A surf class gathered in a circle on the beach in front of a thatched building with wooden balconies

Experiences

Corporate Wellness

Teams, founders and offsites. Surf together, eat together, and get the ocean to do the team-building for you.

Two to five days, built around your team rather than a package. Morning surf, recovery in the afternoon, and the rooftop for whatever you actually came here to talk about.

The reason it works is not the surfing. It is that everyone is equally bad at it on day one, the CFO and the intern fall off the same board in the same water, and by the second morning the org chart has quietly stopped mattering. Nobody has ever achieved that in a breakout room.

Fast WiFi and shaded tables for the half of the week you still have to work. Capacity is fourteen in the house; above that we'll find beds within a few minutes' walk and run the days from here.

A group sitting in a circle on the sand watching one person demonstrate on a board

Guests eating breakfast together at wooden tables under a thatched roof

A group gathered with surfboards on the grass under palm trees

How it runs

How a Kuma team week runs

When: Between October and April. October and March suit a team well: fewer tourists and easier availability than the December and January peak. October brings rain, so pack a light rain jacket.
A working day: Surf early, between 06:30 and 09:30 depending on the tide. Kerala breakfast on the rooftop, work from late morning into the afternoon, recovery late in the day, sunset at the cliff or Kappil, then dinner with the laptops shut.
How long: Plan on three nights if you can: two full days for surfing and work, and no rush getting in or out. Two nights is enough for a short strategy session.
Getting there: Trivandrum (TRV) is the airport to fly into. Anyone travelling from elsewhere in India can take the train instead: Varkala Sivagiri is a stop on the Thiruvananthapuram to Kollam main line.
Meetings: The rooftop and the shaded tables take group sessions. For a presentation, bring a laptop and tell us in advance what you need.
Not everyone surfs: Nobody has to. Yoga, a cliff walk or a quiet morning work for anyone who would rather not. Non-swimmers can join a beginner lesson, but should tell the instructors first.
Food: Mornings start with a Kerala breakfast on the rooftop. Agree what else the house provides before you arrive, and send dietary needs early.
Pack: The work kit: laptop, charger and a plug adapter for Indian sockets. The rest: reef-safe sunscreen, a hat, one outfit fit for a temple visit, and a light layer for the rooftop after dark.
For a quote: Send dates and headcount, how many surf sessions you want, and how much food the house should cover.

A full house in the surf shack between sessions. Filmed at Kuma Surf. Watch: Evenings at Kuma Surf House: hammocks, sunset and surfskates

A large group doing lunging stretches in a loose circle on a sandy beach, calm blue sea and clear sky behind — A stand-up meeting, beach edition.

First agenda item

Corporate wellness at Kuma starts on the sand

The first meeting of the day is a warm-up on the beach. No slides, and nobody can stay on mute.

Boards, rash vests and the ride to the beach come with Kuma's surf lessons, which leaves the offsite organiser one less thing to chase.

Day one

Job titles do not float

Nobody needs to have surfed before. The first lesson puts the whole team in the same whitewater, learning the same thing at the same slow pace.

Watching a colleague stand up for the first time does more for a team than any trust exercise with a blindfold.

A surfer loses balance in whitewater, one arm up as the blue board kicks out, with three men in the water watching — The board is leaving without its rider.

A man in a dark rash guard rides whitewater on a cream board while others lie on their boards behind him — Up and riding. The photo does not say how many tries it took.

A smiling man in a pale teal rash tee makes a hand sign while carrying a cream board, others with boards behind — Board under one arm, hand sign with the other.

The other half

Somewhere to work, somewhere to sleep

WiFi reaches the whole house, rooms included, so the laptop can come. It just does not get the mornings.

Air-conditioning in every room, housekeeping every day, and airport transfers on request. Trivandrum Airport is about an hour south.

A bedroom with a made double bed in white linen, a wooden headboard, small side tables, a jute mat and a dark curtain — Air-conditioned, which matters by mid-afternoon.

A bed with a wooden headboard, white pillows and rolled grey-blue towels beside a stool holding a glass water bottle — A stool for a side table, water already on it.

A double bed with white linen and a wooden headboard, seen through an open wooden door frame — Daily housekeeping, so the sand does not move in for good.