Surf Las Olas: Making Girls Out Of Women

Katie Brown

What better way to learn to surf than with a bunch of girls,  while staying in a villa on the ocean, and enjoying massages, yoga and wonderfully yummy, healthy food.  Surf Las Olas is the world premier surf camp for women, and once you check it out, you’ll totally know why.  Open since 1997, Las Olas has put thousands of women on surf boards through their Surf Safaris.  Their motto: We make girls out of women.

Leave  it to a snowboard industry legend to create such a perfect setting.  Bev Sanders co-founded Avalanche, one of the first snowboard companies, and was instrumental in the development of the sport.  After dedicating herself to the progression of women in snowboarding, and making it her mission for women  to reach their full potential, Transworld Snowboarding recognized Bev as the Pioneer Woman of Snowboarding.   At age 44, Bev vacationed in Maui where she took a surf lesson.  From that trip, the Surf Las Olas idea was born.  Bev opened Surf Las Olas and continued her lifelong passion of teaching women to enjoy traditionally male-dominated sports.

To me, Las Olas embraces a few key elements which make them so appealing to women:

• Supportive, all-female environment: The instructors’ passion for teaching and fun, are equal to their passion for surfing.
• Vacation Setting: Oceanside villas and great food.
• Relaxing environment: Group yoga and spa services are available and encouraged.
• Emphasis on fun: It’s surfing after all!

Surf Las Olas focuses on having fun while you learn a sport that you can enjoy for a lifetime.  All the instructors are women, and all of them rip.  But it’s their passion for surfing, and their love for teaching that makes Las Olas so successful. Guests can learn to surf, or progress their surfing in a relaxing, pressure free and judgement free environment.  They make  sure everyone has fun while they learn and develop in the water.

I must say that as I sit at my computer on a dreary Tuesday in Boulder, Surf Las Olas sounds like a dream.

Check out Surf Las Olas for yourself!