Wes Laine Surf Camp

A few things to note: 1) the camp ends at 11:30am. They advertise it ending at 12pm, but then when you are there, they tell the kids the schedule of the morning and they say they end at 11:30am. So if you were to drop off and leave, your kid might be there 30 mins after camp waiting around for you. 2) you should not drop off unless your kid is old enough to be at the beach alone. The kids in this camp range form about little (maybe 6?) to teenagers, but there is definitely not much close supervision of the kids, and it is a public beach so anyone else is right there on the sand and in the water. I'm not sure how other surf camps are, but this seemed like a huge group of kids (40-50). Many of the parents stayed and supervised on the beach. I stayed, and I'm glad I did because I don't think the counselors would have known if a kid wandered off on the beach. One of my sons did wander off a bit and even I couldn't find him for a few minutes! Kinda scary. I found him playing in the sand (he is 9 and can swim) but I was freaked for a minute. It's hard to see the kids in the water because there are so many, so close together and its a bit far out from the sitting sand. 3) They say that there is a VB lifeguard, but the lifeguard stand was empty until 10am, when I'm guessing the VB lifeguards start. So from 8-10am, there was not a lifeguard. The sand also got really crowded around 10am, and there were non-camp people sitting everywhere in front of me and around me, making it harder to keep an eye on my kids in the water.4) It is what you make of it. One of my kids was not that into it and spent half the time just goofing off in the sand. No one encouraged him to get back on his board and try to surf. My other kid was more into it and linked up with a camp counselor who helped him learn to surf. So if you kid is into surfing and will make a point to seek out an instructor to help him, then he'll benefit. For my other son though, I felt like I spent a bunch of money to watch him play in the sand. 5) Most of the counselors are teenagers. One or two adults. Wes Laine was there and was in charge but I did not see him actually teaching kids to surf. He seemed to just stand around in the sand. It was a cheaper surf camp than others, but I will do something smaller and more organized next time. At the end, they had a "pizza party" at Coastal Edge. An obvious attempt to get everyone to the store to buy stuff, but they did hand out "Surf Camp" hats that one of my sons loves.

I really didn't expect anything less than awesome. Wes , being a former pro surfer, is definitely good at what he does. Not only were the kids professionally instructed, they also did what kids like to do most, have fun. Camp ended with a pizza party and awards type ceremony recognizing them for their accomplishments. The goody bag was pretty amazing as well.Wes and his team exceeded my expectations for overall experience. Surf camp location was great as well. You don't really get better surf conditions. Highly recommended!!!!

Wes goes the extra mile in getting these kids going! Brought my child and a neighbor 9years and almost 13 and both had an amazing time. Actually catching waves the first day. Good description of tides and waves and such making sure the surf students understood conditions and such. My surfers are begging to go again. Highly recommend this camp for all ages!!