We're Adam & Gemma...
...and we collected the keys to Blue Surf School six weeks before the 2024 season started!
To us, having our own little business isn't just about making a life for ourselves in a part of the world we love. It's also about using this business to introduce as many people as possible to the two activities we love, and spread a little more kindness and joy to the people we meet and work with while we do it.
We're here to give customers an unrivalled experience they'll remember.
We're here to create a place where our team actually feel appreciated and listened to.
We're here to improve the quality of life of our community.
We're here to show that even a small business can do more when it comes to looking after our planet.
A Little Bit About Us:
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Adam
"If there's two things I love it's getting to know people and any activity that puts me in nature and challenges me (do you think I'll get in trouble with gem for not including her there? Ooops).
I didn't experience surfing until my early twenties on a windy and wet day in Cornwall - I still remember the wave that got me hooked! I loved being immersed in nature, that no matter how good I might get at surfing there would always be another wave out there to challenge me, the stoke you can feel watching other surfers succeed, and finally, when the waves are pumping, I still need to conquer a small feeling of fear when I go out!
My work history is FAR less exciting then Gem's... nine years spent in business development and account management roles across London. No one's idea of a good time.
I want to help as many people as possible feel how I felt on that wet day in Cornwall while shaping their ideas on what surfing means to emphasise kindness, encouragement, and resilience."
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Gemma
"I grew up spending my summers at Watergate Bay where we run our surf lessons from so it's an incredibly special place to me - I still can't believe we have a business there now!
I've always been up for an adventure... leaving home at 18 to travel the globe, I worked in luxury hospitality - winters in alpine chalets, moved to superyachts and sailed the seas, a live-in-nanny to global superstars, and finally left it all to become a full-time yoga teacher (and to spend more time with Adam but don't tell him that).
I was introduced to yoga by a colleague I was working with on a superyacht at the time. Like Adam, I came to yoga late in my early twenties, but loved the way it made me feel and the sense of community around it. It was the only thing that kept me going some days in grueling work conditions.
I'm here to bring yoga to Blue Surf School and show people that yoga doesn't have to be so serious - it can be fun, playful, and full of laughter".
Leaving the Corporate World & Finding Our "Ikigai"
So you may be thinking how a globe-trotting Dorset girl and a London-based Essex boy ended up in Cornwall...
Well, Adam never truly felt comfortable working in London. He had always done what he thought you were suppose to do: Get a job and work your way up the career ladder.
It didn't matter how many times he changed company, the promotions he earned, the increase in responsibilities, or how much his pay increased - he struggle with the idea that this would be it for the rest of his life.
Then COVID struck, the first lockdown came, and all of life's distractions were stripped away. With time to think, we knew we had to make a change and focused on finding our "ikigai", the balance of:
- Something we're good at.
- Something we can make money from.
- Something we're passionate about.
- Something that makes the world a better place.
It took two years of planning before we could eventually move but that first golden season of 2022 showed us that Cornwall was the home we'd be looking for.
Blue Surf School is the ikigai we're been working towards and we can't wait to use it to help the world around us.