Surf South West (SSW) have been working with the Wave Project (WP) to provide surf lessons and surf therapy to Silverlings for the past five years in Croyde. Silverlinings is a charity based in Oxfordshire and they specialise in providing care to allow people with acquired brain injuries to live full, fun and independent lives. The level of support and encouragement is amazing, if you want more information on Silverling please click on the link at the bottom. Over the years SSSW and WP instructors have got to know the surfers well and we have been amazed by the level of surfing, confidence in the water and size of smiles on individuals faces. For anyone who regularly surfs in England you know the weather can be unpredictable and even in the summer, sunshine and clean waves can not be guaranteed. It was after a memorable Sumer surf session in Croyde, gales, rain and messy wind swell one of the surfers said wouldn’t it be nice to surf in sunshine in warm water. With this the seed was planted to look at options for a winter surf adventure. After a few weeks of thought we had chosen a location, looked into accommodation options and chosen the squad of surfers for the first overseas adventure. We chose to go to Lanzarote, as SSW had experience of organising surf trips to the island. We also had a contact, an ex SSW instructor who left to set up a surf school in Famara “Lanzasurf Surf and Yoga Camp”. We knew the beach at Famara well as it’s a long beach break with lots of space, easy access and fun waves ideal for a surf trip. Accommodation was chosen, flights booked and off we went. As with all overseas surf trips you are a little apprehensive, but we needn’t have worried. The accommodation was amazing we had one apartment overlooking the harbour and another close by. On the first day we all woke to sunshine and a perfect swell which looked as if it would last the whole holiday. To make things easier we planned to use equipment from Lanzasurf , but we had taken a modified inflatable SUP (from Cerebral which we have been using for a few years) for one of the surfers. We quickly settled into a familiar routine of breakfast, hour long swim in the harbour followed by some tai chi in the sunshine. Then a leisurely lunch, siesta ( well it would be rude not to in Spain) then an afternoon surf for a few hours till dark. We then all showered, changed and had sociable supper together reliving the day’s adventure and film footage. As you can imagine there was lots of laughter and big smiles on everyone’s faces. See blow for a few pictures of the epic surfing and smiling faces. As the week went on everyone was amazed at the surfing progress made. I think it’s fair to say the trip couldn’t have gone any better. Memories and friendships were formed which will last a lifetime. Surf trips to Croyde are already being booked and we are looking into future overseas surf adventures. More importantly we scored clean waves, in sunshine and warm water so the trip was a complete success. How often can this be said… A massive thank you to all involved in making the adventure possible.