Dont think, just surf.
People surf for many different reasons.
Fact.
Whether it is for pure enjoyment, a way to keep fit, the associated life style or for the competitive aspect, everyone has their own reasons and they are entirely personal. However what is universal is that whatever the reason (or reasons) for people surfing, people keep surfing wherever they find themselves. I recently read an article in a magazine about a guy who had grown up living in Cornwall and had surfed all his live. His path eventually led him to settling in Texas, USA; miles, hours and dollars from the nearest ripple. However he found himself putting money aside each month so that when a healthy chart showed he would always have enough money to drop everything and drive the distance to get a few waves. Therefore one person’s relationship with surfing can vary wildly from another’s. It is this variety that keeps us all so keen on hearing about other people’s experiences and stories, and ultimately what helps to keep surfing fresh.
These words are a small window into my own experiences of surfing in Scotland.
There are 3 simple words that subconsciously arrive in my mind when I think of surfing in Scotland; Lots. Of. Neoprene. Scotland can be found 500 miles further North than Cornwall or Devon, and if this extra latitude isn’t enough, the east coast of Scotland (where I surf the most) doesn’t even have the gulf-stream to keep it hospitable. One thing can be guaranteed; no matter how much neoprene the guys down south are wearing, its nothing on what’s needed up here. Even during the summer months there is only a very small window where surfing without boots is comfortable. However many things in this world of ours have a price, and if you want to surf in Scotland then cladding yourself in extra neoprene bits and bobs is the required fee.
Tales from:
North of The Wall
I recently went for a surf, and during the entire drive I watched the thermometer maintain -5°C.
I had hoped that as the sun came up it might increase to a happier temperature but this wasn’t meant to be.
-5°C can be easy enough to underestimate when sat in a warm car, but once you step out of the car, and start reaching into a semi dry wetsuit to turn it outside in, the full extent of what -5°C means becomes shiveringly clear. Then there’s that quick thought that passes through your mind questioning yourself. But that freeze framed image of the line up you glimpsed a few minutes ago knocks the previous thought on the head. Next thing you know you’re running towards the sea, whilst blowing warm breath into your hood in the hope it might keep the first brain freeze away for just a little longer.
On a day like this, and on many other days there is one particular mental wall that you need to breach in order to surf those watery ramps that brought you here; those first excruciating duck dives.
No one anywhere enjoys duck diving in cold winter waters but those on the east coast of Scotland are of a different calibre. Having to swap a dry face for an ice blasted wet face is a dreaded moment. After about the fourth one your face and head feel like they are about to implode into an icy vapour, along with a flash flood of nausea that makes you seriously consider whether you’re up to it. The pain eventually calms to a strong discomfort, and with any luck you’ll soon be out back. If you can overcome this though, you can often be brilliantly rewarded…
For me on days like this, apart from the actual surfing, one of the best feelings is when I’m back in warm dry clothes, life is slowly beginning to seep back into my extremities and I can just sit and think about the surf. Re-live all those waves. The cold is never in my memories at this point because it is an irrelevant part of it. Just something that must be endured. This is when the stoke starts to catch, and proceeds to burn like a forest fire. After a good session on a freezing day in Scotland, I find the post surf ‘glow’ burns just that little brighter than elsewhere.
Words by James Gilroy
James, like his brother Alex, has a nose for adventure. And balls of steel when it comes to cold water surf-exploration.
On opposite sides of the country these twin brothers are walking paths less trodden, and exploring the best our frigid shores have to offer.