University of Surfing

We went for a two person, two hour surfing lesson bought on groupon. We had good communication with Matt, our instructor, leading up to our session via email. He answered any questions we had and booked our appointment with ease. We were a little confused about where to meet but eventually spotted Matt in the parking lot between the shopping center parking lot and Taco Bell parking lot. The wetsuits, booties and boards were great quality and all provided as part of the package. The lesson started on land learning how to pop up, safety, surf etiquette and how to fall safely. The second half of the lesson was spent in the water. We took turns riding the boards. Matt was in the water with us, guiding us through what we needed to do: when to pop up, how to find our balance and how to improve during our next wave. Matt made riding the waves much less intimidating than we expected and we felt safe with him and his instruction. He even gave us complimentary footage of our session in the water. We will definitely be returning to University of Surfing to learn more and take advantage of the alumni pricing.

I would ¹⁰⁄₁₀ recommend! Matt is a great instructor and he is super nice. It’s a little tricky to find him because there are three parking lots in Pacifica. Don’t go to the Taco Bell parking lot, or the parking lot that has NorCal surf shop in it, it’s a smaller one in between the two, so turn right at the stoplight next to Taco Bell. I almost missed it. I scheduled for a group lesson which ended up only being me and one other guy (there was an instructor who didn’t show but Matt showed up) so it was like having a private lesson. The gear was great and we did some practice popping up and general safety before we got into the water. In the water Matt made sure to give equal attention to me and the other guy and even shot a video of me on his go pro (I asked the night before). I caught a couple waves and he did a great job getting me out there and doing most of the work (paddling and timing) for me. Loved my lesson and he even let the lesson go overtime. The only criticism would be that we didn’t learn when to catch the wave and when to stand, it was more just getting us to stand up and balance which is the easiest part to learn but the hardest to master. This method of teaching shows you that hey yes you can do it, and gives you the motivation to keep learning and getting things like paddling and timing down in the future. I highly recommend taking a lesson, practicing for a while on your own, and then coming back for a tune up.

Let’s start with how hard surfing is. Maybe many talented people can be self-​taught. But it saved me so much time by attending Matt’s lessons. I started with him a couple of years ago as a beginner. Definitely helped me to get started. We got full rental set from Matt and by the end of the lesson, I was able to catch some waves and stand up. Fast forward a couple of years, now I feel like I’m stuck with intermediate level. There is so much of the ocean to learn about. I took another private lesson with Matt. It’s a lot to learn in those two hours. The topics cover on how to pick a board, how to peddle more efficiently, how to duck dive, how to take advantage of the rip current, and how to ride the wave, etc. I’ve been doing surfing on and off for a few years, I definitely have a lot of respect to the constantly changing ocean. If you want to take a short cut to reach to the next level, take a lesson from University of Surfing. I’ll definitely go back for more as well. Good luck, be safe and have fun!

Amazing lesson
We had no issues finding them and the gear was gear, we expected to feeeze butnwe were really not cold. The lesson was well worth the $ 100 and they offered me half off for the rest of my lessons.
Last time we just rented gear and it was a terrible experience
It cost almost $ 50 and the gear sucked, super wet oand old and no booties.
After reading a couple recent bad reviews I was worried there might be issues with the website but everything worked perfectly
And most importantly most importantly AJ and Meg were super nice and great instuctors

I had a group surf lesson scheduled today at 11AM. I showed up at 10:30AM and waited until 12PM for an instructor to show. My first thought is that I hope the instructor is okay, my second thought is this appears to be a trend for this company.
Please understand that this cost me a great deal more than just the cost of the lessons. I am 40 years old and have wanted to surf nearly my entire life and this was going to be my first opportunity. It was something I wanted to share it with my kids and we were all so excited. For their birthday present, I flew two of my children down from Oregon to join me and their other brother just for this. I took the day off of work for this as well and finally I drove roughly 130 miles round trip.
We repeatedly tried to contact the number listed on the website only to have it go to a full voicemail box. I cannot express to you the disappointment and financial difficulties you have caused by deciding my family was not worth the simple effort of a phone call or email to at least let us know they were not going to show up.

I got stood up as well:-/ I had a 10am private lesson but no instructor. I tried calling and texting but got no response. Big bummer as I’m from Mass and the surf was good. Will have to sort out a refund now.

I’ve always wanted to learn how to surf. I can’t recommend this school enough. We practiced 10 minutes on the beach how to do pop-​ups & went right into the water. I must admit as a Midwest (Chicago) Native, I felt a bit apprehensive stepping into the cold, creature-​filled ocean. The thought of Jaws, undertows & a slew of worries flooded my brain on drive over to Linda Del Mar Beach. I’m also still recovering from a back injury (car accident 3 yrs. ago) & worried I wasn’t in the best physical shape to even pop up and balance myself on the board. U of S instructor, Tom made me feel comfortable right away with his calm, positive demeanor, knowledge, and encouragement. With Tom’s guidance, I was able to pop up on my FIRST try! Tom had both myself & another student surfing within a matter of minutes! The ocean wasn’t unbearably cold or spooky either. The wet suit they provided was like new & kept me very comfortable. I felt safe, the water was clean, there were majestic whale sightings in the distance. My only regret is I didn’t go sooner. For $ 100 they provide the wet suits, board, gear and 2 hours of great instruction to get you surfing right away. I’m hooked & will be definitely returning as an alumni as soon as I can.

University of Surfing is a really fantastic and affordable introduction to surfing. Matt and his team are awesome. My wife and I had three lessons, and had a really great time each and every time. If you are brand new to surfing, I seriously recommend a private lesson with Matt. Surfing is not intuitive and you’ll be grateful for some personal instruction. There is a discount on the next lessons for returning students. So, don’t go anywhere else, this is the place to start.

great surfing lesson. My instructor was Kevin, and he was excellent! All 5 of us rode waves day 1.

My 13 year old son just completed a week of surf lessons with instructor Tom. He LOVED it, learned to surf and wants to surf more! I am completely satisfied and impressed. I highly recommend U of S!!!

What an amazing experience! My son and I recently took a surfing lesson in Hawaii, so we thought it would be cool to try it closer to home. I figured we would catch more waves if we took a private lesson, so I arranged one via email with Matt, the school’s owner.
Matt gave us clear instructions on where to be, and we met up with him on the beach at the appointed time. We used Matt’s wetsuits and booties which were all made by Hotline – a really nice wetsuit maker out of Santa Cruz.
We went over the basics on the sand, then got right out in the water. Pacifica is a great beach to learn at because the waves break fairly close to shore (30 – 40 feet) and the break is super-​consistent. Because the break is only in about five feet of water, Matt could easily stand/​float near us and set us up to catch tons of waves. During our lesson in Hawaii, we caught about a dozen waves each. With Matt, we each caught about forty! We were both dog tired after a solid two hours of surfing, and can’t wait to do it again.
Thanks, Matt!

Edited review.
Full disclosure — I wish I could give 3.5 stars here. They’re pretty disorganized, but the instructors are really cool and I had a great time. Caught a couple of waves. Managed to not look like a total idiot the whole time.
Definitely made me want to try surfing more. If you can find them at the beach you’ll have a good time.

Note: I have not yet had my surfing lesson with this organization. I booked 5 days in advance for a beginner lesson (will be this Sunday).
The one star rating is due to the fact that the website has been down for two days, I have called the main number and left a voicemail saying I had a few questions before my class but did not hear back, and the advertised email address bounced back when I tried to contact that way. Starting to wonder if the class is still on…
Hopefully, all ends well and I change my rating tomorrow?
University of Surfing — get your act together. :-(
Others — beware before booking.
Stay tuned for results.
*Edit (day before lesson): Heard back from the owner and got answers to my questions, along with lots of helpful details! Leaving review at three stars for now, until my class tomorrow. Super pumped!
**Final update (day after lesson): I had an amazing time! Mostly due to the fact that any other people booked for the same time slot did not show up, so I ended up with a private lesson. :-) Instructor Tom was excellent. I cannot say enough about how well he took care of me, always looked out for danger, and made sure I got in lots of time on the board. Definitely something I plan to do again. Leaving three star review due to the disorganization of the company, but if I could give just Tom five stars I would!

University of Surfing is great!
My girlfriend and I decided to do the intro to surfing course. Our instructor Laura was very helpful and fun to work with.
It was a beautiful day, and surfing was extremely fun, but unfortunately my girlfriend sprained her ankle falling in shallow water. I can’t imagine this is very common, but Laura was extremely accommodating and told us we could get a refund or reschedule even though the lesson was almost halfway over.
I also got a very nice email from the owner, Matt, who said he would happily refund our money or schedule another visit. It’s nice to find a company that takes such great care of their customers. We will definitely be back for another visit!

Came this past weekend to cash in my recently purchased Groupon for UofS. We had no issues making a reservation online and website in general was very user friendly. No issues redeeming my Groupon.
We showed up a little early and didn’t find it very obvious where we were supposed to go. FYI, just stay near the building with all the tiles on it, near the outdoor shower and the restrooms. Unfortunately the folks from UofS showed up a little late. I didn’t check the clock, but I’m guessing maybe 10 minutes.
Realizing they were running late, they quickly got us suited up and down to the beach. We were then greeted by Kevin, the main instructor, who is a Linda Mar local. Kevin was a fantastic instructor. He explained a lot of elements of surfing like learning to read the waves, knowing where to paddle out, and most importantly how to stand up.
The 101 class is about as basic as a lesson gets. Instead of paddle out we walked out until the water was about 4.5−5′ deep. At that point we got on the board and waited for the instructor to give us a push so we wouldn’t have to paddle to hard to catch the wave.
There were about 10 of us students, 4 boards, and 3 instructors. So everyone took turns on the board, which makes sense because the instructors needed to help all of us get going.
I really liked the lesson, but after taking the 101 class I’m still not very confident I could go out on my own yet. I still have much more to practice/​learn like paddling, and knowing when to stand up (rather than waiting for them to yell stand).
Definitely worth doing!

Wow, that was awesome.
1.) Booking was weird online, so I had to contact Matt. Matt was very responsive, his turnaround time to my multiple emails was quick.
2.) The instruction was awesome, especially for a first time. We spent most of the time feeling out how to actually «ride» a wave. I had taken surfing lessons in Portugal and I had to do everything on my own, I spent two hours struggling than actually riding a wave. I like that they help you and when you’re ready to do it on your own, you can get a board and get started.
3.) Just really nice people and fun experience. Matt is funny, sarcastic, and everyone is down to earth.
Lastly — I had purchased groupons and similar coupons online for two surf instructors in Santa Cruz and in Santa Barbara, my instructors never showed. When I got to the beach, it was very easy to identify University of Surfing, they were prepared and ready to go.
Would definitely do it again!!!

University of Surfing IS the real deal.
The instructors are friendly and had great tips, the surf was awesome, and the beach was beautiful.
Laura is a great instructor and even took my friend and I out further to surf with the «Big Boys» after the lessonw as over, it was AWESOME.
Matt is super flexible and a great guy. My friends and I had one day to do take this lesson and were having serious issues using Groupon’s faulty system. He jumped through SERIOUS hoops to make sure we got out there including bringing in exra instructors with little notice. Matt’s the man, and the time was unforgettable.

I am seriously bummed! In August I bought an Amazon Local deal for an introductory surfing lesson. I was PSYCHED as I’ve always wanted to do this. Over the next few months, I called multiple times, left multiple messages, and never got called back. So I went to their website to schedule online but the online scheduler wouldn’t work. Finally I emailed, saying «Please contact me as I can’t get through and I’d like to book my lesson.» Nothing. Really?
My voucher is about to expire, so I reluctantly called Amazon Local and got a refund. I seriously don’t understand how you can run a business like this. And I’m sad. I really wanted to surf!

I recently took advantage of a Groupon for surfing lessons for my 9yo daughter. It was a great deal. I’ve never surfed before, and didn’t know what to expect. After finding out that his sister was getting a lesson, in true sibling fashion, my 10yo son HAD to have one too. The online reservation process was simple, but we only had one Groupon! Doh! When we arrived, I spoke to Matt, the owner, and he extended the Groupon rate to my son as well. I thought that was an awesome thing to do. The kids had a blast, and all the instructors were top notch. Matt kept my daughter engaged, even when she’d «take a break» to play in the surf. He kept encouraging her to come back out and get on a board. My son was relentless in his effort to ride a wave. His instructor, whose name I didn’t get, stuck with him and really helped him make the most out of his time in the water.
It was a great experience. There were surfers of all ages in our group, and it really seemed to work. The instructors kept track of the students, and it seemed like they were very safety conscious. Additionally, since I recently hurt my back, I wasn’t able to help my kids out of their wetsuits afterward. The staff was very helpful to them, lending a hand with the awkward booties. Overall, we were very impressed with the operation and staff. Now that we’re alumni, we get that great rate for any follow up lessons! We will definitely go back, and I highly recommend University of Surfing!
For spectators, bring a long-​lens camera for good action shots, and a blanket to sit on the beach and watch. Also, layer up, because in January it started out a little breezy, but ended up almost 70 degrees! Conversely, the summer can be very cold. Realistically speaking, it’s the Bay Area. You never know what you’re going to get at the coast from one hour to the next!

We had a great time celebrating my 50^th by taking some surfing lessons for the first time. The instructors were so nice and so patient. Laura is from Hawaii — and the young man, Tim, was a super person to spend time with helping me catch the waves for the very first time. The instructors are experienced, friendly, supportive, and know their surfing. They are also young, good-​looking, smart, and unpretentious. I’ll return as often as possible for instruction. I highly recommend either instructor for individual or group lessons. You will not be disappointed.
Wetsuits, boots and board — plus instruction — were supplied for two hours at about $ 100. A real bargain, though I could only muster strength for part of the lesson. Yes, it helps to practice your pop-​ups, work your core, and do some serious swimming on a regular basis in preparation. Even still, I loved the experience I got!
If you love the ocean, being with some cool people, getting some fun exercise in the lovely sun and waves, this might be the ideal birthday gift (or any other occasion) for you too.