On the Job

The hot seat! Make no mistake, when you sit here, you feel it. Your task, should you wish to accept it, is to get everyone checked in, paid, sorted into groups - and do it all start to finish in 20 minutes. Sounds easy - but not when you've got eighty surfers checking in. It can at times be a real head spin. And it can't be anyone taking the helm. It has to be someone who understands how it works at the water's edge, know how to allocate the groups to the right instructor. It's a bit like the chaos theory. We might get someone checking in who's booked in two improvers - they then change this to one improver and one beginner.. the knock on effect can be enormous. A complete rework of groups. Janey did it for years, it's a real skill. You have to be like the swan, graceful and in control on the surface, and yet behind the smile you might be thinking "Oh my God, how am I going to sort this out!" Wailin is the main man (Sam on Wails days off) - and he's brilliant at it.

I've sat in the hot seat in the past ( I try and avoid it) and thought, "I've actually lost total control of this situation. I'm going to walk away and I may not come back!" I've had plenty of dreams where you're sat n the hot seat, naked, checking people in. Must be the exposure! Of course, it always pans out in the end. Helps when you've got an experienced crew to act as back up.

So next time you're booking in - check out the person in the hot seat. Observe the sweat on the brow!

Here's the crew - Wail made a decision pretty early on. We've always been a bit top heavy, a lot of experience. Trouble with that is you get a middle order who have no where to go within Surf's Up! Even as the largest surf school in the UK (I'm told the world) we only have so many senior places. That means that the middle order who've been with us a a few years can potentially get a bit demotivated. What Wailin's set about doing this year is retain the top tier and bring in a few fresh faces. And that works well on so many different levels. New blood is good for those that are here, nice to work with a different crew. And the rookies give a new dimension. All good.