Before we get into the ins and outs of Firewalking on the beach we need to know about the 10 Commandments of Firewalking. These rules should be familiar to most Firewalk Instructors and serve as good guidelines for planning a Corporate Firewalk or Charity Firewalk.

The 10 Commandments of Firewalking

1. Never Firewalk on sand
2. Never use charcoal lighter fluid or petrol to start a fire
3. Never Firewalk on greased wood
4. Never Firewalk walk on gravel or rocks
5. Always have a wet surface, or water, at the end of the coal bed
6. Never, Never Firewalk on sand
7. Never, never use charcoal lighter fluid or petrol to start a fire
8. Never, never Firewalk on grease wood
9. Never, never Firewalk on gravel or rocks
10. Never, never, never Firewalk on sand.

Having been taught the Ten Commandments of Firewalking the correct response would be no, you cannot do a Firewalk on the beach.  However, I’m sure, some reading this post will be saying that you absolutely can firewalk on the beach and they have seen pictures or attended one themselves.  So what’s the truth can you do a Firewalk on the beach?

Can you Firewalk on the beach?

The answer is all based on preparation.  If you have ever walked on a beach or in a desert, this will make sense. As you walk, you naturally sink in as the sand below you displaces.  Imagine having a bed of hot coals on top of that sand. As you walk over the coals, they too would displace and the hot coals will bury your foot. Now you will have hot coals under and on top of your feet. A very different experience for sure and certainly not one that I would want to attempt.

I realise not all beaches are loose dry sand. Some beaches can be moist and fairly well compact and you can actually walk over these beaches with relative ease.  You can firewalk over that right?  Wrong, although the beach appears to be well compacted, it is mainly due to the water content within the sand.  Once a fire has been burning for 90 minutes, or you have laid down a bed of red hot embers, that water will soon evaporate. And when it does, it will once again leave dry sand that displaces with every step you take.

Preparation is key …

We delivered a Firewalk in the Sahara Desert in 2017 as part of a 5-day retreat in the desert. You can be forgiven for thinking that we broke one of the rules, we Firewalked on sand. But we didn’t. Believe it or not, even in the middle of the Sahara Desert we were able to Firewalk on a safe ground. The campsite we stayed at had a concrete base, with only a very thin layer of sand and therefore it was safe to conduct a Firewalk.

On another occasion we were asked to deliver a Firewalk on a beach in Dubai. In the end, this Firewalk was postponed but we had the plans in place to make it happen. We designed small stages that would provide a sturdy and stable platform for the Firewalking. We are looking forward to doing this in the future.

To conclude, with the correct preparation and planning it is possible to Firewalk on the beach. It just won’t be on the beach as such. We will always work with you to create a Firewalking event which is fun, exciting but most importantly a safe experience for all.