Advanced Longboard Coaching Retreat with Jen Smith and Amigas – Week 2

carrie mcgowan, learn to surf, learn to longboard, learn to nose ride, surf with amigas, costa rica

For those ladies who already know how to paddle into and ride down the line, we offer several advanced coaching sessions per year.

On these retreats the focus is breaking down higher level skills via classroom sessions and awesome surf sessions with our super talented coaches. This particular week featured guest instructor – 2x world longboard champ Jen Smith and super stylish longboard cruiser Macy Sivage.

Carrie’s Surfing Progression in 14 months and a Handful of SWA Retreats

Surf With Amigas Costa Rica

Carrie McGowan came on her first SWA retreat in 2017. She hadn’t been on a surfboard in about a decade and was essentially starting from scratch. That first retreat she started out in the whitewater, just re-learning to stand on the board. Carrie quickly became an addict, joining us every few months to take her surfing to the next level. Each retreat she showed big surfing progression! Her most recent trip was in January to our Southern Costa Rica location and she started cross-stepping on the longboard! So cool!

Carrie edited this little video with the clips from each retreat and it’s awesome to watch the progression. We can’t wait to see where she takes it from here!

In Carrie’s words:

“When I came on my first Surf With Amigas trip in November of 2017, it was my first time on a surfboard in almost a decade! I grew up on the water and surfed a bit as a teenager and in my early twenties, and was so excited to reconnect with the ocean and with this amazing sport.

Fourteen months and a few more Surf With Amigas trips later, it’s so fun to look at the progress I’ve made thanks to the video footage! I’ve gone from barely being able to stand up to learning how to cross step at the advanced long boarding retreat.

The coaches at each retreat are spectacular, each bringing different strengths and teaching styles; they really make the retreats such fantastic learning experiences, both in the water and out. I feel like I have so many more tools now to continue improving my surfing at home, and I always eagerly await my next Surf With Amigas adventure.”

carrie mcgowan, surfing progression, learn to surf, learn to longboard, learn to nose ride, surf with amigas, costa rica