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The Quiksilver Surf Camp may be just the ticket for city-bound children, writes Clare Morin

As the south-westerly winds start to pick up this summer, the waves will be biggest in South Lantau. This is the time of year when the city’s surfers traditionally migrate away from Shek O and Sai Kung towards the beaches of Hong Kong’s biggest island. This year, a cast of young surfers will be joining the regulars on Pui O beach, as the third annual Quiksilver Surf Camp kicks off.

This has to be one of the more groovy summer camps on offer for Hong Kong kids. The surf camp is headed by visionary educationalist and surfer Adrienne Ng, who owns the Treasure Island educational centre on Pui O beach. According to Ng, surfing is the perfect sport for inhibited city kids. “Surfing is one of the best ways to develop a kid’s confidence,” suggests Canadian-born Ng. “You can see the confidence oozing from these kids [when] they are usually so constrained and confined.”

Since Ng arrived in Hong Kong 12 years ago, she has been quietly developing a surfer’s paradise on the dark sands of Pui O, establishing the Treasure Island educational centre, which does everything from summer camps for kids to corporate programmes for adults. Next door, she has crafted the hip Ooh- La-La Beach Bar and Restaurant, where adults can sip a beer and watch on as their offspring are groomed to become the next Kelly Slater.

Ng points out that Pui O is a superb place to learn, “It’s the perfect location for a surf school. The beach here is really shallow,” she says. “It’s not like roaring waves, its consistent teaching waves.”

Surf lessons are given by a team of international instructors (surfers themselves who have a tendency of saying “peace” instead of hello) with an average ratio of three students to every instructor. There are various options for the budding surfers. The Weekly Surf Day Camps are for children aged five to 13.

For a five-day run from Monday to Friday your little one will be picked up every morning in Central, ferried over to Lantau, and dropped back in town eight hours later. Older kids in the 11 to 15 age range get a more adventurous option. The Overnight Surf and Adventure Camp is a fiveday programme, where kids either stay in the nearby San Shek Wan YWCA or in the Treasure Island campsite behind the beach. The additional adventure includes kayaking and mountain biking.

There is also an environmental theme to all camps (an essential lesson for any budding surfer). In ‘Save Our Seas’ the kids are taught about environmental protection for the ocean. “We’re teaching the kids how to be more minimalistic when it comes to ocean awareness,” says Ng. “One of the biggest problems is water pollution. There is rubbish in the sea, that’s the reality of the sea in Asia.” Hopefully by teaching children how to ride the waves, they’ll learn to love the water beneath them, too.

Quiksilver Surf Camp runs June 30-August 22. 2984 8711, www.treasureislandhk.com.