New Instructor for Nov and Dec – Emily

I first met Emily aka Em-dogs when she was in High School. I was home in between events on the world tour and slightly bored since there weren’t any cool surfer girls my own age who didn’t have full time jobs. I noticed a little crew of high school surfer girls and offered to take them under my wing and drive them to places like Trestles and Oceanside in the summer when our beaches were flat (the South Bay community where we’re from doesn’t pick up South swells and is typically about knee high and terrible all summer long). Emily was the quietest and most responsible of the group, although when she did say something she usually had everyone rolling in laughter. Those early summer road trips turned into a week-long trip to the North Shore of Oahu and then a trip to check out my new home break in Nicaragua in 2010. When looking for a calm responsible surf instructor who could be a good listener and also someone to laugh with, Emily was a natural choice.

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Emily is 25 years old and hails from Palos Verdes, California. She grew up surfing the South Bay of LA and was lucky enough to have a tight knit group of local girl surfers and the influences of Holly. She participated in contests throughout High School and ended up being the team captain of Peninsula High’s surf team her senior year. After graduating, her love for surfing definitely influenced her choice in colleges. She headed down to San Diego State University where she got a degree in Business Administration and scored some great waves. Emily also competed with her college surf team where they took home multiple state championship titles. Teaching surf lessons throughout college lead her to open her LA based surf school where she could share her love of surfing with people from all over the world. After her first trip in Nicaragua back in 2010 she vowed to be back and jumped at the opportunity to teach with Surf With Amigas!

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Learn to Surf and Help Save Baby Turtles in December

For the second year, Surf With Amigas is sponsoring the Waves of Hope baby sea turtle project. By joining us on a retreat in Nicaragua in November and December you will get a chance to support baby sea turtles while also getting to watch them hatch. Can you say cutest thing ever? As of today the November retreats are fully booked but we do have spaces available Dec 6-13 and 13-20. Email [email protected] for booking info!

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Interview Series – Kira Achieved Her Goals

Kira Harrison is from Seattle, Washington and came on a retreat with zero prior surfing experience. She picked it up super fast and achieved her goal of turning and riding along the wave. Here’s what she had to say about the experience at Surf With Amigas Surf Yoga Adventure Retreat in Nicaragua.

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Surf Fashion – What’s the Deal with Surf Leggings?

What’s the deal with surf leggings, you ask? Well, quite a lot! We first noticed Amigas wearing their yoga pants in the surf to protect them from things like jellyfish, rashes from wax, and the sun. They looked cute but we’d never tried them. Recently when designing our new custom rashguard (see photo of Sam modeling the Surf With Amigas rashguard below) we decided to add some leggings to the line (see Jackie in the leggings). We tried them ourselves and became addicted! They’re functional, cute, and they just feel good to wear. Perfect for surf, yoga, dancing, or whatever you feel like doing. Surf With Amigas surf leggings are only available in the SWA Suitcase Boutique by coming on a retreat with us.

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Join the Amigas in El Salvador in October

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Every year in October we pack up our surfboards and head to El Salvador for two weeks of shredding at the amazing, super long, super fun wave of Sunzal. Check out this video for a quick little tour of the spot we’ll stay, the wave we’ll surf, and some of the other activities. Join the Amigas in El Salvador to improve your surfing, ride super long waves, do yoga, and adventure!

More info is available here: El Salvador Retreat Info

This year’s dates:
October 18-25 2014
October 26 – November 2 2014
email [email protected] for booking info….

Southern Nicaragua Retreat Highlights

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Once a year we pack up all the boards and drive South to Magnific Rock for our annual Southern Nicaragua Retreat. This year we had a very diverse group of Amigas from a few different countries including Peru and Australia. We had pretty small surf which allowed us to surf three different spots. Everyone improved so much!

Sunny Happy Fun Day

On the last day of a retreat in July we had super small and perfectly clean conditions. There was no one else out and the sun was shining. The Amigas were having so much fun and we got some sweet water shots. Sunny Happy Fun Day!

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Jamie Came to Improve Her Surfing – Success!

Jamie has been surfing a few years in the Los Angeles area without any formal coaching, just going surfing with her friends. Some of those friends had visited Surf With Amigas the year before and greatly improved their surfing, so Jamie came down hoping to do the same. After a few days she realized that the issues she was having didn’t have a lot to do with skill necessarily but were mental blocks. With the help of the Amigas instructors (both surf and yoga) she was able to overcome and scored the best wave of her life, riding all the way to the beach with mindfulness and control, on the last day of the retreat. Here’s Jamie’s story.

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