Some people have an internal Stoke Switch which fires at the mere mention of anything surf-related: board design, barrel riding techniques, this morning’s session… and so on. In some individuals, the switch is hard to activate, requiring some heavy prompting under just the right circumstances. Iona Turner possesses a hair-trigger Stoke Switch. She lights up at the mere mention of anything surf-oriented. Her eyes widen, her breathing becomes erratic – in short, she’s a perfect medium to convey stoke. OK, we may have exaggerated a bit, but as a Senior Surf Coach at Lost Shore, would you want to experience anything less during your session?
Where are you from and how did you get into surfing?
I’m from Edinburgh and I grew up there. I was born there, so just from Edinburgh. I learned to surf at a local surf school called Coast to Coast Surf School. It’s based out of Dunbar. I went there on a school trip. One of my teachers at high school took a group of us down to Coast to Coast, and I just really loved it. I told my parents I really loved it and they booked me into a kids’ camp. Then I just kept showing up until they offered me a job there to help with dunking wetsuits. So I was dunking wetsuits and stuff at first, and then eventually I became an assistant instructor and then stayed on to be an instructor.
I did that throughout high school on my school holidays and throughout university on my holidays as well. After university, I continued to work at that surf school for a bit and did a graduate job, but really missed full-time surf instructing. I then went to the Isle of Lewis, on the Western Isles of Scotland, where I taught surfing. I did a summer there. Then when this place opened, I came here.
Had you known there was a wave pool opening here?
Yeah. I was following that it was happening. At first I didn’t think that I would be that interested in working here because one of my favourite things about surfing is the nature connection and being in nature. I love being by the coast and at the beach. But when I came, I first started off working part-time, and I loved it so much. I was so impressed by how much it was mimicking being in the sea. Also, just the practice that you get, the number of waves that you get in a session. The progression was so good and being able to then transfer that into the sea. I was totally hooked. Then I was like, I want to be full-time. I’ve just been here ever since.
What is your official title?
Senior surf coach.
And what duties do you perform in your job?
Day-to-day, I’m within the coaching team. So I’m teaching lessons, like beginner and improver lessons, and up to coaching weekends and things like that as well. I also do a bit of organizational stuff. Helping with the routing and a bit of behind-the-scenes stuff as well, like lesson planning and product planning and things like that. I get involved with that. If we’re running a coaching weekend, for example, I’ll be part of the decision-making on how we’re going to run things and what times and where things are going to happen. So that kind of organizational stuff for it. We also do a bit of the reception desk as well.
So run us through a typical day here.
A typical day would start with coming in before opening, setting up all the wetsuit equipment, and then opening up the reception area as well, and then checking people into their sessions and planning out the day, like which instructors are going to do which lessons. Usually, I’ll be getting involved in lessons myself as well. So laying out the equipment, boards and things.
Walk us through a surf lesson please.
We’ll go and meet the students just outside of the changing area and then start with a kind of meet and greet. Then head over to the astroturf areas where we do half an hour of dry-side instruction. If it’s a beginner lesson, we’ll go through the basics of board control, catching waves, and things like that. After that half hour, we’ll get in the water.
So you do half an hour on dry land and then get in the water?
Yeah. Practicing paddling and standing up on land. Then it’s a one-hour session in the water. You’ll stay with the students throughout that one hour and assist them into waves, coaching them through getting to their feet. If it’s an improver lesson, you’re out on the reef. So we’re either in the shallows with the beginners or, for the more advanced sessions, we’re out on the reef. Depending on the person’s level determines which session they’ll be in.
Iona Turner has 1,000 clips on Flowstate as of this writing, and if you follow her (you can do that right here), you’ll find a graceful longboard savant who takes every opportunity to shed the 5mil and gloves. Video by Flowstate.
Do you have a preference for which lesson you’re doing?
I like all of the lessons. I really like variety. I like getting the chance to teach people their first ever surf, but also people that have more experience. It keeps it interesting. You get people from all sorts of different experience backgrounds coming to try surfing here. I quite like introducing a wave pool to somebody who has surfed a bit in the sea. You’re introducing the wave pool to them, which is quite exciting.
What is the biggest differentiator when you’re explaining surfing in a wave pool compared to surfing in the ocean?
In the ocean or the sea, you have to do a lot of wave reading, which is important here as well, but there’s a bit more positioning yourself and trusting that the wave will come. There are a few things that you might tell someone to adjust. There’s a bit more of a suck-back at the takeoff than someone might expect, especially someone who is at that improver level where they’ve just been introduced to unbroken waves. That’s probably the main difference.
Someone reading this who wants to do this job, what would you recommend for them?
Surfing as much as possible and getting involved in coaching opportunities. One thing that really helped me learn to be a good coach was, alongside working for surf schools, volunteering for some of the really amazing surf charities that we have here. Specifically in this area, we have Wave Project running out of Lost Shore and also Inclusive Surfing Scotland. You also spoke to Iain.
Once you have a bit of experience surfing yourself, it’s a really good way to get involved in coaching. It’s also just a really rewarding, amazing thing to do.
