My Experience of Joining Queen’s Surf Club
Welsh Psychology student Niamh describes how being a part of Queen's Surf Club has positively shaped her university experience and why she would recommend joining the Surf Club to a fresher.
My journey in the club
I had some experience of surfing before arriving at Queen's University Belfast - but was by no means the best surfer in the world and really wanted to improve my surfing abilities while also meeting people who loved the sea and outdoors as much as I did. Joining the Queen's Surf Club has absolutely been the highlight of my university experience. I walked into my first Surf Club social in 2023 on my own and not knowing a single person there and left meeting a handful of new people from my course; and over the course of first year developed so many close university friendships through the Surf Trips to Portrush and Surf Socials.
I took on the role of Social Secretary for the Surf Club going into second year as I had found the socials were such a key part of my experience of meeting new friends at university. Being Social Secretary was such a brilliant opportunity to meet almost every member in the Surf Club, all 249!! Through running the events and creating new ideas such as weekly Thursday SurfDay socials, I had so much fun and developed so many new skills.
Towards the end of May 2025, I had the honor of being elected as the upcoming President of QUB Surf. From being a fresher who didn’t know anyone, to the President for 2025/26, being part of the Surf Club has been such a journey and these are all the reasons I think you should get involved!!
Adam Sandler social
Recent surf trips and events
The Surf Club runs surf trips to Portrush which include a surf lesson with Troggs Surf School and a night in the hostel with all your surf members. It is such a great opportunity to learn how to surf, to meet people and to have a great night out in Portrush. Getting in the sea the next morning is a brilliant way to ease a sore head. These trips have been some of my favourite weekends while at university. I have always been made to feel so welcome and these trips offer a cheaper way to learn to surf which is always helpful with a tight student budget.
The pinnacle of the Surf Club Calendar is the annual trip to Portugal with Gota Dagua Surf School. We went to stay just outside of Lisbon for a week in April with 30 members of our club. From fundraising efforts throughout the year, we were able to heavily subsidise this trip for our members, allowing the trip to be so much more affordable. We had 5 surf lessons throughout the trip, theory lessons and specialist video analysis from our Surf Instructors. It was a genuinely wonderful experience that I felt hugely improved my surfing ability.
White Linen Night during Portugal surf trip
Outside of surfing, Gota Dagua hosted events every night to keep us entertained, from wine tasting and tapas to a white linen themed night. The group we were with were all so much fun and we all felt so close by the end of the week. I would highly recommend anyone to join the Surf Club for this trip alone - it was that good!!
Each week the club hosts Thursday SurfDay social events at a variety of venues throughout Belfast. These are opportunities to wear a fun fancy dress costume, compete in competitions and mix with new members of the club. Some of the highlights of the last year’s social with the club have been Adam Sandler Night at Happy’s, the Summer Formal at Cutter’s Wharf and the Rhyme Without Reason Fancy Dress social.
'Betty Bingo' and 'Flamingo' from the Rhyme Without Reason Social
With between 50 and 80 surf members attending our socials, they are a real highlight of my week. I really love how warm, friendly and interesting the people I meet at the socials are - there is such a welcoming and this is something I feel really sets the Surf Club apart!!
How to get involved?
We will have a stall at the freshers fair where you can join our club and will have surf socials and trips throughout the first few weeks of university that everyone is welcome to join. You can come to one or come to all - there is no commitment required. Membership is £6.50 but will be £5 for 24 hours after the freshers fair and includes access to surf boards, theory lessons, places on Surf trips and so much more!!
Surf Club Summer Formal at Cutter's Warf
There are absolutely no requirements to joining QUB Surf Club - we welcome surfers at every level. If you’ve never got on a board, we are a beginner friendly club and you are welcome to come and learn to surf with us! As we have boards that you can hire from the club as members, join our trips to surf lessons on the North Coast and can attend our new surf theory lessons, you can learn to surf in the cheapest way possible as a student.
On the other hand, if you are a more experienced surfer we have lots of other long term surfers you meet, creating connections with likeminded people.
Check out our Instagram @qubsurf to see more of what we get up to and to keep update on our news.
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Clubs and Societies at Queen's
Niamh RindPsychology | Undergraduate Student | Wales, UKHi, I’m Niamh, a Psychology student from Cardiff. I love studying at Queen’s and love to share my passion for the University by working as a Student Ambassador. I’m the social secretary of the Queen's Surf Club and am always busy sea swimming, hiking and doing social runs. |
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