Macaronis Surf Coaching Clinics 2020
For the last two years, Swellnet and Macaronis Resort Mentawais have run surf coaching clinics during January.
The clinics have been so succesful that, not only will they be repeated next year, but there'll be an extended season. There'll now be five week-long clinics running from mid-January to late-February.
Hosted by Macaronis Resort, the clinics have been run by renowned surf coach Clayton Nienaber and his brother, photographer Shayne Nienaber, and in 2020 they'll be joined by Cris Mills who'll provide strength, stretch, recovery and breath training as well.
Clayton is a renowned surf coach, he'll provide one-on-one and group tuition, while Shayne will film each session with video and stills. The footage is used for instant feedback to improve sklills, but also to document your surf trip.
Clayton Nienaber during the 2018 coaching trip (Photo Shayne Nienaber)
Each trip includes 8 surfing days / 7 nights, and the trips are run consecutively. It's possible to combine a coaching clinic with a two week stay at the resport.
For full details click here, or sign up to the group Facebook page and keep abreast of details.
Comments
Would love to hear an unbiased report from an average surfer to see if they reaped any benefit from it.
Would be bullshit to get a flat spell for a week which is possible that time of year no ?
Poor winds and/or flat spells can happen in the 'on' season.
Pumping waves can happen in the 'off' season.
One of the attractive things about these trips are the low numbers in the water, because most of the boats based out of Padang are dry docked.
Don't panic - they have wave pool solutions for you these days... or just go to the HPC centre. Lots of options out there.
I've had several close friends get coaching through Clayton as well as Macaroni's coaching trips and the feedback has all been extremely positive...and i've seen there surfing progress rapidly. He's a bloody good shaper too....had a 6'3 of his that was a magic board in Fiji.
depends what your expectations are. if you're happy with 2-3ft and maybe lucking into an out of season swell....probs still more consistent than PNG
is there an out of season discount?
I mean 2-3 ft ments is still gonna be fun but I'd be worried about getting burnt by the winds.
Was looking into PNG but yeh I guess it's probably depending on less reliable swell sources than ments. I think its a good idea to be honest. I dunno why there isn't more surf coaching for your average surfer available, Ive looked around Byron area and only options are very expensive.
I mean 2-3 ft ments is still gonna be fun but I'd be worried about getting burnt by the winds.
Was looking into PNG but yeh I guess it's probably depending on less reliable swell sources than ments. I think its a good idea to be honest. I dunno why there isn't more surf coaching for your average surfer available, Ive looked around Byron area and only options are very expensive.
you've got HPC right up the road, they do coaching don't they?
A mate did this trip earlier this year. Got fun waves every day and light crowds from what I gather. He pops up on here every now and then so he might be able to give some more info.
I think its a bit of a worry people talking up the offseason so much, yeah sure you can get good runs of waves, but it can also be tiny to flat for periods, it's a real flip of the coin and ive done almost one whole year straight in Mentawais from Feb onwards so seen how it changes through the year and ive also been out there in the off season at other times and i honestly have been skunked normally when goes small and then you get localised storms that seem to blow west for decent periods, even get short period west swells.
Even if you compare Bali to offshore areas of Sumatra, Bali is a lot more consistent just seems to not be so fickle to direction sometimes Bali can be a decent size but up Sumatra very small, while it rarely does it the other way around.
The Mentawais is a big place. The breaks face in all different directions. In summer months you would want to be somewhere facing South to make the most of those South swells, not facing West or South-west, or blocked by another island. My main concern would be cyclone activity off WA that can cause strong NW winds when they happen, but most of the time there's light winds or its glassy. Every season is different.
people are going for this sort of thing? bet it costs a bundle. top scam!
Eh?
Pricing is $2,975 if you share a room with another surfer (8 days surfing). Includes Mentawais surf tax and return transfers from the airport.
By my calculations, the normal charges - if sharing with another surfer - for an 8-day trip + Ments tax + return transfers is $3,070 ($2,520 + $100 + $450).
So, it's about $100 cheaper.