About Surf Nation

Alex Wade travelled the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland to produce Surf Nation, published by Simon & Schuster in 2007. The book explores the British and Irish surfing communities and illustrate that, taken as one, these two European countries constitute a 'Surf Nation' every bit as impressive as countries more commonly associated with the sport. We have great waves, excellent surfers and an ever-growing band of surfing aficionados, from the raw beginners who pack the beaches of Devon and Cornwall every summer to the die-hard chargers of the experts-only swells that batter our coastline throughout autumn, winter and spring. Surfing is big business in the UK but has been here almost as long as it has existed in its hotbeds of Hawaii, California and Australia. British and Irish surfers perform to ever greater levels on the European and World stage. Alex himself windsurfed and skateboarded in his teens and early twenties before discovering surfing.