Learn to compete without competing — then prove it in the Jam. Built for the Junior Series rounds at Bude & Croyde.
3 surf days + delivery
Format
Tue–Thu · 1–2 surfs/day
Duration
Max 8 · 1:8 ratio
Group Size
£165 all-in
Price
Most UK juniors are better surfers than their heat results show. They free-surf well, then post low wave counts, chase the wrong waves, surf to their own taste instead of the criteria, and freeze when a scenario changes. Nobody teaches heat craft — they're told to "go compete" and learn by losing.
Heatcraft teaches it properly — but sideways. Tuesday and Wednesday, every competition skill is installed as a game, a drill or a routine: no horns, no jerseys, no pressure. Thursday it all comes together in the Jam — a real comp day that arrives as the natural, fun end of a camp they've already rehearsed.
And because the Surfing England Junior Series now decides who qualifies for the English Nationals in the U12 and U14 divisions, the heats at Bude and Croyde genuinely matter. This is the week that sends them in ready.
1 · Timing & the watch
Every child surfs with a watch and learns to own their heat clock — never relying on commentators for time. Using time to relieve pressure, not create it.
2 · The priority system
What priority is, how it rotates, what interference costs — taught as line-up games first, then called properly in the Thursday Jam.
3 · Wave count
Constant catching as the nerve-killer: a busy surfer has no bandwidth for panic. First-wave-fast habit, and wave-count targets tracked all camp.
4 · Scoring on the day
What the day's conditions actually reward — which wave type pays, set wave vs inside runner, and what each is worth.
5 · Judging — the judges' eyes
The children judge each other's waves from the beach every day. By the Jam they can watch a ride and call its score within a point.
6 · Fun as a weapon
The proven loop: enjoying a heat → looser surfing → better scores. Everything is a game, so competing arrives as fun rather than fear.
Widemouth Bay and Newquay's beaches ride the same Atlantic swell window. Each day's venue — Fistral North, Fistral South, Towan or Great Western — is chosen against the live forecast to match what Bude is doing, so every session is surfed on close to the same wave the Series will run on. Reubin confirms each day's beach and meet time the evening before.
Tuesday
Foundations, The Watch + The Count
Watches on from minute one. Filmed baseline surf and judging intro on the beach — criteria, the scale, scoring each other — then timed 15–20 minute "rounds" at Series heat length, run as games. Each child's wave-count number recorded.
Wednesday
Priority, Scoring the Day + Scenarios
The priority system as line-up games. Using time to breathe, the last-5-minutes plan, busy-surfer drills: catch constantly, paddle back smiling. What this surf rewards and which waves pay. "You need a 4.5, six minutes left" scenario rounds. Jam draw revealed at close-out.
Thursday
The Jam — It All Comes Together
Round-robin comp jam: short heats, all ages mixed, everyone surfs everyone — nobody eliminated. Real timing on their own watches, real priority calls, real scores, children sharing judging duty. Filmed throughout. Awards for the fun stuff.
Friday
The Delivery — No Beach
Reubin's production day, their payoff day. Kaizen Lab video analysis scored against real judging criteria lands in each child's own Kaizen Lab account; their written review, breakdown and comp homework plan for Bude & Croyde lands in their RSJ athlete portal — all by end of day.
Bude & Croyde are coming
Runs 1 – 3 September 2026 · limited to 8 surfers. Book with a £45 deposit (balance in easy automatic payments) or pay in full online — we'll then send the consent and medical form. Youth members 15% off · siblings 5% off.
For parents
Holiday camp dates, what your child will be working on, and how they are progressing through the RSJ pathway. Written for parents, not surfers.