New York Surf School — Local services in New York

I took a couple of lessons with them but don’t really recommend. Here’s why: The first thing I wanna tell you is that they have a set time for lessons, no matter the water conditions, no matter if you’re paying top dollar for a private lesson, they go by their time regardless the wave forecast. They’ll just take you in the water and push your board to go with the wave. The second thing is that I had to wear a dirty wetsuit. It was all sandy and I was clean. It was just discussing. They don’t wash them, they just dry it and give it to the next person. I asked for another one and the answer was “we don’t have another one”. The other thing is that their instructors are not really instructors, they’re just surfers making an extra buck and many times, with no ability to break down the technique and support your learning. They just put you in the water and push your board. My first instructor cared and took the time to analyze the wave patterns and give me tips on recovery. The second just told me what to do and every time I didn’t achieve the outcome she found some fault on me. Which some were granted, it’s a lesson and a learner will by default make mistakes, but the negativity and lack of care just made me lose interest for the sport. Lastly, know that there is no place for you to change into your wetsuit, other than their crowded, dirt and disorganized container. And during the off season there are no showers or toilets open to the public. They told me to go to stop and shop.

So, in my opinion, the lessons is not worth what they charge. The hype was just built through advertising and social media but...

I can't tell you what's worse: the boards, the wetsuits, or the instructor. The boards are basically cracked in half and literally held together with tape. When you tried to catch a wave the nose would bend forward because it was not really solid, so it would go under, and then so would you. The wetsuit I was given had holes all over the place. This is the start of the season, and they didn't replace the garbage!

Actually, I can tell you what is the worst: the instructor. I don't even think ours knew how to surf, he definitely didn't know how to instruct. You could tell he didn't want to be there, he asked us at least twice before we got in the water how long our lesson was and when it ended. Personally, I hate the kid. When he watched my gf struggle in the surf, and get pushed out by the waves multiple times and stood there doing nothing a few feet away when she finally got close... oh man, I let him and everyone on that beach know exactly what I thought of him! We were the only 2 people in the lesson, so the sociopathic behavior was completely inexcusable. He's very lucky I can control my temper, to some extent, because he was the one in need of a lesson.

There's plenty of surf schools down there, and we found the worst! You don't see other students with holes in their wetsuits, boards falling apart and held together with electrical tape, and being mercilessly pounded on by waves with no help, while the dunce of an instructor is standing nearby doing nothing but checking his watch every 30 seconds because they clearly didn't want to be there from the start.

Don't make...

Update: after posting this review, I was finally contacted. They apologized for missing my emails and let me rebook classes.

It pains me to leave one star. Last year I booked a 2-hour private class and my instructor Felipe was great. Maybe 30 minutes into the class I broke my finger because the board hit my hand in an awkward way and I had to leave to go to the ER. I reached out to the school to ask if I could finish my class next summer (this summer of 2025) as I still had at least 1.5h paid for. They said yes and even said they would gift me a second class for free. So, I’ve been emailing them all summer, offering dates, times etc, to finish my class and take the free one and they are straight up ghosting me. It feels incredibly unprofessional to ignore someone who went through something traumatic at your school after THEY agreed to me finishing my class and THEY offered to gift me a second one. Really soured my view of the school and their communication. I have nothing left to do but dispute the charge with my bank as they never delivered finishing...