As the Norwegian National Surf Coach I use the opportunity to not only coach the national team, but surfers from all around the country.
I have just being in Stadlandet for 5 days where I did surf coaching in Ervik with the local surfers. I did some private water surf coaching and some video surf coaching. Usually the locals don't allow any surf lessons as they want Hoddevik to be the spot where all lessons and coaching sessions are conducted. So, I felt privileged to be able to coach the locals at their surf break.
I live in Stavanger and was suppose to do some coaching in Jæren, but because the waves were too small I ended up having to postpone all my sessions, so I quickly made a plan to drive north in Norway to Stadlandet. There was a bit more swell there making it possible to surf and do some coaching. I coached a bunch of people of which one of them was Felix Golden who is training for the world senior surfing champs in California. He leaves in a few weeks with the team and is training hard.
One of the other guys I coached was Magnus Bettum. He is a local ripper who owns the Ervik Surf Shop. He surfs well and is also a surf coach and gives lessons to kids, groups and all sorts of people. His employee, Marthe joined for a session as well. She has surfed for a couple of years, but never had any surf lessons or coaching so it was all new to her. She loved it and learned a lot.
A good friend of mine who runs the Christian Surfers organisation joined for a surf coaching session as well. Lars is his name and is probably one of the kindest people I know. He ended up inviting me over to stay at his house with his family and they were very good hosts and showed great hospitality. His house was always filled with kids, surfers, friends and strangers.
Fortunately I managed to get a couple of fun sessions in myself too. I kinds wish I had someone filming and coaching me sometimes haha. Maybe I need to get someone to film me on these trips. I always appreciate getting videos of myself surfing. I feel like even though I have surfed for 25 years I still learn new things, especially when I see videos of myself surfing. I analyse my surfing just as I analyse other people's surfing who I coach. I also find that this benefits me as a coach to be able to teach others skills that I have learned.
I am now driving all the way up to Finnmark. Yes, it is a long journey from Stadlandet, but I have the time to do it now and I feel if I don't do it now it will never happen. The surf forecast in Stavanger still looks flat, so I have organised to head up as far north as possible to join my good friend Charly who owns and runs Finnmark Surf. It is a 28 hour drive through Norway, Sweden and Finland to get there. These 28 hours excludes sleep and rest, so I think it will take me 3-4 days to drive up there.
My friend Charly Rodriguez originally comes from Canary Islands, but now has a family in Finnmark. He lived in Lofoten for many years when I lived there and we surfed together all the time. He surfs well and he is one of the nicest guys around with a very big heart. He is organising for me to do some surf coaching there with some local surfers. It is a new destination for me so I look forward to coaching some of the locals that side and surfing new spots which Charly has discovered.
Once my trip is done in Finnmark I will then drive down to Andøya for 5 days where I will do the same. There are some local surfers who live in the area who I occasionally coach. A friend of mine, Anders Stave, owns Arctic Aloha and he gives lessons at a fun beach break striaght out in-front of his spot.
When I lived and worked in Lofoten we would have the regular customers who cam for coaching. One of them is Hanne Stene. She lives in Harstad and loves surfing. She often travels the world to other surf spots such as South Africa and Peru, but she loves surfing Lofoten and Andøya. She will meet me in Andøya for a weekend girls surf camp. Hanne is a peoples person and always brings her sisters, brothers and friends along with her to these surf getaways.
I just uploaded a small edit of my Nigeria Surf Trip. Check it out.
I drove about 7 hours today and did some work during a couple of stops I had. I think it is time for bed so that I can wake up early to continue my drive. My goal is to drive at least 10 hours tomorrow. Alone.
Have a good week
Shannon Ainslie