Surf Nation

The Boys from the Flat Stuff join the Carnage

By Andy Cox

In a move that has sent shockwaves through the surfboat community, Marlow and Leander rowing clubs have entered teams (the Barbarians, Bucks and Vikings) in this year’s National Surfboat Championships to be held at Saunton Sands, North Devon on Saturday 5 August. Marlow boasts as a member of its club no less a figure than Kath Grainger, one of the most successful female rowers of modern times and recently appointed MBE. Likewise, Leander need no introduction being home to such luminaries as Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent, James Cracknell and Ed Coode.

A Reeling Left to Warm the Heart

There is something very satisfying about this picture, taken by surf snapper Al MacKinnon. It looks mean, it looks moody, and it looks heavy. It is, in short, a fast, reeling left-hander that you wouldn't want to mess with, unless you knew exactly what you were doing. But despite the many reasons to feel terror, there is always the chance that with a bit more time in the water, not to mention a commitment to fairly hardy exploration, this wave could be yours. Better get some serious practice in...

K-Fest Kicks Off

The Rip Curl Boardmasters is nearly with us. There are just three days to go before the biggest surfing event in Britain kicks off, but anyone looking for an appetizer might care to make their way to Newquay for tonight’s K Festival. The K-fest, as it is known, takes place at Barrowfield and overlooks the surf on Newquay's townside beaches. ‘K’ stands for Kernow – Cornwall, to the uniniated – and the event’s organisers claim that the best of surf music will rock Newquay for an uninterrupted 12 hours. The line-up includes Goldie Lookin’ Chain, whose surfing credentials elude me but whose hit “Your missus is a nutter” never ceases to make me smile, as well as the John Butler Trio (all the way from Australia), the Upper Room, Scott Matthews, the Fallout Trust and headline act Athlete.

Win tickets to the Rizla Unleashed Music Festival

The Rip Curl Boardmasters is almost upon us, and this year it promises to be bigger and better than ever. There's an even bigger vert ramp than last year's monster, which top international skaters will be shredding, and many of the world's best surfers - including the UK's Russell Winter - are in town to demonstrate their skills in front of a total crowd that is expected to top 140,000. Here at www.timesonline.co.uk/surfnation, we've managed to persuade those nice people at Rip Curl to give away four tickets to the Rizla Unleashed Music Festival, taking place just a mile or two up the coast from the event centre of Fistral Beach. Feeder, the Mystery Jets, Starsailor and the Automatons are just some of the bands you can see if you can answer correctly the three questions below.

Wakeboarding and the Curse of Football

During the World Cup I found myself dusting off my legal hat and undertaking the legal clearance for Baddiel and Skinner’s World Cup podcasts for www.timesonline.co.uk, a job which was certainly a lot more entertaining than most legal gigs. Just before one recording, I had a chat with the producer, Pete Roach, known as “Roachy” throughout the podcasts. It turned out that Roachy had done a bit of surfing, and was a dedicated wakeboarder. “You’ve got to try it,” he said, “it’s just fantastic. If you can surf you’ll love wakeboarding.”

Weekend Warriors

By Tom Anderson

Although originally seen in ancient Polynesian cultures as the “sport of kings,” surfing has lived most of its modern life as a hazily defined, frequently ignored sub-culture. For the early pioneers of Hawaii’s North Shore and Southern California – the birthplaces of most of today’s forms of wave-riding – through to the professionals from which the surfing industry feeds, surfing was almost always seen as a breakaway activity. And that suited many surfers just fine.

Apocalypse Now?

What are we to make of the article on surfing in today’s Guardian?  Its teaser, on the front page of the G2 supplement, was the rather apocalyptic: “How surfing went mainstream… and lost its soul.” The text, by Patrick Barkham, delved neatly into a huge paradox at the core of modern surfing. How does surfing – with its almost existential emphasis on individualism, freedom and flow – dovetail at all, let alone harmoniously, with the market forces and commercial imperatives of the industry?

Force Nine Gaels

It’s Day Two of the O’Neill Highland Open in Thurso, Scotland, and Love Hodel is impressed.  The improbably named 34-year old Hawaiian surfer is gazing at the waves pounding the reef before him.  The surf is what surfers call “sketchy” – some waves are shaping up nicely, with sufficient size and form to allow good rides, while others are breaking in one motion, or “closing out.”  But there is contestable surf, and conditions the preceding day were excellent.

Scottish Surfing looks to the Next Generation

The writers of the Scotland section of my old copy of the Stormrider guide to Europe could not be accused of misrepresenting its charms. “For many, the idea is inconceivable,” runs the introductory text about surfing in Scotland, “but humans being what they are, cold climates can be adapted to.” Some more cautionary words are added: “With a good wetsuit and a big heart, you’ll find Scotland a superb surf destination.”

Surfcore Hits the Sweet Spot

Every surfer knows the feeling. Despite charts that say the surf will be pumping, you arrive at the beach to find little more than knee-high chop. Your friends, who have relied on you because, foolishly, you have professed expertise in the art of chart-reading, eye you as if wondering whether to throw you over the nearest cliff. In vain, you protest, saying that the charts clearly indicated an open-ocean swell of at least five foot. “Then why are we looking two-foot onshore dribble?” say your friends. There is no answer. The charts, and you, have failed again.