Where the Girls Are - A Sports Guide to Getting Away from the Guys

Where the Girls Are - A Sports Guide to Getting Away from the Guys
(Excerpt from Asian Wall Street Journal Article - 2009)

Sometimes men just can't help being boys when it comes to sports. For those who prefer to pick up their sporting skills away from the guys and all that competitive zeal, here's a guide to some top spots for golf, surfing, skiing and trekking -- for women only....

Daphne Tan doesn't consider herself much of a sportswoman, but when she went searching for a trip she could take on her own, what she settled on was a one-week retreat to learn to surf.

Ms. Tan, 31 years old, a Singaporean who works for a hotel company in Hong Kong, says she was in dire need of a break from the job, from the hustle and bustle of city life -- and even from herself. "I thought about going to a resort on my own and chilling for a week," she says, "but I realized I couldn't stand it on my own for three days, never mind a week."

While hunting around for an activity that could give a focus to her holiday and offer a chance to meet new people, she chanced upon Surf Goddess Retreats. Its pitch: a little surf, serenity and sisterhood in Seminyak on the Indonesian island of Bali. Ms. Tan made up her mind: She would take the plunge into "something completely new."

"It turned out to be the best thing," Ms. Tan says. "I loved it! We surfed three hours a day, and they made it really simple. We did yoga every morning, and I got to meet this great group of women."

Surf Goddess Retreats provides luxury surf, yoga and spa retreats which groups get eight days of surfing lessons, daily yoga sessions, health-oriented organic food, spa treatments and cultural tours of Bali.

The morning yoga classes focus on core training, balance and concentration, meant to complement the afternoon surfing lessons, which are delivered by certified instructors. The cultural tours take in temples, markets and art studios; one highlight is a visit to Wayan, a traditional Balinese healer from Ubud made famous in Elizabeth Gilbert's novel "Eat, Pray, Love," the story of a year-long spiritual journey.


Surf Goddess offers surfing retreats between March and November when ocean conditions are considered optimal for all skill levels. Clients come mostly from the U.S., Australia, U.K., Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore and range in age from their late 20s to their mid 40s. Most, like Ms. Tan, come on their own.

"I was at this crossroads in my career, and I met women who were very successful, a woman who was a mother of two, and my roommate was my age and at the same point in her career as me -- thinking, What next? And another lady who was traveling for two years straight," says Ms. Tan. "It was special for me -- I met all these people who were at different stages in their life and it was a real boost for me." She keeps in touch by email with the women she met on the surfing holiday.

Tokyo resident Mami Kistler, 28, who works for a French investment bank, also took a solo trip to Bali, with the encouragement of her American husband. "When I saw this on the Web, I decided I wanted to go because I wanted to meet other girls who want to do exactly the same thing," she says. "The group was great -- all girls, all very chilled out, laid-back and just wanted to be there to have fun."

Mrs. Kistler, who grew up in Kochi, in southern Japan, and studied in the U.S. and Canada, had recently tried surfing in Japan, but hadn't yet gotten the hang of it. "I'm a beginner -- my goal from the retreat was to be able to actually go out and surf myself," she says. "It was really a fantastic experience. By the end, I was surfing by myself. When you catch a wave, it's a feeling you can't explain."


—Cris Prystay is a writer based in Singapore

For current information visit http://www.surfgoddessretreats.com