Forget the bikini-clad cinema surf babes of Blue Crush. Here on Chesterman Beach in the chilly 11 °C water, we look more like blubbery seals in our full body wetsuits. No matter: we girlfriends, all in our 40s, are here to discover our inner surf babes... though the cold, churning water gives us pause.
"I thought, oh god, am I out of my mind?" confesses Annabel Lapp. But Surf Sister's two-day, women-only clinics excel at slow immersion. We spend the first of our two hours of daily instruction each morning on the beach, practicing pop-ups and other essential skills on land before tackling the waves in our toasty warm wetsuits.
"It was so supportive and encouraging," says Lapp. "By the time you're on the water you're so ready. I always felt safe, like a kid playing in the waves."
After an hour of tumbling in the water, my gal pals and I debate what to do
with the remaining afternoon hours.
Hike? Kayak? "The spa!" we chime in great girlfriend synchronicity.
At the Wickaninnish Inn's Ancient Cedars Spa,
relaxing pedicures and exfoliating sea scrubs restore us for another day of
battling the surf. With toenail polish in sea-foam green, you can take on the
gnarliest waves!