SERF Academy: A different kind of surf school

Surf schools teach you how to surf. SERF Academy teaches you how to document surfing. It’s also university accredited (3 units undergraduate credit through Western State College).

That’s right – university courses in surf journalism. SERF Academy sounds like a real adventure for young surfers who want to get educated on every aspect of surfing, from writing about surfing to documentary filmmaking to surf photography and a whole lot more.

Now SERF Academy is based in Bali – Uluwatu no less!

From an official press release:

With the SERF Academy campus perched cliffside at Uluwatu, the best waves in the world are at your doorstep. You can also expect freediving classes, volcano climbs, sacred temples, open air classes, master photography clinics, surftime magazine internships, guaranteed publication in global media and surf magazines, surf photos of yourself from the best, contemporary surfboard manufacturing clinics, shaping lessons, blogging on Surfline.com, Jet Ski rescue training, Surfer’s First Aid training, Neighbor Island surfing, daily Yoga, healthy, exotic food, famed Balinese surf specific massage, sunset dinners on the beach and more.

Staff includes leading surf journalists Matt and Sam George, sustainable surf tourism PhD Jess Ponting, and educator/SERF Academy founder Chris Faucher. Another big name, which I immediately recognized from my childhood skateboarding years, is Stacy Peralta, who is now a hotshot documentary filmmaker (Dogtown and Z-Boys, Riding Giants, Crips and Bloods: Made in America and Bones Brigade: An Autobiography). Of course I’ll always remember him for the Search for Animal Chin video and the Rat Bones and Powell III wheels I used to buy from his company Powell Peralta.

Check out this mini documentary on a previous SERF Academy term for some more perspectives on this unique surf-based education in journalism and life in general. For more background on how SERF Academy started and what it’s all about, see this 2009 interview with founder Chris Faucher in Surfing Magazine.

Is there a place for you at SERF Academy? Why not pay a visit to their home page and see.

serf academy

Life at SERF Academy. Pic: serfacademy.com

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