Atlantik Surfcamp — Surfing on the French Atlantic for Teenagers

The programme is built around a wave-riding (surfing) course run by the licensed British surf school Feral. The operator publishes the volume in astronomical hours: 15 hours per week, divided into nine units of one and a half hours plus a one-and-a-half-hour theory evening, delivered as a five-day or ten-day course depending on the length of the stay. Qualified, competition-experienced instructors cover board handling, tides, currents, weather and surf conditions, how a board is put together, and mobility training. The course is aimed at both beginners and more advanced surfers. All course material, including wetsuit and surfboard, is included in the price. Because the school is British, the instruction also gives participants English practice, and a supervisor is on hand if anything is not understood.

The package covers accommodation in the operator's own tented camp, full board, return travel by modern coach from Germany with two night drives, the animation and sports programme, free use of the sports facilities and body-boards, the wave-riding course with material, DIY courses, karaoke night and evening programme, supervision and travel accompaniment, and insolvency insurance. Excursions and extra services that are not already included can be booked locally on site; the operator publishes a description of them in its participant area shortly before departure. Self-organised travel to the camp is possible as an alternative to the coach.

Participants stay in the Jugendtours camp, a separate section of the Le Pin Sec campsite near Naujac-sur-Mer, directly behind the dune and a few metres from the fine sandy Atlantic beach, around sixty kilometres north of Bordeaux. Accommodation is in spacious tents with roomy compartments and storage space, shared by two to three people. The sanitary buildings are centrally located on the site.

Full board is included: breakfast, a self-assembled packed lunch and an evening meal. Meals are prepared by the camp's own chef and served in a large group tent fitted with tables and benches. At breakfast participants fill oven-fresh baguettes themselves and take them along as a midday snack. The operator asks for special dietary requirements at the time of booking and lists vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free, fructose-free, sorbitol-free and pork-free options among those it can cater for.

Alongside the surf course there is an animation and sports programme with free use of the sports facilities and body-boards. The camp runs DIY courses covering dance and performance and cosmetics and decoration, a karaoke night and an evening programme. Participants play volleyball and table tennis on site, and after-surf activities start in the evening where conditions allow. A yoga workshop, a trip to the market and sea at Montalivet, a day trip to Bordeaux, and a combined Montalivet and paintball outing are offered as locally bookable extras.

The camp has a chillout area for relaxing, space for volleyball and table tennis, and a large group tent with tables and benches that serves as the dining and meeting point. Sanitary buildings sit centrally on the site. A pizzeria, a bistro and a small supermarket are within immediate reach of the campsite.

The camp sits on the Gulf of Biscay, where the Atlantic coast offers miles of beach, strong sun and the waves that draw surfers from across Europe, suitable for beginners and improvers alike. Jugendtours draws a distinction between its youth trips and children's holiday camps: participants are there to do a good deal independently with their friends, and the supervisory teams deliberately stay in the background. Some ground rules apply, in particular signing in and out with the team when leaving the accommodation at night. Supervisors come along on excursions, to the karaoke show and to the club, watch over compliance with general rules in participants' own interest, and are available as a point of contact at any time. The supervision ratio on a youth trip is about one to twenty. The operator notes that this trip is not suitable for participants with restricted mobility.