The questions we answer most often, on the beach and over WhatsApp.
The south coast of Sri Lanka, where we teach, works from November to April, when the trade winds blow offshore and the swell lines up cleanly. From May to September the monsoon turns the wind onshore here and the surf shifts to the east coast, so that window is when this coast, us included, goes quiet. Water stays warm year-round at 27–29°C, so there is no wetsuit season to plan around either way.
Weligama Bay is a wide, sheltered horseshoe with a soft, even beach break over clean sand and no reef to worry about, which makes it one of the most forgiving beginner waves on this coast. We are based in Matara, not on the bay itself, and drive out there for lessons, about 30 minutes each way. SK Town in Matara and Polhena Reef are equally beginner-friendly, without the crowds you will meet at Weligama.
Our packages run from €28 per person per lesson in a small group up to €55 for a one-on-one private lesson, with a Beginner Pack at €35/lesson, Kids Pack at €30/lesson and Intermediate Pack at €40/lesson. That is above the roughly €10–15 charged for a group lesson elsewhere on this coast, and we will not pretend otherwise — the difference buys an ISA certified instructor, never more than two students per instructor, a board for every level, free tuk-tuk pickup, and extras that vary by pack, from a rash guard and photos and video to a video analysis session, all included rather than charged separately. Group lessons are capped at four, staffed with two instructors so that ratio holds, and Private is one-on-one.
Bring swimwear you can surf in, sunscreen, a towel and something to drink — a board and free transport are already part of every package, so you do not need to own any surf gear before your first lesson; a rash guard comes with the Beginner and Group packs too. Our main beginner spot, SK Town in Matara, is sand-bottomed, so reef shoes are not necessary there.
Free tuk-tuk pickup and drop-off is a standard feature on every package we run, from Beginner through Private. When a lesson takes us somewhere we drive to, such as Weligama or Mirissa, rather than teach from Matara, that transport is covered the same way and is never billed as an extra.
It depends on fitness, balance and how many lessons you put in, and we will not promise a fixed number of sessions. That is part of why our Beginner Pack is built as two lessons rather than one: catching a wave once and being able to repeat it are different skills, and the second lesson is usually where the repetition pays off.
Our Kids Pack is built for ages 6 to 12, using kid-sized soft-top boards on shallow beach breaks with instructors who keep the pace patient rather than pushing kids to perform. It runs as three one-hour lessons at €30 per lesson, from our base in Matara, with lessons running at Matara and Polhena. We also drive out to Weligama for the same soft, shallow conditions.
Boards come with the lesson, not on their own — we do not rent surfboards separately from a booking. Every package already includes one for the session itself: a soft-top for the Kids Pack, a board and rash guard on the Beginner and Group packs, and a performance or premium board on Intermediate and Private.