Our surfteam in Fuerteventura is growing: meet surfcoach Romi.
Originally from Slovakia, Romi got stuck on our homebase island Fuerteventura many years ago. Like most us us, Fuerte’s neverending waves and sunshine make it impossible for her to leave.
Having surfed for many years and learned the hard way how to prove herself in the line-up, Romi decided to take her passion of surfing to the next level, and train to become a surfcoach.
We were lucky enough for Romi to decide to do her mandatory practical training with us last year. Her positive attitude in the water, her neverending smile (and paddlepower) and her ability to learn and implement, quickly turned her into an irreplaceable part of the team. Leaving us no other possibility than to offer her a space in our surfteam upon completing her practical training. And yeah, she said yessss!!
Here are a few words for you by Romi herself:
My name is Romana Babicova and I was one of the lucky ones to find my biggest passion, surfing. It took only couple of sessions, and my world started to spin completely around surfing. After many many many wipe outs and lessons by the ocean, I learnt a lot about values as patience, modesty, respect, sharing and more. Surfing brings me happiness and happiness is only real when it’s shared. Another important reason why I became a surf coach is, that there won’t be less surfers in the water, only more. I want to help to create safe environment on the line up for all of us.
Romi will be supporting our surfschool in Fuerteventura. She speaks fluent English and Spanish, and her German is really good, too. Romi & Angie are a great team, synced in their approaches of high quality surfcoachings. While headcoach Angie heads off sometimes to coach our surftrips, Romi will hold the ford in Fuerte. That means: all year round we offer our trademark high quality individual surfcoachings.
Sounds great, right?? We are super excited to see NOMB Surf grow and being able to support a young surfergirl in her professional career. Welcome to the team, Romi 💙
During the European summer nearly everyone is heading to the coastline. And why not? Sunshine, ocean and good vibes are waiting for you. While most bigger cities are boiling with extreme temperatures, at the coast there will always be a refreshing seabreeze.
Talking about a refreshing seabreeze here in Fuerteventura will make some people smirk. A refreshing breeze? How about full on wind guts? This island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean is called Fuerte (strong) Ventura (wind) for a reason. Being so flat makes Fuerteventura exposed to any little wind blowing our way.
Searching for summer waves
But hang on, wind blowing on the ocean surface means waves. And for us surfers, waves are what we crave. But strong local winds also mean loads of cripply windswell and blown out conditions. Bummer.
But what if there was an island where the East, North and Westcoast are only 20kms apart, and all three coasts have rippable surfbreaks? Wouldn´t you be able to hide out from onshore winds if necessary? Welcome to Fuerteventura.
That´s right. While there is the odd day when none of the conditions align, most summer days you will find a surfable wave. Yes, you will have to really make yourself familiar with our coast. And yes, you will need to learn how to read forecast models. And yes, sometimes the ocean will look completely different from what you have anticipated. But hey, that´s all part of the search, right?
Taking the surfcoaching shortcut
Surfing is not only about chains of movements, like the 1-2-3 pop-up. More than physical abilities, surfing requires you to connect with the ocean and all of nature´s forces. In times where wave pools are producing predictable perfect waves, and surfing has become sort of a commodity, we see a lot of surfers struggling to
a. find suitable waves for their levels
b. catch waves
c. follow the wave´s path.
But the good news is, there´s help out there: professional surfcoaching. A skilled and experienced surf coach does not only give you tips about your surfing technique. She/he will identify your surf skill level and your ability to read the ocean. Before having set foot into the ocean. You will learn how to dial in with the ocean and it´s forces, observe waves and identify a surfable wave for you. So why not take the surfcoaching shortcut instead of struggling with a. b. and/or c.?
Summer surfcoaching conditions in Fuerteventura
Even though Fuerteventura´s main surfing season is the winter, there are still heaps of quality waves to be found during the summer. Sure, you won´t find powerful northwest swells setting our reefbreaks in the North on fire but you have the whole winter to play around on our Northshore. Mix it up a little bit.
The East and the West coasts of this island both produce really good waves. Beach breaks as well as reefbreaks. Perfect for intermediate surfer who want to work on specific goals, surf in shorty and enjoy less people in the line-up. How about learning how to duckdive? One surfing essential that is often avoided to be learned, as it is not really needed in wave pools or perfect reef and point breaks.
You will find that there is a lot of stoke involved once you don´t have to fear getting hammered by a powerful ground swell.
NOMB Surf: summer mode on
We haven´t been coaching in Fuerteventura for the past few summers. The main reason was, and here we are being totally honest, that we didn´t appreciate the waves the summer gives us. Being so focused on the winter season and it´s epic swells, we didn´t give much credit to the summer months. But hell yeah, every since coming back from our surfcamps in Galicia this year we have been surfing every day. In shorty!! That´s priceless, believe us!
We are happy to share our summer stoke with you and take your surfing skills to the next level. (And all that while getting a nice tanline from your boardies / shorty). Throughout the summer we offer our intensive surfcoaching week as well as individual coachings tailored to your surfing needs.
Get in touch with us, secure your coaching spot and explore Fuerteventura´s East and West coasts with us this summer.
#FuerteFuerza has been a special type of NOMB Surftrip. While our other trips are designed to either surf as much as possible, go adventure surf tripping or enjoy a relaxed surf holiday, #FuerteFuerza put the ladies and their power into focus.
Surfcoaching and Mindset work
For 10 day, our ladies not only surfed nearly every day but also challenged themselves physically and mentally. As most of you probably know, surfing is not only about catching and riding a wave. Our minds play an important role when it comes to being in the ocean. If your mindset is off, catching a wave will be luck and not exactly skills, or things can go wrong very quickly. Power surfer AK shows how the right mindset results in epci waves.
An important fact for your brain to know is that you believe in your physical abilities. Knowing how much your body is capable of doing gives you a lot of confidence in the water, especially in situations out of your comfort zone.
Challenging our minds
We all have our own road of life, experiences that mark our way and make us the person we are today. Negative experiences and thoughts often limit our abilities, not only in surfing. During #FuerteFuerza we wanted to address fears and blockages, and provide our ladies with tools to change their mindsets, and make them stronger.
We created a safe atmosphere where everyone could share their histories, and work with their minds either in cooperation with the other chicas, or by themselves. We talked a lot about negative selftalk, about our role as ladies in the line-up, we learned about breathing techniques and breath hold, we set mantras and a lot more. Seeing the positive changes in our ladies attitudes was totally mindblowing. So proud of you chicas!!
Challenging our bodies
In order for our ladies to understand the powerful abilities of their bodies, and also to develop strength and muscle memory, we had organized a well designed schedule during #FuerteFuerza.
We started off with a pole dancing class with long time NOMB Surfer Kim. Kim not only shreds in the ocean but also is a crack at the pole. Our ladies took the pole dance challenge and were surprise about how much they were able to achieve during their first session. They showed quite some natural talent. Amazing, right??
Next on the surftrip agenda was a surf fitness session with personal instructor Kati, Lesano FV. Balance work, important core strength and a deep stretch made a great class. Kati also shared her personal development to become the power woman she is today, inspiring story.
Friday was a surf layday for our ladies. But no need to be sad, we used the surf free day to hop on a boat to Lobos Island with our friend Javi from Lobos Explorer.
Also on board NOMB Surfer Wieneke. Wieneke is the owner of SUP Limburg, a SUP & Yoga school in the Netherlands, and had prepared a special type of challenge for our ladies: a SUP Yoga class. Needless to say that all our ladies really rocked the SUPs, and not even one fell into the water. Beautiful day at such a special location.
With recharged batteries after an incredible layday the ladies were ready for yet another challenge: a yoga handstand flow with our friend Jude from Narosa Surfschool, our partner school for our trips to Ireland. Lucky us that Jude was holidaying on the island right in time to show our ladies how to do inversions. Even without any experience all of the ladies took the challenge and surprised themselves. Surfcoach Angie was stoked to find out how much she was capable off doing upside down.
Windy days? No Problem!
After a whole week of surfing every day, plus mindwork workshops, plus activities our ladies were stronger than ever. Unfortunately mother nature had a different plan. With 60kmh off shore winds we decided to take our surfing to the street.
Surf skating is an effective and fun tool to address problems of stance and also to gain more confidence in balancing and turning the board. They learned skills can then be transferred to our surfboards, incredible improvements guaranteed. Needless to say, that our ladies gave it their best and got more confident by the minute. Way to go, chicas!
Successful first ladies confidence boost workshop
We, that´s trip organizers Angie and Doro, are super happy and so proud to be able to say that #FuerteFuerza has been a glowing success. Starting the trip with no real expectations but loads of motivations to make a positive change in our ladies lifes, it was amazing to see how they challenged themselves and developed new skills. In and outside the water. This is what Doro has to say about the group:
More confidence and more fun while surfings – that was our mission.
It was inmensely impressing and inspiring just how the participating ladies made our mission reality. Backed up by our small but incredible community they faced their individual challenges and outgrew themselves.
We could have not wished for a better first run of this new surftrip format. Leaves us counting the days till the next ladies shredder trip..
Don´t believe what we have been up to during #FuerteFuerza? See for yourself in our Facebook photo album.
More ladies power to come
Being blown away by the outcome of this trip, Angie and Doro decided to do it all over again:
with a revised program and even more motivation and knowledge, our next ladies only surftrip #GuadeGirlsGang will take a max of 6 ladies to the incredible French Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe next spring (18th – 28th March 2023).
Don´t know about you but we are pretty damn excited!
Make sure to sing up for our newsletter or pre-reserve your spot with Angie straight away. No doubt that our girls gang will fill up real quick. More info will be published asap.
Thanks to the #FuerteFuerza ladies AK, Gina and Katharina for trusting in us, for giving it your all, for being all so different but so amazing together. You are true legends and we could not be more proud of you!
Thanks to our friends Kim, Kati, Javi, Wieneke, Jude and Basti for being part of this trip, your support is truly appreciated.
Sea you in the water soon!
Angie & Doro
PS: our next two surftrips to Galicia in May are already booked out. No need to be sad though, follow our adventures on our Instagram and get lost with us in the waves.
Get ready for a defiant week of intensive surfcoaching on our homebase island Fuerteventura. We decided to combine our proven individual surfcoaching format with the intensity of our surfcoaching trips, and voila, the Surfcoaching Week Fuerteventura (SWF) was born. During a minimum of six action packed coaching days you will challenge yourself in the water, on shore and also cognitive.
This is our third year of surfcoaching here on Fuerteventura, and our sixth year running surfcoaching trips around the globe. All these years of coaching experience have shown that our individual surfcoachings on Fuerte really boost our students surf performances. However, during our surfcoaching trips we have also seen many incredible developments, due to the intense nature of the trip format. We are now blending those two winning formulas into our newly designed #SurfcoachingWeekFuerteventura.
It´s all happening during your Surfcoaching Week Fuerteventura
As individual as our normal surfcoachings, your personal surfcoaching week kicks off long before you actually hit the ocean. Upfront your visit to the island you will chat by phone/video call with surfcoach Angie. This way you will get to know your coach (in case you haven´t met her yet) and can check if the chemistry is right. Angie will inquire about your surfing, your goals and challenges, in order to come up with your personal surfing gameplan. She will also happily answer all your questions and try to ease your doubts if you have any.
Once you are on the island, your coaching plan will be ready and waiting for you. In the first session coach Angie will outline your coachingplan and adjust it according to your thoughts. Depending on your own personal challenges and goals, the next days will be packed with loads of watertime, onshore training and mindset adjustments.
You pick the dates, goals and intensity
Unlike with our surfcoaching trips, for your SWF you can set your own dates. All you need to do is enquire with us about your perfect timeframe.
Everyone´s surfing is different, just like every wave. You decide on your own surfing goals, and we come up with a gameplan on how you can reach them.
Feeling on top of your game or rather want to take it a bit slower? No problem, we adopt the week´s intensity to your personal preference.
Work on your skills, ocean awareness and mindset
Surfing is a lot more than jumping onto your board and let´s go. Apart from different chains of movements you will also have to finetune your awareness of the surroundings and connect with the ocean. Often this includes facing your fears and overcoming them.
This week will take your surfing skills to the next level but also increase your mental abilities to control your emotions. Being able to address and control your emotions in the water (that includes joy, frustration, anger, just to name a few) will help you develop into a mature surfer. Resulting in a higher wavecount of quality waves, less critical situations and an overall enhanced surfing experience.
What you get: quality surfcoaching in and out of the ocean
By now you have decided that you can benefit from an intense week of surfcoaching 😉But how does it actually work? We have already talked you through which areas you are going to work on. We will achieve this using different coaching techniques and resources.
Always adopted to your personal gameplan, here is what can be included:
Direct in the water coaching, 1:1 with your personal surfcoach
A six days intensive SWF, tailored to your skills and goals, is available for 825€. If you are hooked and want to extend your coaching week, you can easily add additional days (120€ per day).
Ready to challenge yourself?
If you feel that a week of intensive surfing and training with us on Fuerteventura is your way forward, get in touch straight away and enquire about dates availability.
To get a bit more information and see a coaching week in full swing head to our Insta account and follow our next coaching week starting today Saturday, 27th February 2021. Stories will be saved in the highlights.
The past six months have been a bit of a bumpy ride for everyone worldwide. No exeption for us at NOMB Surf. Cancelled surftrips, cancelled surfcoachings and travel restrictions affected our surfcoaching operations to the maximum degree.
But with every challenge and change, there comes growth. And we here at NOMB Surf are embracing the new normal and reinventing ourselves. Sure, there has been a tear or two shed, and sure, there have been some moments of complete frustration but we take it as part of the growing process.
NOMB Surf activities in autumn 2020
We are grateful that the local restrictions on Fuerteventura allow us to operate our surfschool and coach individual surfcoachings without any restrictions. COVID-19 safety measures are implemented in our operations but as we only coach private lessons it´s easy to keep the distance and follow the safety guidelines. All you need to do is get to the island 😉
Encouraging Fuerte´s female surfers
While international tourism is still limited here on the island we have taken the chance (and time) to coach and support some local chicas.
Encouring the girls here on the island to learn to surf, or to overcome their fears and progress in their surfing, this has always been something I wanted to do. The bumpy times we live in right now have given me the time and motivation to give back to the community.
– Head Surfcoach Angie
You can follow the progress, challenges und fun times of the local NOMB Surfchicas on our social medial channels.
Not on Fuerte? Our Online Surfcoachings will help you
For those of you who are not able to train with us on Fuerteventura we have designed a new NOMB Surf feature: Online Surfcoachings. You will need a little bit of surf experience though in order to benefit from the online coaching.
How does the online coaching work? As with all surfcoachings we first will determine your challenges and goals and set you reachable targets. You will be asked to send us photos and/or videos of you surfing. Surfcoaching Angie will then draft you your own personal online coaching containing:
an analysis and feedback of your surf pics / videos
surf theory to make you understand your fields of error
physical exercises for you to practice at home
carver skateboard / balance board exercises to prepare you for you next surfsessions
All this will be wrapped up in a video (approx. 30min) and send to you. This way you can watch the coaching all over again, keep practising and check on our areas for improvement right before taking off on our next surfadventure.
Brand new website
New challenges, new look. We are proud to present you our freshly designed and pimped website. The site makes it easier for you to find out more about our surfschool on Fuerteventura and also about our surfcoaching trips worldwide.
It also explains you our customized surfcoaching methods, used in our coachings, surftrips and also our online coachings. We hope, that you will enjoy the new NOMB Surf online experience we have created for you.
Upcoming surtrips
Travelling has become a bit of a challenge these days. Last minute bookings seem the way to go, as you never know if you might be able to fly/get home the next day. We have adopted to the worldwide happenings and have changed our booking policy accordingly. Making it easier for you and us to stay flexible.
The following NOMB Surftrips are planned, and still have surfspaces available:
#IrishIdols (07/11 – 14/11/2020), 7 days surfholiday in NorthWest Ireland
#FuerteFloater (23/01 – 02/02/2021), 10 days surf & fitness camp on Fuerteventura (closed for bookings)
#FuerteFuerza (20/02 – 27/02/2021), 7 days female surfcamp on Fuerteventura (info to be announced)
#Galiciando (08/05 – 22/05/2021), 14 days intensive surfcamp in Galicia, Spain
#Galiciaddict (29/05 – 05/06/2021), 7 days intensive surfcamp in Galicia, Spain
#CornwallCalling (September 2021), 7 days surfholiday in Cornwall, England
#TaiwanTwister (November 2021), 14 days adventure surftrip in Taiwan (info to be annouced)
We are optimistic that we will be able to run all of our planned surfcoaching trips but will only go ahead with them if it´s safe to do so, and local regulations are met.
We are here to help you improve
NOMB Surf stands for indiviudal surfcoachings, it´s all about you. Whatever goal or issue you have, let us know and we will try to help you improve. And don´t be shy if you feel unsecure about fear or emotional issues. You are certainly not the only one and we are here to help you overcome your insecurities.
If you are intersted in joining us on one of our incredible surftrips or train with us on Fuerteventura, get in touch!
So that´s it, that´s what it feels like. Being landlocked. Not being able to surf on a daily basis. The unfortunate reality for a lot of surfers who don´t live close to the beach. A completely new experience for those of us who are lucky enough to have an ocean near by. The global corona virus crisis has ´landlocked´ a lot of surfers on this planet.
Dont´get me wrong, I am not complaining. How could I? From the roof of my house in Fuerteventura I can still the see the ocean in the distance. But seeing the ocean and feeling the ocean, that´s two different pairs of shoes. Even though I am convinced that our absence will only benefit the health and balance of our oeceans, and even though, after 48 agonizing days, we are now allowed back in the ocean, I am still trying to come to terms with this short journey of being landlocked.
Living a surfer´s life – how it all started
The decision to live close to the ocean came naturallly. 12 years ago to be precise. I can´t even remember having made a decision at all. It wasn´t that at some point I decided to live in front of a wave, it was just that I couldn´t imagine not doing it. It just felt totally right and comfortable. This beautiful beach I lived at in Chile just gave me everything I wanted: the freedom to surf every day, at any given time. The freedom to live my life without having to wear shoes and making bonfires every night. The freedom to just be me.
Returning to Europe was a very personal decision. But never would it have crossed my mind to settle down somewhere away from the ocean. And that´s the funny thing. At not one point did I now even consider living landlocked. Why would I? The ocean provides me with everything I need and want. So to me it just made sense to go and live on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
What happened next
So here I was, happily living on Fuerteventura. The small town I live in has no coastline, it´s right in the middle of the island, in between the North-, West- and Eastcoasts. So why would I want to live here instead of having the ocean in front of my window? Well, often you can´t really choose who you fall in love with, right? And I simply fell in love with the charm of Lajares, it´s vibes and people.
Also here on Fuerte, the wind can be a big issue. So having the choice of having all three coasts in short distance makes it a lot easier to decide in the morning where to go for a surf. Here we always depend on the swell and wind directions.
Back to me living and surfing without much worry. And once in a sudden, the world gets put on standbye. And the Spanisch government tells me that I have to stay inside my house. Sure, we were allowed to do the odd supermarket / pharamacy run but the ocean was totally off limits. And there I was. Being landlocked. I guess the term landlocked might not fit a 100% it because I live on an island. But the feeling must be pretty much the same: this subliminal feeling of not being able to access the ocean.
And that´s what being landlocked felt like
To be honest, it felt like a punch in the head and totally threw me off balance. I don´t know how the ocean does it but by now it is part of my personal existence. The ocean gives me balance when I am dangling off the ceiling. The ocean puts things (and myself) back into perspective every time. The ocean absorbs my emotions and turns them into pure joy. The ocean provides me with a sense of peace that´s hard to find anywhere else.
Surfing is a sport that get´s into your veins. It connects you with mother nature and with yourself. It teaches you to reset your body and mind, and it shows you how to flow. Even outside the water.
Having the privilage of living a surfer´s life temporarily taken away from me was something I have never even thought about before. And was something I wasn´t prepared for at all. Despite struggling to understand what is happening in the world and where we all went wrong, once in a sudden I had to find out how to channel my emotions outside the ocean. Who doesn`t know the feeling of going for a surf with the head filled with pain, anger or frustration – just to return from the ocean all reset and full of positive energy.
What I have learned
Having lived without being able to surf tought me a lot of lessons. It made me realize how much I depend on the ocean and how important surfing it is for me. It is my job, which I love, but it is also so much more than that!
I guess, appreciation is one of the biggest lessons I have learned. To appreciate how lucky I am to live my life this way, and how much for granted I have taken it.
Gratitude for being able to share the moments in the water with other surfers would be another lecture I have been tought. I mean, how amazing does it feel to surf a nice wave and have someone cheering for you from the channel. Now that we have returned to the ocean I have noticed how the atmosphere in the water has changed. While before a lot of surfers, and that´s me included, would have been concentrated on catching as many great waves as possible, now waves are being let passed by, cheers of ´dale, dale´ (´go, go´) can be heard and smiles are present everywhere.
I feel like I have returned to the essence of surfing. Being a sport with a commercial site (which I am a part of) has made me somehow forget what surfing is all about. It´s about sharing moments, laughters and good vibes. So here I am now, having finished this unwanted ocean free time, and strangely I feel more connected to the ocean than ever before!
Thanks for joining me on my journey! Stay safe & healthy!
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