A Scientific Approach to Surf Coaching
A Scientific Approach to Surf Coaching
Surf Simply is part surf laboratory, part minimalist tropical resort. Designed by Gensler (yes, that Gensler), its clean lines, natural textures, and soft modernism dissolve into the jungle. The layout deliberately encourages interaction while protecting personal space. This is anti-luxury luxury: it feels like a boutique hotel, a sports science facility, and the beach house of your coolest friend (if that friend had won an IIDA Design Award).
Only 12 surfers are welcomed each week. Most booked over a year in advance, or slipped through a waitlist hundreds deep. Not for exclusivity’s sake, but because that’s how you coach this well. They’re not coming for beachfront indulgence (though they get it). They're coming for one of the most effective surf coaching programs on the planet.
From the moment you land, everything is taken care of: coaching, equipment, massages, meals, drinks, airport transfers, and even sunblock. The only choice you'll have to make is where to eat on Wednesday. All friction is removed, allowing you to focus entirely on learning, progressing, and making the most of your time there.
Despite the biomechanics and frameworks, Surf Simply never feels clinical. It's warm, social, human. Guests fly in from all over: solo travellers, couples, beginners, pros. Around the communal dinner table, you'll find aerospace engineers, artists, CEOs, and best-selling authors. Conversations are consistently fascinating.
This is a place for people who want more than a vacation. For the curious, the analytical, the perfectionist. You won’t just leave a better surfer, you’ll leave knowing how to keep getting better.
Surf Simply is part surf laboratory, part minimalist tropical resort. Designed by Gensler (yes, that Gensler), its clean lines, natural textures, and soft modernism dissolve into the jungle. The layout deliberately encourages interaction while protecting personal space. This is anti-luxury luxury: it feels like a boutique hotel, a sports science facility, and the beach house of your coolest friend (if that friend had won an IIDA Design Award).
Only 12 surfers are welcomed each week. Most booked over a year in advance, or slipped through a waitlist hundreds deep. Not for exclusivity’s sake, but because that’s how you coach this well. They’re not coming for beachfront indulgence (though they get it). They're coming for one of the most effective surf coaching programs on the planet.
From the moment you land, everything is taken care of: coaching, equipment, massages, meals, drinks, airport transfers, and even sunblock. The only choice you'll have to make is where to eat on Wednesday. All friction is removed, allowing you to focus entirely on learning, progressing, and making the most of your time there.
Despite the biomechanics and frameworks, Surf Simply never feels clinical. It's warm, social, human. Guests fly in from all over: solo travellers, couples, beginners, pros. Around the communal dinner table, you'll find aerospace engineers, artists, CEOs, and best-selling authors. Conversations are consistently fascinating.
This is a place for people who want more than a vacation. For the curious, the analytical, the perfectionist. You won’t just leave a better surfer, you’ll leave knowing how to keep getting better.
Rooms
There are no categories at Surf Simply. Every room is the best one. Inside, the design is sleek but never cold, echoing the resort’s overall aesthetic. Natural materials, soft lighting, minimalist furnishings keep the focus on rest and recovery. Every room features a California king bed with what many guests call the most comfortable mattress they’ve ever slept on. At the far end, a glass wall opens onto a private balcony overlooking the garden and nature reserve. If you can’t fully disconnect, there’s a built-in desk and fast, reliable Wi-Fi. Above the desk hangs a replica of an iconic surfboard, a gentle reminder to eventually log off.
Solo travellers especially appreciate the balance: privacy when wanted, community when needed. Couples love the active yet indulgent escape. Like everything at Surf Simply, the rooms are quietly high-functioning. Beautiful but unfussy, designed not to impress, but to serve their essential purpose: providing deep rest between intensive coaching sessions.
There are no categories at Surf Simply. Every room is the best one. Inside, the design is sleek but never cold, echoing the resort’s overall aesthetic. Natural materials, soft lighting, minimalist furnishings keep the focus on rest and recovery. Every room features a California king bed with what many guests call the most comfortable mattress they’ve ever slept on. At the far end, a glass wall opens onto a private balcony overlooking the garden and nature reserve. If you can’t fully disconnect, there’s a built-in desk and fast, reliable Wi-Fi. Above the desk hangs a replica of an iconic surfboard, a gentle reminder to eventually log off.
Solo travellers especially appreciate the balance: privacy when wanted, community when needed. Couples love the active yet indulgent escape. Like everything at Surf Simply, the rooms are quietly high-functioning. Beautiful but unfussy, designed not to impress, but to serve their essential purpose: providing deep rest between intensive coaching sessions.
Food & Drinks
The food at Surf Simply is not just fuel, it’s part of the experience. Think of it as a road trip through Costa Rica’s pantry, with a globally inspired menu. Everything is prepared by the in-house chef using fresh, local ingredients, and the menus evolve with the season and catch of the day.
Three meals a day: nourishing, satisfying, supporting recovery without ever going into “virtuous eating” territory. Dishes are tailored to your preferences and dietary needs, and the resident mixologist is always on hand with a spot-on pairing. At times, it feels like you’ve stumbled into a Michelin-starred pop-up where everyone happens to be barefoot.
Meals are served family-style around a communal table, the social heart of the resort. Guests gather to eat, decompress, and connect. It’s relaxed and unpretentious, but something about pushing your limits in the water makes conversation flow easier. Friendships form quickly here, often between people who’d never otherwise have crossed paths.
Between meals, snacks and drinks are available any time: homemade granola bars, fresh fruit, a fridge stocked with coconuts. It’s help-yourself, no tabs. It feels like staying with someone who just happens to be taking exceptional care of you behind the scenes.
Twice a week, guests venture out to hand-picked local restaurants chosen for their views and great food. Wednesday is yours to explore Nosara’s food scene at your own pace - though odds are, you’ll end up going with your new friends.
The food at Surf Simply is not just fuel, it’s part of the experience. Think of it as a road trip through Costa Rica’s pantry, with a globally inspired menu. Everything is prepared by the in-house chef using fresh, local ingredients, and the menus evolve with the season and catch of the day.
Three meals a day: nourishing, satisfying, supporting recovery without ever going into “virtuous eating” territory. Dishes are tailored to your preferences and dietary needs, and the resident mixologist is always on hand with a spot-on pairing. At times, it feels like you’ve stumbled into a Michelin-starred pop-up where everyone happens to be barefoot.
Meals are served family-style around a communal table, the social heart of the resort. Guests gather to eat, decompress, and connect. It’s relaxed and unpretentious, but something about pushing your limits in the water makes conversation flow easier. Friendships form quickly here, often between people who’d never otherwise have crossed paths.
Between meals, snacks and drinks are available any time: homemade granola bars, fresh fruit, a fridge stocked with coconuts. It’s help-yourself, no tabs. It feels like staying with someone who just happens to be taking exceptional care of you behind the scenes.
Twice a week, guests venture out to hand-picked local restaurants chosen for their views and great food. Wednesday is yours to explore Nosara’s food scene at your own pace - though odds are, you’ll end up going with your new friends.
Wellness
Wellness at Surf Simply isn’t about chakra realignment or crystal energy. It’s about keeping your body functional enough to surf hard all week, and long after.
Each guest receives two full-body massages, designed to release tension and restore mobility after hours in the water. These aren’t your typical spa treatments. The therapists are experts in sports and deep tissue work, and they understand the specific aches that surfing creates. Expect them to target muscles you didn’t know existed until this morning’s session. You’ll have earned the indulgence (and let’s be honest, Ru probably has data showing relaxed students learn faster).
Daily stretch classes incorporate elements of yoga, but are pointedly not called yoga. There’s no chanting, no incense. Just surf-specific mobility delivered with a scientific, practical approach. Expect to achieve positions that eluded you after years of trying. These sessions are equal parts recharge and performance booster, giving you the practical tools to surf better, and maintain the body that does the surfing.
This is holistic wellness without the woo-woo. The week is physically demanding, yes, but also deeply restorative. You work hard, you sleep better. You stretch, float, breathe; you don’t just feel stronger, you feel good.
Wellness at Surf Simply isn’t about chakra realignment or crystal energy. It’s about keeping your body functional enough to surf hard all week, and long after.
Each guest receives two full-body massages, designed to release tension and restore mobility after hours in the water. These aren’t your typical spa treatments. The therapists are experts in sports and deep tissue work, and they understand the specific aches that surfing creates. Expect them to target muscles you didn’t know existed until this morning’s session. You’ll have earned the indulgence (and let’s be honest, Ru probably has data showing relaxed students learn faster).
Daily stretch classes incorporate elements of yoga, but are pointedly not called yoga. There’s no chanting, no incense. Just surf-specific mobility delivered with a scientific, practical approach. Expect to achieve positions that eluded you after years of trying. These sessions are equal parts recharge and performance booster, giving you the practical tools to surf better, and maintain the body that does the surfing.
This is holistic wellness without the woo-woo. The week is physically demanding, yes, but also deeply restorative. You work hard, you sleep better. You stretch, float, breathe; you don’t just feel stronger, you feel good.
Surfing
This is where Surf Simply earns its reputation… and waitlist.
With nine full-time coaches for just twelve guests, the ratio would make private schools jealous. Guests work with a dedicated coach all week in small groups matched by level. This is as close as surfing gets to bespoke training.
Every coach is ISA and ILSF certified (meaning they’re trained in both surf coaching and lifeguarding) and trained for up to a year in Surf Simply’s own methodology before leading sessions. Many have been here for years. They aren’t freelancers. They are surf training professionals.
At the heart of everything is Ru Hill's Tree of Knowledge: a flowchart (yes, a literal flowchart) that breaks surfing into 217 digestible skills, from floating on a board to landing aerials. Welcome to the Oxford of surfing. No vague advice. No mystical wave-whispering. Just clear, structured, pragmatic coaching. This approach earned them their cult following around the world, and their content and tutorials are now a reference in surf education.
The location helps. Playa Guiones offers warm water year-round, multiple breaks within minutes, and a consistent swell that suits all levels. Whether you're learning to pop up or fine-tuning your rail game, the team knows exactly where (and when) to send you.
Each day includes two filmed surf sessions, reviewed frame-by-frame back at the resort. Add whiteboard theory, pool drills, surf-specific mobility work. The gear is all included. Longboards, fish, grovellers, shortboards … the quiver is deep, and your coach will help you select boards that match your goals and conditions.
By the end of the week, progress is measurable: more waves, fewer wipeouts, tighter lines. Friday’s slideshow proves it. And you’ll leave with a hard drive of footage and a personalised drill sheet to keep progressing on future surf trips.
No wonder TheNew York Times, Wall Street Journal, and CNN have all written about Surf Simply. This is coaching at a professional sport standard. Just happening to take place on a jungle-fringed beach in Costa Rica.
The People Behind
After teaching thousands of students on Cornwall's cold beaches, Ru Hill moved to Nosara in 2007 with $7,000 and a contrarian belief: most surf schools were doing it wrong. His first lessons were filmed with a handheld camera, taught from the Playa Guiones parking lot. What followed was a methodical evolution. By 2018, the car-trunk operation had evolved into the Gensler-designed resort you see today.
But growth hasn’t meant selling out. Despite regular offers for investment and expansion, Ru has chosen to stay small. Not out of idealism, but because scaling would mean compromise. The 12 surfing-guest cap, even with a 200+ waitlist, isn’t scarcity marketing. It’s resource stewardship: of waves, of coaches, of attention.
That same philosophy shapes life inside the business. Ru wants every one of Surf Simply’s 35 employees to feel good about their work and reach a level of financial security where more money wouldn’t meaningfully improve happiness. His benchmark is the “parents’ friends test”: wanting employees' families to feel genuine pride in their work at Surf Simply. The payoff is palpable: enthusiasm isn’t scripted, patience isn’t feigned. Staff retention suggests something's working.
That ethos extends outward too. Part of Surf Simply’s profits support community initiatives, and the team plays an active role in Nosara’s environmental stewardship and education programs.
In an industry full of New Age platitudes and corporate retreats, Ru has created something genuinely different. A business that cares and doesn't get worse as it grows up.
After teaching thousands of students on Cornwall's cold beaches, Ru Hill moved to Nosara in 2007 with $7,000 and a contrarian belief: most surf schools were doing it wrong. His first lessons were filmed with a handheld camera, taught from the Playa Guiones parking lot. What followed was a methodical evolution. By 2018, the car-trunk operation had evolved into the Gensler-designed resort you see today.
But growth hasn’t meant selling out. Despite regular offers for investment and expansion, Ru has chosen to stay small. Not out of idealism, but because scaling would mean compromise. The 12 surfing-guest cap, even with a 200+ waitlist, isn’t scarcity marketing. It’s resource stewardship: of waves, of coaches, of attention.
That same philosophy shapes life inside the business. Ru wants every one of Surf Simply’s 35 employees to feel good about their work and reach a level of financial security where more money wouldn’t meaningfully improve happiness. His benchmark is the “parents’ friends test”: wanting employees' families to feel genuine pride in their work at Surf Simply. The payoff is palpable: enthusiasm isn’t scripted, patience isn’t feigned. Staff retention suggests something's working.
That ethos extends outward too. Part of Surf Simply’s profits support community initiatives, and the team plays an active role in Nosara’s environmental stewardship and education programs.
In an industry full of New Age platitudes and corporate retreats, Ru has created something genuinely different. A business that cares and doesn't get worse as it grows up.
Booking
Prices
Surfing Couple: $15,646 per week for two surfers ($7,823 each), all-inclusive.
Surfer with Non-Surfing Partner: $12,410 per week total; includes full program for the surfer and tours/activities for the non-surfing partner.
Solo Surfer: $8,716 per week, all-inclusive.
Contact
You can check out their availability here, and contact them directly to book.
email: info@surfsimply.com
phone: +1 (305) 505-7135
Prices
Surfing Couple: $15,646 per week for two surfers ($7,823 each), all-inclusive.
Surfer with Non-Surfing Partner: $12,410 per week total; includes full program for the surfer and tours/activities for the non-surfing partner.
Solo Surfer: $8,716 per week, all-inclusive.
Contact
You can check out their availability here, and contact them directly to book.
email: info@surfsimply.com
phone: +1 (305) 505-7135