Justifying Surf Ranch

I know, I know. You can go to Indo for a week with what it costs to go to Surf Ranch for a day and a half. Or Fiji, or Mex, or fill in the blank surf location.

And you know, you’re right. Spot on. 100% correct.

But would it be an apples-to-apples comparison on what you get?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Every year I say to myself, I’m not doing Surf Ranch again. And yet, each year I go again, and again. Why?

I just can’t convince myself otherwise.

Contrary to what some people may think, I buy a spot just like everyone else. So it hits my wallet just like it hits yours. And I have to go through the money justification just like you.

So here’s my thought process on it. Agree or disagree, but I figured I would share for the fun of it.

GOAL OF TRIP

First, we need to set a baseline on what is included in each trip, and also level set what my goal of the trip is. The reason why the second parameter is important is because I may very well choose to go on a trip to Indo, or Fiji, or Mexico, or elsewhere, for surfing yes, but also for the adventure of it all.

Because of this, I will limit WHY we are going, to catching waves, and more specifically barrel riding and progression in that aspect of my surfing. That is what I am setting as the “why” parameter for the trip.

Here’s what’s included in the Surf Ranch trip I run:

• Between 10-20 attempts at a perfect barrel section (half that if the wind is strong in a particular direction – it’ll be offshore one way or another – even then, the onshore barrel is still there, just not “perfect”)
• Professional Safety Team and Jetski operation and coaching
• Shared onsite lodging
• Onsite hot tub, showers, towels, sunscreen, etc.
• Onsite video review
• Pre, during, and post coaching
• 5-star food, beverage (alcohol and non), and coffee/tea
• Professional In-Water Photography
• Full use of top-of-the-line surfboards
• Full use of premium wetsuits, booties, and gloves
• Surfing Paddling Academy Surf Ranch Paddle In/Takeoff & Preparation Online Course
• 3 Live Stream Preparation Calls
• During and Post Trip Video Review and Analysis

In my past life, I was a Supply Chain and Procurement expert and I consulted with some of the largest companies in the world. I know a thing or two about cost modeling so this is how I look at the comparison.

What would it cost for me to have all of the above on a trip to Indo, Fiji, or Mexico? Obviously, labor rates vary by location, as does skill availability for certain jobs so I’ve taken some liberties to assure I would get the same level of service I get at Surf Ranch elsewhere in the world.

SAFETY

I first start with safety because if I am hunting barrels, you can bet that the reef, rock, or sand bottom is going to be very shallow, and the swell will be very powerful. If something were to happen to me, I would like a professional safety team on site, ready to perform primary care until I can get to a hospital suitable to tend to more serious injuries.

A safety team at a minimum will require one jet ski, one jet ski driver (trained), one rescue jumper, and one medic.

The jet ski is not some run of the mill rental jet ski I can hire in Mission Bay. This would need to be a custom jet ski that won’t stall in the foam, has a sled, and extra assurances it won’t conk out when they are picking me up in the impact zone as other waves bear down on me. Fuel for the jet ski can be accounted for separately, assuming that any custom rental would include depreciation, maintenance and repair costs. This is assuming we can also find a suitable jet ski and take it to the remote location we are surfing. 

As the jet ski is not just a basic ski, the team will not be just random laborers. The jet ski driver will need to be a trained driver, the rescue jumper trained, and the medic also (I would hope so) highly trained for emergency room level injuries (sans major equipment). Again, this is assuming this labor is readily available at the remote location we are surfing. If not, we would have to fly/transport them in, and house and feed them the entire time.

For the safety team and jet ski (assuming they can all be hired onsite in the remote location) I have estimated approximately $2,500 in cost for 4 hours of surfing (the equivalent surf time at Surf Ranch). This excludes if I were to get hurt and the team has to stay after the allotted 4 hours to care and transport me. And I would say this is very, very conservative estimate.

Safety: $2,500

HOSPITALITY

A key perk at Surf Ranch is the 5-star food, beverages, coffee/tea and hospitality service team. They are outstanding. I mean absolutely outstanding in every way. If I am hungry, food is available. Thirsty, they have all of the top end beverages from coconut water to tequila (post surf for most). The food is exquisite.

To cost the labor for hospitality, including servers, hosts/hostesses, chefs, as well as the ancillary but uber important staff that cleans up after us, I will employ a technique I used when comparing cost in my old job. I will only account for the differences since many of these services are included in a resort fee when I go on a surf trip abroad. Surf Ranch’s premium services and products are (conservatively) 40% more expensive to hire if we were to include that level of service and products on our abroad surf trip. To have that same service for our whole trip, I accounted for an additional $1,500 cost for the week I’d be at the resort for (whether it be Indo, Fiji, Mex, etc.) and this includes the increased labor cost (additional people), increase cost to import the same or similar quality goods, transportation of those goods to our remote location where I’ll be surfing.

5-star hospitality $1,500

So far, our running total for a week elsewhere with the same quality of safety and service to Surf Ranch is $4,000. In other words, I’ll have to add this to my remote island getaway (conservatively speaking) to get the same service there.

All the small and not so small things

Video, in-water photography, in-water coaching and almost instant review. Yes, I can get video in remote locations, and I can review it with a coach when I get back to my hut. The feedback loop is slower than Surf Ranch, where I surf for an hour, review for an hour, and then are back in the water applying the lessons the next hour. That being said, let’s simply account for the added labor and technology I need to bring with me to get the same level of service. That is two additional coaches (one for in-water and one for out-of-water), and a water photographer – again, this is in addition to the videographer I would hire on the remote island I am on.

For this cost, I will once again assume these three additional people are already on the island and I don’t need to transport them there (and they are at the same skill level). Additional cost for the week - $500. Again, this is very conservative with huge convenient assumptions.

Premium surfboard and wetsuit use. Assuming it is warm water, let’s just account for the surfboard for the week. $500.

The total is now $5,000.

Again, this is assuming we don’t have to transport the jet ski or people, or house any of the people. If that were the case, add another $5,000.

WHAT'S LEFTOVER

Just with the originally estimated $5,000, let’s now look at what’s leftover. I haven’t accounted for the coaching my coaching team provides for Surf Ranch, nor the cost of the waves themselves. The average cost of my Surf Ranch trips are in the $6,000 per person range. Meaning, $6,000 - $5,000= $1,000 leftover for waves and coaching.

Coaching, from our team and from the Surf Ranch team, is estimated (conservatively) at about $500 just for labor time. 

What is leftover are the waves themselves at $500.

With 20 waves, that ends up being $25 per wave.

Here’s where I hear that I’ve overestimated everything. There’s no way that’s the comparison, and to that I would say, you’re probably right. But I also haven’t accounted for the fact that these kinds of safety and services just aren’t available in remote, barrel rich wave regions. And if they are, you would still need to transport and house all the extra gear and labor. I think that if you can do all that for $5K, you’re an incredible negotiator and where do I sign up?

THE CHERRIES ON TOP

I have to first go back to the safety issue. Since I am a father, and a husband, and a brother, and an uncle, and a son, and a friend, I have people I want to come back to. That means if I get hurt badly, I want immediate medical attention. In some of the remote areas of the world where I have gone in the past barrel hunting (and have scored), I am at least a full day of travel away from a suitable hospital, sometimes two days. For that risk, I need to add in a risk premium of another $5-$10K, or even more since the sooner you can get advanced medical care, the higher the likelihood your life won’t be affected after the accident.

VALUE of TIME - The time it takes to get to Surf Ranch, fill my bucket with amazing waves and experience, and get back to my life is incredibly low. Some may say, "well, that's why it's not a real surf trip - you never vacate your life, really." But again, if that were my goal, I would choose a remote location where it was an adventure to get to and be at. 

People often forget about accounting for their time. You hear that time is money. You should value the time it takes you to be away from income generating activities, or your family and friends (if they aren't with you). This "cost" of time can be seen as a positive or negative, but given the parameters of this calculation (i.e. my goal is barrel riding and progression), then a quicker trip is beneficial. If my goal were to unwind, connect with friends or meet new ones, learn about new cultures, etc., then a longer duration is beneficial - there is value in extra days. 

For this goal, less time adds value and more time adds cost. Seven days plus travel away vs one and a half days plus travel. For the sake of simplicity, if we exclude travel, there is a difference of five and a half days between a seven day trip and a one and half day trip. That multiplied by my value of time equals a significant amount of savings by going to Surf Ranch (ends up being a couple thousand dollars).  

And finally, THE WAVES. I can’t get over how someone can argue they can get the same quality barreling wave, repeatedly, anywhere in the world, even over the course of a week. Maybe you can at firing Skeleton Bay? Okay, you got me there. But then again, how far away from help are you?

I’ve been on a trip to mainland Mexico, and I surfed a high rate of barrels over a sand point with just me and two friends for a week, but that was right after 9/11 occurred. And we scored a weeklong swell with incredible conditions.

So, can it happen? Yes. Is it likely? Not really. Can you perfectly curate it? Not a chance.

On those barrel week-long trips, I get a handful of barrels. Mostly because I am usually competing with others, and not all of the waves barrel all the time; swells pulse and decay, tides change, wind comes up or shifts onshore. It’s just not a guarantee.

But can you score 10-20 chances at a barrel in a day and half, with a coach five yards from you on a jetski telling you when the barrel is coming at Surf Ranch?

Yes, yes you can.

Is that cheating? Maybe.

Will it enhance the probability you will make more barrels in the ocean? Anecdotally, yes, I can say from personal experience. My barrel riding, my technique, and how I read waves while I’m in the barrel, has improved immensely since surfing at Surf Ranch. And I don’t have a coach telling me when to get low, when to set my line, when to hold when I’m in the ocean. The quality repetitions I’ve been able to work on in a safer environment has led me to that point. I’ve even made barrels on surf trips that others haven’t been able to figure out at all.

IF I am going on a trip, just for barrels, to a remote location, for a week, and I am comparing that trip to Surf Ranch, I will choose Surf Ranch (and have time and time again). Going to Surf Ranch actually saves me money ($2K-$12K) if I account for every expense that would be equivalent plus the value of time. 

IF I am going on a trip, for the experience of surfing fun waves with fun people, to experience the culture of the land, and the waves might have some barrels, THEN I will go elsewhere.

But that’s just how I think about it. Which admittingly, is a bit weird and obsessive.

And I’m okay with that.

(All photos by: Casey Figlewicz and Derrick Tuskan)

To learn more about paddling technique courses, coaching and non-coaching surf trips, and more, feel free to contact me at any time. Until then, I’ll see you in the water!