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The Prince of Wales’s Division Adventure Training
The Prince of Wales’s Division surfing expedition took place on 28 Sep – 3 Oct 14 set in the idyllic location of Newquay coastline at RAF St Mawgan, Cornwall. On arrival; at RAF St Mawgan the club house complete with pool table, T.V. and kitchen coupled with the spacious and comfortable accommodation blocks set the conditions for our introduction to a week of surfing and mountain biking with the RAF Waveriders’ Association.
Spending the week conducting challenging adventure training was a brilliant opportunity for members of 1 and 2 MERCIAN, the Regimental Support Team, 1 Royal Irish and 1 Royal Welsh to bond as a division. At the same time it provided a relaxed environment for participants to attempt what was for most an unfamiliar sport.
The surfing instruction began on the beach with the practising of the ‘pop,’ as we rehearsed the art of jumping on to our feet on our surf boards from the prone position. This seemed relatively simple,
the tricky bit would come trying to perfect this skill as the waves crashed and surged towards us. It is safe to say our first venture out in to the wash resulted in numerous flying surf boards, limbs travelling in all directions and countless numbers of wipe outs. As many of us spent the first day fighting to cling on to
the week must be given to Pte O’Reilly, who having being sent flying off his own board managed to simultaneously hitch a ride on the back of Pte Cooke as they careered towards the beach.
The team led by Lt Col Smallbone did a fantastic job of running the adventure
our boards, Pte Barnard quickly progressed leaving the majority
of us in his wake. As the week went on, we spent less and less
As the week went on, we spent less and less time underneath the waves and more time riding on top of them...
training package and providing an excellent level of tuition for a mixed ability group. Many thanks must
be given to Mark and Elaine, the civilian surfing instructors
who did brilliantly with the arduous task of teaching a group of first timers to stand up on a surf board in the rough
time underneath the
waves and more time
riding on top of them
as the many hours of
practice began to pay
off. Having spent the
week attempting to ride the surf, the transformation was remarkable, with the whole group confidently displaying their skills. The accolade for greatest wipe out of
Newquay swell. Having spent a fantastic week surfing and enjoying the allures of the Newquay night life, this expedition has created many more budding surfers
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