Gillian R.
Yelp
On a week-long beach trip, my boyfriend and I were so excited to learn to surf. We found a couple of outfitters that offered surfing lessons, but ended up choosing DVO in part because they were so friendly and helpful on the phone and partly because we had a 10% off coupon.
There was a group already scheduled for 3:30pm the following day, so rather than pay extra for a private lesson, they allowed us to join in on that lesson. We were told to arrive 15 minutes early. We were even a bit earlier than that, since traffic on the Outer Banks is somewhat unpredictable, and were waved over to park in the handicap space of their small parking lot. Tip: Overflow parking is next door. We were only going to be there a few minutes, so we ended up leaving the car there while we waited.
Our instructor was a bit late returning to the shop from his previous lesson, so we probably got started about 10 minutes later than our appointment time. The group was really laid-back, so no one seemed to have an issue with this. The group consisted of a recently married young couple (early 20s), my boyfriend and I (late 20s & 30s), and two young boys (maybe 8 to 10 yrs old).
We followed Jared's instructions and met him on the beach in Duck in front of a lifeguard stand. We briefly covered safety and he was careful to be sure we all felt comfortable. I expected that we would spend about an hour of our two hour lesson on the beach, learning to pop up, but we were out in the water within about 10 minutes of the sand hitting our toes. We rotated through the six students, each person getting a couple of minutes to chat with the instructor, ask any questions, and then ride a wave in. Some of us were faster learners than others, but by the end, we'd all ridden at least one wave in. Not bad for a two hour lesson!
I appreciate Jared's laid-back attitude, sense of humor, and excitement over teaching us something he truly loves. He didn't give us too much unsolicited advice, instead letting us learn from our mistakes, but always had some great tips when asked. There was no pressure, just encouragement to "shred that wave!" I could not have asked for a better experience and look forward to the next time that I get to ride a wave to shore!
We kept our boards for 24 hrs after the rental, included in the lesson fees, but the weather wasn't great the next day and we didn't end up getting anymore time surfing.