Kicking off in Holland on July 5th, five expert surf instructors from America will travel the coast of Holland and Spain bringing the experience of surfing to wave riders aged between 6 and 16.

O’Neill team rider twins, Sierra and Hailey Partridge will be on board for the second year running: “After being involved in The Surf Academy last year, I couldn’t wait to come back,” said Hailey. “The gratification I felt after each day of teaching those kids was almost indescribable. Just seeing the smiles on their faces after they stood up on their very first wave was amazing. I was able to see first-hand how incredible it is to pass on the gift of surfing.”

The O’Neill Surf Academy was started 12 years ago by Jay Moriarity, Richard Schmidt and Robert ‘Wingnut’ together with O’Neill. Offering free day-long surf tuition to kids between the ages of 6 and 16, the Surf Academy offers hundreds of students their first experience – and hopefully not their last – of surfing.

Joining Hailey and Sierra on the tour through Holland and Spain this summer will be Surf Academy veterans Chris Lynch, Joe Hutson and Travis Nicolet, bringing a taste of their hometown of Santa Cruz to the beaches of Europe.

This year also sees the launch of a new initiative, the Out of Bounds O’Neill Surf Academy which is a surf camp catered for the visually impaired. For two days in July, children with visual impairment will come from all over Holland to Scheveningen beach where they will rise above the obstacles that normally limit them in the ocean and start surfing with the help of the expert instructors and volunteers from O’Neill.

The dates and locations are as follows:
5,6,7 July: Bergen (Netherlands)
9,10,11,12 July: Scheveningen (Netherlands)
14,15 July: Domburg (Netherlands)
19,20 July: Noja, Playa de Ris (Spain)
23,24 July: Ferrol, Playa de Pantín (Spain)
28, 29 July: Scheveningen Beach (Out of Bounds surf camp for the visually impaired)