Share the fun of the waves together with a private family bodyboard lesson in Newquay. Designed for all ages and abilities, these sessions are structured so that each family member feels supported, confident, and rewarded. With expert instructors, high-quality equipment, and a focus on safety, you’ll enjoy a fun and memorable time learning new skills in the surf.
Your session begins with a warm welcome and a run-through of beach and ocean safety, including how to identify hazards and signals to use in the water. After a lively warm-up, the instructor will familiarise everyone with their equipment, ensuring boards, wetsuits, and fins are properly fitted for comfort and performance. Clear demonstrations on board handling and prone riding help beginners quickly catch their first white-water waves, while improvers can focus on trimming, speed, and progressing to more advanced moves.
Throughout the lesson, each family member receives individual attention to match their ability level. Younger participants may focus on confidence-building and simple wave-catching, while older children or parents may learn skills like bodyboard spins and improved wave selection. The session is interactive and fun, with the instructor encouraging family members to support each other. Alongside bodyboarding techniques, you’ll also learn lifeguarding basics and vital safety practices, adding another layer of value to your time in the surf.
Lessons take place on Newquay’s world-famous beaches, including Fistral and Towan, both renowned for their consistent swells and varied conditions. Fistral offers wide stretches of sand with rolling Atlantic waves, making it ideal for more energetic sessions, while Towan’s sheltered bay provides a safe and comfortable setting for beginners and young children. Instructors will always choose the beach that offers the most suitable conditions for your family on the day.
Newquay itself is a vibrant surf town, perfectly placed for a family day out. With surf shops, cafés, and restaurants within easy walking distance from the beach and the lesson HQ, it’s simple to extend your adventure beyond the water. Changing rooms, secure storage, and hot outdoor showers at the centre mean you can enjoy the day without worrying about your belongings or comfort.
These sessions are open to families of all abilities, with no previous bodyboarding experience required. Children as young as three can take part, and the session will be adapted to their needs to ensure they feel safe and included.
Participants should be comfortable in the water and able to follow instructions. A basic level of swimming ability helps, but the lessons are always run in a controlled and supportive environment where safety is the main priority.
This experience is fully private, ensuring your family has the undivided attention of expert instructors trained to deliver fun, safe, and structured lessons. With backgrounds as professional bodyboarders and lifeguards, the coaching team brings years of experience and specialist knowledge, combined with a genuine passion for helping people of all ages enjoy the water.
The centre’s facilities make the day smooth and comfortable, with high-quality boards, wetsuits, and fins included, along with heated changing rooms, secure storage, and showers. Additional perks such as free photography, discount cards for local eateries, and savings on future activities add to the value, making the lesson more than just time in the waves—it’s a memorable family day out in one of Cornwall’s most iconic surf towns.
We are the World’s first and most developed bodyboarding school, headed up by British bodyboarding Team Coach and National Champion, Rob.
With over 30 years experience and a professional bodyboarding career of international competition under his belt, Rob has built a school dedicated to delivering expert instruction guaranteed to build your skills and share the stoke!
Lessons from our Centre in Newquay are pitched at a level suited to your ability, whether you’re a complete novice who has never been in the sea before or a professional standard rider. Our instructors are all trained lifeguards and qualified coaches with years of coaching experience to all ages and capabilities.
The beauty of this sport is that whatever your ability, you are guaranteed to catch fun waves and our lesson options include daily sessions, bodyboard surfari weekend courses and international holidays in tropical climates!
If you catch the bodyboarding bug and want to improve your skills, check out our intensive coaching alongside likeminded people at one of our bodyboarding coaching weekends!
Head bodyboarding instructor, Brendan tells us why he loves it so much!
“To bodyboard at the highest level demands a great degree of skill and fitness, but at a beginner stage it’s one of the quickest and easiest ways to get used to riding waves. The sensation created by being close to the water is amazing, you’re in control and the fins help you quickly pick up speed to catch loads of waves.”
Among other skills, we teach the jump launch technique which allows you to catch waves from waist depth water. There is no need to go any deeper unless you want to progress to riding green, unbroken waves using fins.
The centre is located just 500m from the UK’s most famous surfing destination and the Sunday Times’ No.1 beach for activities, Fistral Beach.
Depending on the weather and swell conditions at Fistral Beach, we also run Bodyboarding lessons on the beaches in Newquay Bay just a few minutes walk from our centre on Fore Street.
On patrolled beaches, RNLI lifeguards designate the safest areas to bodyboard with red and yellow flags. We will bodyboard between these flags; they indicate the lifeguarded area for bathing and bodyboarding.
Black and white flags indicate the safest place for surfers and hard craft, like kayaks. Having separate areas means we won’t be sharing waves with those using larger, more dangerous equipment so there are no worries about collisions.
No, although we ask that everybody who takes part in our bodyboard experiences can swim a minimum of 50 metres. Let us know if this will be difficult for you and we can advise on how we can facilitate your abilities best. Our lessons can be tailored so that your feet never need to leave the ground except when you’re riding a wave!
Yes! We run private family bodyboarding lessons tailored specifically to your group’s ages, abilities and numbers.
Bodyboarding is a year round activity, all you need is the right equipment and knowledge about the ocean conditions! Winter’s a great time to catch big swells. It makes an epic Christmas gift!
We organise our bodyboarding lessons around swell conditions and the tide to ensure you get to ride the best quality waves every time.
Every bodyboard lesson is two hours long. After arriving at the centre, you’ll be provided with the equipment and the two hours will begin when you are ready to hit the beach!
If you’d like to stay down at the beach after your two-hour lesson for the remainder of the day, you can add Bodyboard Hire in the booking form.
You will be provided with professional standard equipment when you arrive, suitable for all abilities from beginner to professional levels. You will get:
All our Instructors are fully qualified Beach and Surf Safety Lifeguards and trailblazing bodyboard instructors. They’ve undertaken extensive First Aid training and we deliver regular in-house training to our staff so they have experience in all weather and ocean conditions. Every instructor must have years of personal experience in the water and we also work in close partnership with the RNLI presence on every beach to ensure your safety in and out of the water.
All you need to bring is your swimwear and a towel. We will provide you with everything else!
Please arrive at the centre at the start time of your session. This can be found on you booking confirmation email. There is no parking outside the centre so please allow plenty of time to park and walk down to our centre on Fore Street. Once there your instructor will welcome you.
If you have any medical needs, injuries or special requirements, just give us a ring and we can talk through how best we can cater for your needs during your bodyboarding experience!
From changing room to water’s edge is a 5-minute walk! You’ll make your way down to the beach as a group after changing in our centre.
Lockers are available at the centre free of charge to ensure any valuables are safely stowed away whilst you’re down on the beach. There are also storage compartments available for the rest of your gear including clothes and shoes. Please note that any items are left at the guest’s own risk.
The minimum age limit for our group activities is 8 years old. However, we offer private sessions for every activity so no one has to miss out on bodyboarding! All our instructors have years of experience working with children of all ages.
We’re not afraid of some wind and rain, but Mother Nature occasionally intervenes and makes it impossible to run a safe session. In the unlikely event that this should happen, we would endeavour to change the date of your session or offer an alternative solution.
All our sessions are fully insured and are covered in the price of the activity.
We strongly advise against wearing glasses in the surf in case they fall off! However, you will be able to wear them during the instruction part of the lesson on the sand. They can then be stored with our first aid kits on the beach whilst you’re practicing in the water. We recommend disposable contact lenses wherever possible.
We both loved it , the instructor was a gentleman . Clear , concise instructions and very helpful . Can’t remember his name sorry , very tall with long hair
Jamie was a good instructor but a bit disappointed with the time snorkeling and not seeing anything. The sighting of the seals and info about the coast was great
Everyone was so friendly. My crew leader Alex was really supportive and encouraging as I am not an avid swimmer and so easing my way into kayaking and coasteering was a breeze. The team back at their headquarters were amazing ... keeping my baggage safe as I toured and even…
We had a really good time with Heath today. He showed us all the safety information and kept checking we were all okay. Instead of just staying out snorkelling he showed us some caves and told us about the history and cool knowledge about the caves and rocks. Had a…
We had an amazing time with heath. He was so lovely and gave us a bit of history as we went along. Very caring and made sure we had a fab time
Fun and exciting. The guide Oleks made it really enjoyable for us
Olek was such a cool instructor…let you get on with enjoying the water whilst keeping you safe and giving lots of detail…dan was super helpful when we got there and having a chat afterwards 10/10 hope to be back next summer
Amazing time coasteering in Cornwall with our instructor James. Great fun and James was very knowledgeable and easy to chat to. Thanks for an amazing time
We partner with Rewilding Britain to help protect our natural spaces for future adventures.
All centres are vetted for safety and quality. Your adventure is in good hands with adventuro.
Operated by Newquay Activity Centre, a partner of adventuro.
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom
From £38.50
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom
From £230
