Surfing and romance: it's impossible to separate the two. What could be more romantic than paddling out on your surfboard on an early summer evening? The daytime breeze fades to a breath, the sun stains the water gold, and all around you are fellow surfers with faraway eyes, all lost in the moment, scanning the horizon for the next wave.
Well, that's the ideal. Quite a lot of the time in Britain surfers battle against grey skies, driving rain, and the sting of cold salt water flung in your face by a raging offshore wind. But when you do get the occasional perfect day, you surf 'til your arms are fit to drop off, because you can't quite believe your luck.
Surfing and a different sort of romance is the theme of a new film, Blue Crush, which opens tonight (Friday 4). First it was girls and football, in Bend it like Beckham. Now it's girls and surfing, with Blue Crush telling the story of a female surfer in Hawaii who must choose between her man and her sporting dreams.
The storyline has more cheese than a delicatessen: would-be professional surfer and local girl Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) wants to compete at Pipeline, one of the world's most challenging waves. She knows all the boys in the line-up, (where the surfers sit out in the ocean and wait for the waves). But just before the big day, she meets an American football player with a frighteningly square jaw and set of perfect teeth and it looks for a moment as though she's going to waste her talent and end up as a trophy wife.
Proponents of Girl Power will be relieved to learn that it all ends happily, and that despite being a movie about big wave riding, (until recent years an almost exclusively male preserve), most of the surfing scenes feature women.
In fact, even if you've never surfed, some of the wave riding sequences will blow you away. There is stunning footage from inside a tube - when the wave curls and wraps over the surfer's head to form a salty tunnel. There is also tow-in surfing, when jet skis pull surfers into waves the size of office blocks which would otherwise be too big to paddle for. And there are some near-drowning scenes which will give you nightmares if you have ever fallen off a wave and been held underneath the water by the turbulence until you thought your lungs would pop.
What's even more encouraging for would-be surfer girls is that although the film is set in Hawaii, surf schools in the UK have already started catering for women who want to learn the sport. In the Gower, Wales, surfing academy GSD runs women's surfing weekends from May onwards. The weekend courses are taught by top British coach Tracy Boxall, who is currently working in Australia. The lessons are suitable for absolute beginners and all equipment is provided.
Even better, for landlocked London surfers there is a new service from London City airport to the Gower, Wales, being launched on April 28 by Air Wales. If you book weekend flights from the airline and tell GSD in advance, the GSD minibus will pick you up from the airport take you to the beach to start your surf tuition.
Simon Jayham, 35, owner and founder of GSD, used to be a surf coach in Hawaii. Now he runs the Gower school and says that the number of women taking up surfing has tripled in the past two years. "I teach 120 kids a week and I would say that the top 10% of these young surfers are the girls. They are more competitive, more focused, and they have superb balance. Several have the potential to be champions."
What's more, he runs weekend and day courses for adults, and when couples come to his school to learn to surf, it's often the women who manage to stand up first on their surfboard. "Women listen carefully to what you are telling them, and try put it into practice."
In fact, he has just been organising a first surfboard for his own daughter, Isobel, who is two. It's being specially shaped for her. So what makes a champion? "You have to be prepared to work hard, and be focused. It helps to be athletic and have a gymnast's physique. Even the male world champions like Kelly Slater are relatively small - they are only around 5'6 to 5'8."
But for those of us who don't class themselves as athletic and never could do the splits at school, he has some comforting words: "Anyone can surf - we get all shapes and sizes of people coming on our courses. What you do need is to do is have a basic level of fitness - just 20 minutes of walking a couple of times a week will help. However, in order to progress you do need to be mentally strong - it's a frustrating sport and sometimes you progress in huge leaps, while other times you seem to go backwards. Sometimes I can go out and catch my first wave and ride a tube and then not catch any decent waves for the rest of the session. Other times it all falls into place - that's the way it is with surfing."
The first GSD women's surfing weekends start in May, and women can book in groups or individually. GSD also runs general courses for men and couples. Gower has a beautiful coastline and plenty of places to stay. At this time of year it may not have Hawaii's blue skies and warm seas, but wetsuit technology has improved in recent years and by May the ocean will be starting to warm up. Anyway, if you watch Blue Crush you'll see the price for paradise is extremely crowded waves and very aggressive locals. Give me cold water and smiles in the line-up any day.
Further information
· GSD, Gower, Wales has details of women's surfing courses on its website. There are also general lessons for men and women throughout the season. A weekend special, which includes four teaching sessions over two days costs £60.
· West Wales Wind Surf and Sailing, Dale, Pembrokeshire, Wales also teaches surfing to beginners. The surf school is headed by Peter Bounds, a former British team captain and British Surfing Association coach. The lessons are at Newgale, a magnificent sweep of sand with a mellow beachbreak.
· Air Wales is starting flights from Cardiff and Swansea to London City airport from the end of the month.
There are also surfing courses in the south west of England, including a large number around the Newquay area, and in Croyde, Devon. The courses below are all approved by the British Surfing Association.
· National Surfing Centre is situated on Fistral beach, Newquay: a full day with two lessons is £35
Post: c/o Champions Yard, Penzance TR18 2TA
Email: info@britsurf.co.uk
· Surf South West, Croyde, Devon
Post: PO Box 39 Croyde, Devon EX33 1YP
Email: darren@surfsouthwest.com
· West Coast Surfari At Watergate Bay, Newquay.
Post: 27 Trebarwith Crescent, Newquay, Cornwall TR7 1DX
Email: patandsally@westcoastsurfari.com
· Scarborough Surf School
Post: 3-4 Museum Terrace, St Nicholas Cliff, South Bay, Scarborough YO11 2HB
· More information on surfing courses and holidays at the British Surfing Association website.
· Swansea Tourist information .
