LEARNING IS SWELL EVERY DAY
A TORQUAY program — the country’s first full-time surf school with equal parts curriculum and training — continues to reach new heights as it celebrates its fifth anniversary.
Saltwater Institute provides an alternative education experience for aspiring junior surfers to prepare them for top-tier competition.
Since its inception six years ago, the non-traditional educational program has become widely popular, with up to 60 eager grommets now on the waiting list.
Co-founder Sam Magree said the program had become a “real drawcard” for the Surf Coast.
“They can do seven whole weeks of intense surf training and not fall behind in school — a model like that doesn’t exist anywhere else,” he said.
The experienced teacher and his wife Hollie, daughter of Quiksilver co-founder Alan Green, started the surf school in 2016 after running a similar ski-based program at Mt Buller.
As part of the curriculum, students spend three hours in the water under the watchful eye of professional coaches Dan Ross and local legend Cahill Bell-Warren before heading back to the classroom for customised lessons in the afternoon. The 2021 program is almost halfway through its sevenweek schedule, run in collaboration with Surfing Victoria and Surf Coast Secondary College.
Mr Magree said although he had been approached by schools in Queensland and in New South Wales interested in the program, there were currently no plans to expand.
“We want to keep it as a Surf Coast drawcard,” he said.