About Surf Lessons & Summer Camps at BASS
When answering that question, most people will fall into one of these categories:
• For the experience
Maybe you're visiting LA, traveling with family, a group of friends, or you're flying solo. Or perhaps surfing's been in the back of your mind, and you want to see if you like it. Regardless, it sounds like fun! You want to give it a try, ride some waves and have some fun.
How we can help: the experience is totally curated on making sure you get STOKED. You'll catch tons of waves, have a blast, and make the best memory ever. (Even on film or video!)
We want you to fall in love with surfing, and to feel like a badass. And who knows, maybe you or your group will end up hooked for life. I've seen it many times and it's maybe the single greatest feeling for an an instructor to witness.
• For the commitment
You may have moved to the beach because you love the ocean, or you may be from here like I was growing up as a kid. Wherever you're from, you have always wanted to surf. For this group, surfing has been on the forefront of your mind and is not just to cross off the bucket list.
How we can help: your surf lessons are to prepare you for the undertaking. The agenda is to teach you everything there is to scope out the right conditions, to learn to proper parts of the waves, to paddle out, pivot, catch, turn, and carve around waves on your own.
You learn here that despite surfing being *way* harder than it looks, that with practice, and the right guidance, you can make it a part of your lifestyle. At Badass Surf School, if you're ready to commit, you won't just learn to surf. You'll learn to become a surfer.
• For summer surf camp
This is the category for parents! I get different stories about why; some kids beg mom, dad, uncle, stepmom; some parents want their children exploring new interests. Whatever the reason, you want to see your kids shredding up the beach, playing games, and making friends.
How we can help: Surf Camp LA @ Badass Surf School is tailored and run by a professional volunteer for countless nonprofit organizations for kids. That means relationships come first. We know how quickly kids fall in and out of love with surfing; at your child's pace, our instructors and I all prioritize their relationship your child, and your child's relationship with the ocean.
Other activities include boogie boarding, countless sports, like wiffle ball, hand-beach basketball, ultimate frisbee, spikeball, kickball, touch football, beach soccer, bowling, sports we make up together with a beach ball, freeze tag, relay races, beach board games, trivia contests, pickleball tournament, card five-minute-best-sandcastle contests, making reels, musical towels, beach legos, beach cleanups, floating surfboard bridge on smaller surf days, scavenger hunts, pretend adventure world with toys for the smaller kids, beach tug-o-war, watercolor painting in the shade, surfboard wax art, and more.
Seriously, we do all this, AND surf. Best surf camp ever.
Our Story
Real. Surf. Education. That's the motto.
I was a surf instructor beginning in 2013 at just about every major surf school that operates in LA. I worked my summers between college away—I was tired of seeing large, irresponsible group surf lessons full of students getting hurt, upsetting locals, worrying the lifeguards, and harming the beach. And guess what? Surf schools are still doing these lessons to this day!
Twelve years later, I operate what many believe is the best surf lesson you're going to find in Los Angeles, period. There are a lot of surf schools out there, not even in just California! But I've seen how others handle their equipment, with a lack of care. I've heard employers tell me I don't need to follow up with lessons, and see how students are coming along. I wanted to be better than that. I wanted to do it my way, with compassion, eagerness, and a great attitude for not just the student, but the real human the student is.
Badass Surf School, haha. When I had my first fun session, where I felt respectful to the lineup, and actually caught and rode down the face of handfuls of waves....I felt like a badass. That's why I picked it. And come on, it's a fun name!
Badass is one of those words that's got that dumb, funky feeling to it, right? None better to honestly describe what it feels like to go through and do this. Trust surfers when they say lot harder than it looks. That's why my team and I are here to help, at a higher standard you'll find anywhere in LA.
About our Coaches
Every instructor at BASS starts by being certified by the International Surf Association, the LACO Lifeguards, or a similarly esteemed background.
These are also surfers that I know personally through volunteer work, the local surf community, or have come from a known & trusted surf organization.
Instructors at BASS are never just people that surf. They are amazing teachers, mentors, and humans that love to teach surf lessons as much as I do.
The truth is: despite what other surf schools may claim, there is no such thing as a surf instructor certification here in California.
So I make the standard that I hold my fellow surf instructors to, my personal guarantee at BASS.
I've worked at just about every school out here before starting my own, so if you're looking to start or improve your surf, with my experience and reputation in the LA surf community, you won't find a quality surf education like this anywhere else.
Meet our Instructors
Age: 32
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
I have been a professional surf instructor my entire adult life. There is nothing I love doing more on this earth than teaching this sport in the city I love most.
I am the head surf coach for the competitive team at Pacifica High School in Santa Monica. I am both a coach and a mentor for my dear students at PCHS.
I volunteer for many organizations as a surf therapist and team leader. We use the thrill of waves and feel of the ocean to help differently-abled kids and adults. These non-profits include A Walk On Water, Life Rolls On, Pure Stoke, The Jimmy Miller Foundation, and even more. I love the surf community, and look to give back to it any way I can.
Other than that? Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm still a big goofy kid. I love cooking, lifting, practicing yoga, and spending time with Blue and Sophie, my two old doggos.
Raised on Oahu (popping up on his first wave in front of the legendary Outrigger Canoe Club in Waikiki at 9 years of age) and living all up and down the California coast for most of his adult life, Jeff Byrnes has over four decades of surfing experience in everything from 1-3 foot points and beaches to 10-30 foot slabs and deep water reefs.
Jeff has been a surf instructor and coach, both independently and with several esteemed surf schools and camps, in five of California’s coastal counties since the late 90’s. Counting some of the best surfers of his generation as his peers, Jeff has been immersed in the high performance realm of the surf world from the very beginning.
Beyond surfing, Jeff has been a visual artist in various mediums almost since birth, a musician & multi-instrumentalist since early childhood, a sign fabricator, a maker of fine modernist custom furniture and home interiors, and ravenous reader across a variety of genres and disciplines, among other interests!
Our Mission
