Surf Sessions

My son who is 13 and has never surfed before took a private lesson with Surf Session — he had a total blast! He was up on the surf board riding waves on his first lesson! He loved it so much we ended up buying him a surf board and he has been back and has been able to surf in his own. This is a great place for beginners! My wife and I are now planning to do our own surf lesson and we will definitely use Surf Session — the owner, Uriah, was very friendly and great to work with.

Uriah was an awesome instructor. Got me up on my second attempt. Loved it so much. After our hour was up, he let us continue to use the boards while he taught another lesson. I highly recommend him. Amazing life experience. Now I want my own board.

Really great! Exactly what you’d hope to get. Very friendly and nonjudgmental. Doug was our instructor and my entire group was able to stand up on the boards during the lesson. I had been surfing before so he offered pointers to me while giving more detailed instruction to the people in our group who were trying it out for the first time.

Don’t even bother! Saw that they were offering a Groupon so I called to see if we could get in for my husband’s birthday. Left a message and shortly after a guy called me back. The guy told me he’d do private lessons for $ 50 per person which was a better deal than the group lesson Groupon. Booked everything for Saturday at noon and was told I’d receive a link to the invoice later.
Three days pass and no invoice is sent. I text the guy back and ask to please send the invoice and wanted to double check that we were still scheduled. No response. 2 days before I text again asking for the invoice and to make sure we are still scheduled. The next day I receive a text saying «yes.»
Saturday comes and I still have no communication from anyone. Look online to see where the place is located. Google has one address, Unilocal has another. My husband and I drive to both addresses and walk along the beach to find nothing. No signs, no store front… nothing. I called again and of course no one answered. Left a message saying they needed to call me back and an hour after our lesson time I’ve still heard nothing.
Learn from our experience and don’t bother. We will be going somewhere else for our lessons and luckily were able to get in at Surf Diva in La Jolla last minute. I chose Surf Sessions from all of the amazing reviews, but it looks like those reviews are fake. This place seems like a huge scam and no one cares about customer service. My advice… STAY AWAY!!!

This surf lesson was the most fun I’ve had since being in San Diego! Maxwell was so great as an instructor and showed us the basics and then helped us out when we got into the water. Doug was super nice as well. We got the Groupon for 2 people for a 60 minute lesson and it was well worth it! We’ll be back for another lesson for sure.

We did 2 weeks with Sessions after a mediocre week with Sol Surf. My kid 11 and us wanted her to actually learn to surf and not just play on the sand. Very organized and professional. The ratio was great and my kid was in the water surfing 90% of the time. The owner, Uriah was very friendly and helpful.
We ended up buying a bunch of private lessons.
See you soon and next summer!

I would love to be able to actually rate their instruction, but I can’t reach anyone to schedule it! I have sent email after email and tried calling every day this week, but their inbox is always full, so I can’t even leave a message. From reading these reviews, it seems that if you want to take classes, you should pay full price on their site and not try to get a deal.
I got the 5-​day deal with Living Social for $ 239 on July 13, and my daughter is still not registered. Working with Living Social on a refund. We are VERY disappointed, as my daughter was excited to start and now we’ve wasted over a week as other camps have filled up.

We took the family for surf lessons with no previous experience. Surf Sessions was amazing! They helped everyone, balance, get up out of the water, gave extra help to the little ones… and really created great memories for us. Luke and Malcolm were great coaches!!! If you’re in Del Mar and want a great family event… these are the guys to see!

Great for everyone!
No matter if you have never been on a surfboard or you surf on a regular basis, Surf Sessions instructors cater to your experience. I have surfed multiple times before and my girlfriend didn’t even know what a surfboard looked like. By the time we finished, Luke, our instructor, had her up on the board riding decent waves. Luke also gave me pointers on how I could improve. It was so fun and lax, that I would recommend it to out-​of-​towners and locals.

We live in San Diego but stay in Del Mar every year. Finally talked my two girls into a surf camp (they always want me to teach them). Thought they might learn and have more fun with others their age. Walked up and spoke with Uriah from Surf Sessions while we were sitting on the beach. He had an afternoon session available and the rest was history. Started out with one day and my girls had so much fun they ended up going for three days (they wanted more but the weekend wasn’t available). Can’t say enough about Uriah and Surf Sessions. We’ll be back!

I wanted to learn to surf with trained individuals and the most cost effective way I could, therefore my dollar had to go far and be a true value… BINGO! This was a GREAT experience learning, my instructor made it Safe, Fun, and Informative. I now want to try surfing again! And next year i’m going to go to SURF SESSION AND TELLING FRIENDS! :o)

I had so much fun! The instructor was very encouraging and patient. I will definitely be back for more.

Awesome FIRST TIME surfing. Doug and Max were super fun and knowledgeable. We actually got up on the boards multiple times!

We scheduled a private lesson for two and had a blast. Uriah and Stefan did a great job, gave us great tips to further improve what we learned. We rode many waves and it was our first time for my nephew and I. We will come back and recommend anyone interested in learning how to surf to call Surf Sessions. Very professional and cool guys.

I scheduled a session for myself and a good friend who was visiting from New York (I live in LA). We both had never been surfing and thought it would be really fun to go out there for the first time together. We had no idea what to do so we thought a lesson would be a good idea. We were both so happy with the experience and it made my friend’s trip and our hanging out really special.
It was super easy to schedule. I called the day before and spoke to Uriah who was totally helpful and accommodating. He texted me all the info I needed and payment was really easy. The wet suits and surf boards are provided so all you have to do is get yourself down to the beach and bring your energy. Make sure to practice your yoga cobra pose. It helps to be strong and spry when you go out there.
The instructor was great. He was super friendly. You could tell he loves surfing and goes out all the time. He brought us down to the tent, gave us fitted wetsuits and boards and brought us down to the sand where we practiced pop ups. Then we went out to the water and started catching waves. I feel like I got a lot out of that lesson. The instructor was really good at monitoring our progress and clear and effective in his advise. He pinpointed what we needed to correct each time we went out so that we could focus on that the next time and it really worked.
I would totally recommend Surf Sessions and plan to go back for another lesson as soon as I can. Prices are reasonable too, which makes it even more tempting. I think I’m hooked;)

We had a great all-​around surfing experience with Surf Sessions. They were able to fit us in next-​day and I instantly received a text message with all the details on where to go, where to park, and where to find the instructor.
When we arrived we found the instructors right away and got started. A friend and I had a 20 minute lesson and 2-​hour board rental. We spend a short while on the sand learning and practicing the proper stance and pop-​up before heading into the water. We each had an instructor in the water and we both caught waves almost immediately! Throughout the 2 hour rental we had instructors checking up on us and offering help and tips.
When the 2 hours were up we turned in the boards and when we were asking our instructor (Uriah) if he had board recommendations for beginners he took out the one he thought would be best and let us take it out and test it out to see if we liked it. And when he noticed we had a gopro, he offered to go back out and make sure we each catch a wave on video. Uriah followed up with a text message that had the board and wet suit details for us.
Overall I was more than happy with this experience and effort these guys put in. Thank you, Surf Sessions, for an awesome Saturday and getting us interested in taking up surfing in our life!

So, I had a groupon which was for 2 people for a semi-​private lesson.
This is by far one of the worst groupon specials I have brought.
Scheduling was next to impossible. I left 3 messages and I never received a call back. I called groupon to get a refund and they contacted the business on my behalf and then someone texted me the next day. He did not complete our conversation and I did not hear back from him for about one week.
I finally scheduled my appointment and my friend and I went out to Del Mar.
We were greeted by a friendly, younger guy who gave us a 2 minute lesson on the beach and we were off to the water. To be fair, the water conditions were not great, but I felt that our instructor was having a hard time reading the waves, which resulted in us getting pummeled continuously. He also provided minimal instruction in the water and basically attempted to push us to catch the wave. I have already surfed so I knew that we were missing a lot of instruction.
After being in the water for about 45 minutes, another employee, whom I was told was the co-​owner, came out and approached me in a very accusatory manner. He began to ask us what time our appointment was and how we paid, when this had already been checked by the first guy. This co-​owner did not let us proceed until he verified on his phone that I did in fact have an appointment, yet he was too disorganized to manage it.
The management and instructions here are poor, I would def say look else where.

Couldn’t be happier with our experience. My wife and I visited California from Pennsylvania and we’re really looking to try surfing for the first time while we were there. Surf sessions was recommended to us so we checked it out and Uriah (who got us all set up and then helped us with directions when we got lost haha) and Danny (our instructor) were awesome! Danny catered to the fact that we had never tried surfing before but was able to keep giving us advice as we progressed.
I highly recommend the personal lesson and then renting the board for extra time after cause you won’t be able to get enough.

My coworker and I saw a groupon for a 60 min semi –private surf lesson for 2 and decided to give it a go!
Scheduling our lesson was pretty easy and we were pleased that our first choice time, 11am on a Sat was available.
The morning of our lesson I received a text message reminder with some info on where to find them and tips on parking.
We lucked out and found free street parking about a block away. We arrived to the beach at around 10:45 and started looking around for the green canopy we were told to look out for. By 11am we still couldn’t find it so I called the number that had texted me earlier and was told we were the first appointment so the canopy had not been set up yet. We were told to stand by a bench and wait for someone to arrive. A few minutes later someone arrived but informed us that we had to wait for the person with the boards. 25 mins of watching them set up and get things together later our session started.
Our guide Maxwell was fun and laid back. He gave us some wetsuits to get into, showed us our boards, gave a brief lesson on the fundamentals of surfing, had us practice standing up on our boards a few times before getting into the water, and ensured us we would all pick things up pretty easily. I wish I could’ve lived up to Maxwell’s expectations but unfortunately I am not a natural born surfer lol. There were 4 people in our group so Maxwell bounced around helping each of us catch waves. I tried and tried but couldn’t get it on my own so Maxwell’s help was instrumental for me lol. It was lots of fun and quite a workout! If you’re really looking to learn to surf I think private lessons for 1 – 2 people would be necessary.
All in all a good experience. Cowabuga!

Management — needs help (⁰⁄₅)
Experience — GOOD (⁴⁄₅) My boyfriend (first time surfer) gave me more tips than our guide unfortunately. But they know what they are doing, in the water. Our guide looked at his watch a minimum of 30 times, after each wave… makes us feel good…
Overall — (²⁄₅)
I wish I could save you from these headaches*:
1. How to schedule an appointment
2. Where to go (Go to 13 570 Mango Dr address, it’s the official address, where we went since we we not told otherwise).
3. Which website is the real website? There are 2! choose wisely ;)
4. Where to park, how early to get there, etc etc.
*I was going to write on Unilocal the answers to these, but that does not help the business. They need to figure out how to be more clear. Beautiful web design, but lacks information… aka not professional at the end of the day.
We started around 1:45pm for our 1pm appointment. No sign, nothing, no idea where to go… we asked a lifeguard and he pointed us to an empty tent. We went there, waited. Finally after 20 minutes, two girls came up. We chatted with them, they had a a great time. However they were supposed to start at 11am! 11AM! You do the math… they ended their one-​hour lesson at 1:45pm… they said they waited around for over an hour. They, too, complained about the management to us, and exactly verbatim had the same issues as us.
Overall, you have to decide if your time or money is more important. This is a good Groupon deal, but if you value your time, look elsewhere. Oh, and add +$ 15 for parking (2 hours).