The Art of Surfing Surf Camp 2 – with Matt Scorringe

I’ve spent a large part of my life in the water or behind the lens of a camera, the two go hand in hand really. Ultimately if you want to improve in surfing you need to understand how you are moving on the water.

While traveling the world as a sponsored freesurfer for Billabong, I met and became close friends with former World Surf League surfer Josh Kerr. He offered me the opportunity of a lifetime – to be his personal filmer and caddy on the 2009 World Surf League (WSL) tour. Over that year, I attended all 12 WSL events with Josh. I filmed every surf and heat to analyze where he could improve and help him rise to the top of the World Surf League.

When I returned home at the end of the 2009 season, my world was turned upside down. I was diagnosed with leukaemia and needed extensive chemotherapy for the next two years. At the same time, I studied and learned as much as I could about natural health, nutrition and wellbeing, and went on to win my fight with cancer.

After recovering from my illness, I decided to follow my passion and use my experience and knowledge to coach surfers. From kids to adults, all surfers share the same desire to ride a wave better. At The Art of Surfing (TAOS), we recognize the growing demand for expert-level surf coaching and training among not just elite surfers, but also recreational surfers who typically just want to be able to generate more speed and do a nice top turn.

‘In 2013, I developed The Art of Surfing as a way of passing on my skills to the next generation of aspiring New Zealand surfers.’

Once you’ve learned the basics of surfing, it’s easy to stop progressing. Without knowing what you’re doing wrong or how to improve, you can spend years surfing at the same level. That’s where we come in. No matter where you’re at with your surfing, our finely-tuned video analysis will quickly pinpoint ways to improve your technique, and our professional training methods will eliminate those niggling performance flaws.

TAOS offers high-performance, personalized surf coaching for all abilities. We specialize in technique, video analysis, equipment and competition-based fundamentals. Not only have we developed the programs you need to fulfill your potential, but we’ll customize them to help you achieve your particular surfing goals and budget.

Our programs are offered worldwide, from New Zealand to Bali and beyond. With courses, camps and online coaching, we reach surfers all over the globe.

I fell in love with surfing at the age of 6 when I used old pieces of broken boards to surf the whitewash, I also gathered around with all of my friends at one of the firsts restaurants in Playa El Tunco, Restaurante Erika, owned by my family. This space gave me the opportunity to live in front of the beach where I would spend most of my days surfing at the beach. Back in those days, Restaurante Erika was basically the only place to eat and drink at night and it became the local hub for local and international surfers visiting here.  

My biggest inspirations were local “old-school” surfers like “El Papaya”, “El Pupa” and Jimmy Rotterham who by that time were considered as some of the most accomplished surfers in the area. I even had the amazing opportunity to surf with legends like Andy Irons, Josh Kerr on their trips to El Salvador and also meet many international athletes in the surfing world while travelling abroad. I used to participate in national and international competitions. But after a couple of years of doing the “Bamba Show” I was lucky enough to be selected and trained as a judge for surfing contests. Now I’m mainly focused on raising my family and helping other surf enthusiasts perfect their technique with my own Surf Academy.

Adrian Bio here