NextLevel Surfcamp Bali

I just finished one whole endless week of surf with Cameron and my family. I paid a lot of money for it, thinking it would finally take us from low intermediate to independent surfers.
After one week none of us were catching waves anymore! Just listening to Cameron theory NON STOP! Don’t take this wave, next one, or no, not that one, good try bla bla bla and cobra NON STOP!
No doubt his intentions are good, but I highly regret spending one week with him. My kids absolutely hated it!
I give this review so other people don’t make the same mistake. It’s Bali, go local with a local.

I really had high hopes before signing up for Cameron’s week long program. The older reviews seemed so positive.

Cameron really talks and explains his Cobra (and only Cobra) but he doesn’t listen at all.

I was provided a board a lot smaller than the one I was using. For that price least I expected was thensize I asked for.
I had told cameron that ai had major issues witg being pushed and I didnt need a push before attending the camp. He totally agreed and convinced me that his style was completely different. Next thing I know I get a pusher and a board too small.

He keeps on going on and on about the cobra position, and does nothing else really. I was sent to the most crowded spots, taken out of the water in 40 minutes by his guide because the guide didnt want to surf those spots. To all this cameron just said great we have footage of one wave lets analyse. Even when the lessons are longer than 40 minutes, theres still not enough water time, no time to practice,

Another issue is that his own guides do not even agree with him. The guide who works with Cameron told me thay cameron only takes students to the most crowded spots at the most crowded times.

Usually, in Bali, other institutions take students surfing with sunrise to avoid crowds, I guess hundred dollars per day is not enough for these guys to make the effort to get up a few hours earlier. It certainly wasnt enough to rent the correct board.

Also, whomever is booked for a certain week goes together, so I ended up with a soft top beginner. Cameron does not care at all on how the participants feel. He just repeatedly says you improved to everyone even though theres 0 improvement.

I quit llthe program early even though I had paid as I imagined the rest of the program to be full of torture in the water. Waiting around for cameron l, and listening to the same generic cobra talk.

At least by leaving earlier, I got to surf.

4.5 stars for the overall experience

3 days with Cam improved my skills more than an entire year of surfing on my own. He’s extremely detailed and very good at providing helpful feedback. Video analysis of EVERY wave was absolutely brilliant.

We’d go out to different spots & at different times each day, spending on the conditions. After seeing the other surf schools in the water (not teaching much of anything), I was definitely pleased with my choice.

The other 4 days surfing with just his employee was not as helpful. He would help position me to catch the wave, but didn’t provide much other feedback. Sometimes Cam would provide a note after reviewing the videos from these days.

This is not really a “surf camp” anymore since they don’t have their own villa. I was just put in the Balé Bingin hotel on the beach by myself, then picked up each day to surf. The hotel was at the bottom of a ton of stairs (which I was not thrilled about), but by the end I did enjoy it. Epic ocean views and a beachfront restaurant with live music every night.

Overall, it’s an amazing experience if you can make sure you’re in the water with Cam, but it’s not really the immersive surf camp experience that I thought it was from the website. Next time, I would do my own thing in Uluwatu and just get lessons with Cam.

If you want to improve your surfing - you have to see Cam! We improved so much in 11 days thanks to his feedback and video analysis. We went through all the video footage together daily after surfing and he took time to go through all the steps from paddling to riding the wave step by step in each video.

When it comes to surfing he is a like an engineer - he covers every step from reading the waves to actually riding them and can exactly tell you why something didn’t work out or why it did. You will leave with a hell of a skill set!

He’s really next level and a really great guy in general)

We will be back! See you Cam and take care️