At first most surfers thought it was some sort of scam. And if it was, it certainly was a good one: getting paid to teach a college writing course on a Mentawai boat trip. But for three summers that’s just what my brother Matt and I did, recruiting a tight group of suitably motivated university students from around the country and assembling in Padang, Sumatra, bound for adventure and three units of upper level general education credit. Our curriculum was designed by Los Angeles surfer/educator Chris Faucher, and over the subsequent courses evolved into a two-tiered program combining the structure and discipline of magazine feature writing with a creative component we dubbed “transformational writing.” The student’s final grade would be based on a 3000-word feature story about their trip.
Funny, how the scam thing came up whenever we ran into boatloads of other surfers who found themselves in Indonesia with only one thing in mind: getting more waves than anybody else. Just as funny were the looks on those single-minded surfer’s faces when our students would regularly clear the lineup to attend daily classes back on the D’Bora. But clear lineups they did as they listened and observed and thought and wrote and read throughout the 15-day course, emerging at the other end sunburned, surfed out and a bit better prepared to articulate in written word what they’d just experienced.
Scam or not, teaching these classes has been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done as a surfer. Which is why I’m so stoked that beginning in June, 2015 we’ll be offering the same accredited writing course on the island of Bali.
Working in conjunction with Groundswell Travel, a company specializing in “study abroad” programs, my brother Matt and I have come up with an even more diversified curriculum taking advantage of Bali’s myriad “transformational experiences”, both in and out of the waves. Students will be housed in a traditional Balinese losman compound within walking distance to the fabulous waves of Uluwatu, and only a short drive from the Bukit Peninsula’s mind-bending array of world class breaks: Padang Padang, Impossibles, Bingin, Belangan and Dreamland. Excursions to the island’s less populated surf are planned as well as surf lessons held in the accommodating Kuta/Legian beach breaks. But in more than just the surf, Matt and I will draw on our over 30 years of Indonesian experience to provide informed cultural interaction and guided adventure. Paddling remote highland lakes, attending authentic ceremonies, ascending sacred Mt. Batur for sunrise reverie; students won’t just visit Bali, they’ll experience Bali.
Yet almost just as importantly, they’ll learn to write about their experience more effectively. In a sense each students will be graded on their own trip, adhering to the words of the writer Joseph Conrad who claimed, “…the job of a writer is not only to write, but to see.” Student will turn in a full-length magazine feature, excerpts from the best of which will be published in a variety of outlets, including SurfTime, the magazine Matt publishes there in Bali (in fact all students will get first-hand experience working on an issue of SurfTime, South East Asia’s premier surf publication.)
But here’s the great thing. Even though the course offers a fully accredited three units of upper level general education credit, transferable to any university in the country, we do not limit The Bali Experience solely to college students, but instead welcome anyone who wants to become a better writer. In world increasingly dominated by social media, in which more people are publishing their writing than at any other time in history, I’m sure there’s plenty out there who’d like to do so with more confidence.
And get some fantastic waves in the process.
Now that I think about it, it still sorta sounds like a scam. But if it is, it’s a great one. Come join us and find out.
For signup and travel information contact:
1(760)579-3304
or GROUNDSWELL EDUCATIONAL TRAVEL
