing. I was so impressed. It went great. Everyone got up!! Even better the instructors made it fun and were great to work with. My teens were talking about how much fun they had and how much they liked K and Kelsey the whole drive back to our hotel. Highly recommend!!

The surfing lessons were really great. Jacob was a really great teacher and made my experience really awesome as a first time surfer.