Day one: whitewater and the pop-up
You start at Devil's Rock in Tamraght, on a soft 8-foot board, in waist-deep water. The coach pushes you into broken waves and you stand up, or you do not, thirty or forty times. Most people stand on day one. Most people are also exhausted by lunch, which is why the afternoon is a swim and a nap. To know who will push you into those first waves, read surf lessons in Tamraght: how our coaching works, which introduces the three coaches. Children from 10 start the same way on the same beach, in a group of their own with a session capped at ninety minutes; a family surf holiday in Morocco follows their week beside the adults'.
Days two and three: catching your own
Now the coach stops pushing. You learn to read a wave coming, turn the board, paddle three strokes and pop up before it breaks. This is the hard part and it takes two days for most adults. On day three most people catch their first unbroken wave, and the rest of the week is easier.
Days four and five: Banana Point
If the swell allows, you move to Banana Point, the long slow right off the river mouth. The wave peels rather than closes out, so once you are up you ride for five, eight, ten seconds and start to feel the board turn under you.
What you will be able to do by Friday
- Paddle out through waist-high whitewater without being washed back
- Pick a wave, turn, paddle and stand on most attempts
- Ride a broken wave straight to the beach every time
- Ride an unbroken wave at Banana Point and angle along it, some of the time
- Know what a rip is, where the channel is, and when not to go
What you will not be able to do: turn on the face, surf a point break in a crowd, or ride a shortboard. Nobody does that in a week.
What it does to your body
Shoulders and ribs, mostly. Paddling uses muscles most people last used in a swimming pool at school, and lying on a board bruises the ribs of the lean. Both settle by day three. Sunburn on the backs of the legs is the injury we treat most; wear the wetsuit or a long rash vest even in August.
Where to stay when you learn to surf in Morocco
Our Tamraght surf camp is eight minutes in the van from Devil's Rock and Banana Point, twenty on foot, which is why we send first-weekers there. The Solo package at the Tamraght hostel is priced on the packages page; book it here and tell us on the form that you have never surfed. A woman travelling alone can ask on the same form for the women-only dorm, six beds in Tamraght with a bathroom of their own; our women's surf camp article describes that dorm and the week, down to what to wear in the village.
The cost, per person, as a beginner: €150 for 3 nights in Tamraght and €350 for 7; in Taghazout, €180 and €420. A private room is €20 per room per night. From five people, 5% comes off the total; the coaching is split by level on the beach either way, and a group can count some people as beginners and others as intermediates, each at their own rate. The 15% deposit is refunded in full if you cancel more than 14 days before arrival. If you are weighing the stay against a hostel bed and lessons bought by the session, the cost of a surf camp in Morocco makes that comparison and prints the totals for both hostels.
