Surf Getaways was created by one of Australia’s most accomplished and accredited female surf coaches, Serena Adams and Belinda Bradford an avid traveler, surfer, and experienced commercial marketer and entrepreneur. Their aim was to make surfing accessible for women of any age.
How and when does the idea of creating a surf travel agency for women?
The idea came from my own travels several years ago and from meeting and talking with women who were looking for the same thing as I was. We all wanted to experience the fun and thrill of surfing but we felt the usual options just were not suited to us.
Women, over 30 and not necessarily the fittest or most confident in the water. There was just nothing available so I decided to develop something for women just like me.
What do you think are the needs of your clients?
They need to feel like they fit in and will meet like-minded women who see the world as they do, they don’t want to feel uncomfortable, like your usual male focused or backpacker focused surf camp makes women feel.
Women who may not be 25 anymore but are adventurous, looking for new experiences, love travel and the ocean and want to give surfing a go, that’s our customer. They also want a nice stylish place to stay, great food and easy hassle-free travel experience, all designed to improve confidence and add to their enthusiasm for life.
Throw in lots of fun and laughs with women who are looking for the same thing through a sense of community and encouragement and that’s what Surf Getaways provides each customer.
In the surf industry, the male presence still has more weight. What are the biggest difficulties that you find in the world of surfing as women?
We see male dominance as our advantage. The conventional male-dominated surfing industry has ignored our market for decades and continues to do so. We just go about developing the experience we know our customers want.
Some men have been very skeptical at first, until they see the numbers of our customers in our surf clinics and on our tours and read our feedback and then they start asking, ok, so what are you girls doing again?
And how can I partner with you? It will take some time to change the industry completely, but it will happen and we don’t plan on going anywhere soon. We plan to be in this business for a long time:)
Why do you choose the destinations you offer and not others? What makes them so special?
We choose destinations that are accessible and of course that offer us locations, we can manage easily across all surfing levels.
We have an aggressive expansion program planned for 2020 that will see us open destinations more accessible for the American market and for the European market, so stay tuned. And some additional ‘bucket list’ one of the locations for the more adventurous surfer and traveler.
We are also opening more Australian options for locals and travelers alike, so stay tuned to that as well and check out our web site or sign up to our newsletter to get all the latest updates.
What are the strengths of your trips?
We focus on technique and removing fear, for all levels. That means if you have never surfed before we focus on removing fear and building ocean knowledge and overall confidence.
Because you need that to start the journey that is really learning to surf. With more advanced surfers we focus on what’s holding them back, what challenges they are feeling and we get very hands-on, in and out of the water.
We use video review programs for all customers helping then get a sense of what works and what doesn’t and moving them on to more positive outcomes, by isolating exactly what their real challenge appears to be.
Plus our biggest strength is we really focusing on building community and providing women a safe place to be themselves and be supported in their journey, whatever that is, by other women who are often going through exactly the same thing.
We have wonderful stories of women meeting the group for the first time and all of them enjoying the Surf Getaways experience so much they have become lifelong friends and go on to holiday with the group they were on one of our tours with after the first tour finishes. Some of our customers are now on their 3rd and 4th tours with us in 2020, so we know we are doing something right.
What do you think your customers enjoy and appreciate most after having made a trip with Surf Getaways?
A sense of fun and camaraderie with other women, all focused on learning the same thing. Enjoying a great experience with new friends where each of them is building in confidence. We know that enabling them to feel empowered is a very contagious and very positive thing.
So we focus on building that environment so our customers leave our tours or surf clinics feeling empowered and fearless, knowing they really can accomplish anything they put their mind to. Plus they also leave with improved surfing capability, gained from our unique and world-class coaching programs that builds skill and confidence in the water at the same time.
If you look at our feedback on Trip Advisor and on our website, that seems to be the central takeaway everyone has, which makes all of us at Surf Getaways really proud of what we do.
Interviewed by Alicia Pemán
Surfing and travel lover. Chasing the sun looking for new adventures. Alicia collaborates as an intern with Surfpreneurs Club to give voice to the female community in the surf industry.
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