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Learning how to surf is a humbling endeavor that involves endless falls in the water, getting hit by waves, and getting back on your board to try again.
But once you catch the momentum of the wave, there's a magical moment: you feel like you're flying with the water, you're filled with euphoria. The ocean is something to be respected, and playing in harmony with it is one of the best feelings.
That feeling is something professional adaptive surfer Victoria Feige wants everyone to experience, regardless of physical or mental ability.
“Surfing is so resilient for everyone, not just people with disabilities,” Feige told USA Today. “Sure, the ocean can swallow you up, but you still have the strength to keep going.”
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Surfing is a great form of exercise in a natural environment and has been proven to help children with intellectual disabilities build self-confidence, resilience and social skills. Surfing has also been shown to benefit veterans with PTSD and depression.
To share his love of surfing with people of all levels, Feige recently teamed up with Hawaiian pro surfer Jamie O'Brien to introduce private adaptive surfing lessons to the Jamie O'Brien Surf Experience at Turtle Bay Resort in early March, the first and only surf school in Hawaii to offer adaptive surfing lessons.
“We're really focused on what's possible and keeping them safe at the same time,” O'Brien said.
Located on the North Shore of Oahu, Turtle Bay Resort is next to Kawela Bay, a protected bay where a coral reef breaks up the wave energy into soft, gentle waves. Entering the ocean from the beach is easy and made even more accessible by an access track. It was the perfect location for an adaptive surfing lesson.
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Back to Board
Feige, originally from Vancouver, Canada, and now living in Hawaii, grew up spending most of his time outdoors, enjoying board sports such as skiing and surfing. At the age of 18, he landed poorly on a big jump while snowboarding, sustaining a spinal cord injury that left him partially paralyzed from the waist down. Feige can stand and walk a little, but he uses a wheelchair most of the time.
Fiege thought her board sports career was over, but she was still a good swimmer, so two years after her injury she tried surfing again. “In the water you need strength and technique. How do you swim on the sand? How do you deal with the currents and waves?” she said.
Feige started out paddling on her stomach and up to her knees in the whitewash (where most beginners spend their time, where they can only ride full waves or go in a straight line). “I thought I couldn't do any better,” she says.
She was wrong.
Feige met other disabled surfers and learned to catch and ride green waves just as she did before her injury. Today, she has won multiple world titles in Paralympic surfing and works as a disabled surfing and skiing instructor and physical therapist.
“No matter who you are, no matter what background you're from, getting in the water makes you feel alive,” Feige says. “Living with a disability can be challenging. It can be isolating at times. When you can ride the waves, that's your strength. And everyone needs a little time to play.”
What are adaptive surf lessons like with Jamie O'Brien Surf Experience at Turtle Bay?
“My goal is to establish the gold standard for adaptive surfing lessons,” Feige says. First, students age 4 and older fill out a questionnaire that tells the instructor about their medical needs and physical abilities. Each student is paired with two instructors, Feige says, for a “more specialized, personalized experience.”
All instructors are trained to work with people with various disabilities, and when Feige is in Hawaii, she teaches classes herself: “There aren't a lot of instructors who are disabled surfers,” she says.
Surfers of all levels are welcome: beginners can get their first taste of surfing, and more experienced surfers can learn how to improve, gain independence and practice their skills.
“After suffering a devastating spinal cord injury, I thought I would never have the ability to enjoy the ocean again,” said John Price, who visited Turtle Bay and took his first surfing lesson from Feige. “Meeting Victoria changed my perspective. Her experience, guidance and energy pushed me and encouraged me to enjoy surfing with a new understanding of what's possible.”
The surf school has golf carts and fiber beach wheelchairs to transport students to the beach. Students are taken out to the ocean on soft-top surfboards, which are safer, more cushioned, and more stable than hard-top surfboards. They can be adjusted to suit the student's ability. Surfboards can have handles or knobs added to them, and they also have risers to sit on for those who lack spine and core control.
For an hour, students are guided through the gentle waves with the help of an instructor, who also takes photos of the session.
Turtle Bay Resort itself is, in Feige's words, “highly accessible.” The resort entrance, spa, fitness center, restaurants, shops and select rooms and suites are ADA accessible. There are also ADA-accessible lifts and transfer wall systems at the pools and hot tubs.
Surf lessons are just the beginning for Feige and O'Brien's approach to adaptive surfing at Turtle Bay. They hope to host adaptive surfing clinics and events where groups can bond and learn together.
“It shows that surfing is for everyone,” O'Brien says. “There are no limitations to who can and can't surf. The ocean belongs to everyone.”
Have you or someone you know ever encountered an accessibility issue while traveling? What happened?
Kathleen Wong is a Hawaii-based travel writer for USA Today. She can be reached at kwong@usatoday.com..
