Go Surfing provides surf classes for children and adults in Đà Nẵng and Hội An. Since its foundation, it has helped many students to initiate and improve their surfing skills. In addition to surfing classes, the school also offers skateboard classes with Go Skateboarding Vietnam. Go Surfing and Go Skateboarding were founded by Knee Jerk, a British artist, surf and skateboard teacher.
Surfing in Vietnam is becoming more and more popular every year. With a coastline of approximately 3.000 kilometers, plenty of long stretch beaches, warm climate and waves that break the entire year, Vietnam is a great place to enjoy a unique surfing experience. Even though surfing in Vietnam has mostly been associated with visitors in the past, is now also growing in popularity among locals.
There are many different areas to surf in Vietnam, especially distributed along the central and south region. My Khe Beach, located in Đà Nẵng, is regarded as one of the most famous and traditional locations, particularly because it served as a recreational surfing outlet for American soldiers during the Vietnam War. Many soldiers claim that surfing was one of the main factors that helped them to recover from post-traumatic war disorders. In addition to Đà Nẵng, other famous surf spots in Vietnam include Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Vung Tau and Hoi An. The best time of the year to surf is typically during the monsoon season, from September to March, when the storm brings good swells.
Recently, surfing, kitesurfing and windsurfing have been all significant contributors to tourism in the country. As a consequence, many surfing schools, board rentals and shops have been opening across the country. Go Surfing is a surfing school that offers classes and organizes surf sessions and trips in both Da Nang and Hoi. With the beginning of the monsoon season in Vietnam, Go Surfing got all its boards out.
Hoi An is famously known for its enchanting old town, delicious food, colorful lanterns and silk history. However, not many people take their time out to visit An Bang beach, which is barely 10 minute away from the city center and offers good waves, especially for beginners. By the end of 2021, I was living in Hoi An and as soon as the rainy season started, I went to a couple of surf sessions early in the morning with Go Surfing.
Even though the surfing culture has been growing in popularity over the past years, there are still many unexplored places along Vietnam coastal area. According to Knee Jerk, it is always a unique experience to surf in places that haven’t been discovered yet. Not only because the waves are more exclusive, but also because he believes humans (and surfers) have an internal desire to explore and discover some new, like a new spot and a new place. And that’s one of the beautiful things about surfing and skating, this endless possibility of doing something no one has ever done before.
In the end of 2021, Go Surfing organized a surfing trip to look for uncharted spot in the Vietnam coast. This place, which is mainly frequented by locals, has a rock with the shape of a dragon head on one of its sides and it offers the longest waves in Vietnam. There are only a small village nearby and not many places to spend the night.
During that time, Vietnam was finally starting to lift some lockdown measures, so borders between provinces were starting to open again. However, we still had to go through many tests and check points in order to reach our destination. This is a video we made of our trip. Big thanks to Knee Jerk, TJ, Thuan Le Ngoc and Thanh Bui, who also went to the trip.
