The Local Surfer - University of Exeter

Although England can be considered an unlikely spot for surfing because of its
contrasting weather conditions to Hawaii, California and Australia, the mild
Southwest coasts of Devon and Cornwall receive a North Atlantic swell that
regularly creates perfect conditions for surfing. It was these surfing conditions
that initially attracted the debated first surfers to England and in particular
Cornwall, and continues to attract surfers from across the globe to England
today. From the 1980s onwards the surfing subculture grew in England and by
2003 there were 30,000 surfers and approximately 35 surf shops, and by 2007
there was an estimated 50,000 surfers and few towns across the country, both
inland and on the coast, where you couldn‟t buy a wet suit and a surf board
(Warshaw, 2005, Alexander, 2007 and Alderson, 2000). The Stormrider Guide
estimated in 1998 that there were 150 surf shops both in coastal towns and
inland (Fitzjones and Rainger, 1998). To confirm England‟s necessity for wet
suits and surfboards, English surfing retail companies began to appear
beginning with Gul in 1967 followed by Animal in 1987 and Saltrock in 1988.
Since the 1960s there were also the beginnings of several style, lifestyle and
fashion magazines (Fitzjones and Rainger, 1998). These commercial changes are
noted by Barkham (2006) as highlighting the end of surfing as the domain for
gilded young men and for democratisation to sweep away elitism in favour of
brands. To summarise his point Barkham states, “surfing may have begun as a
counter cultural trickle, frozen out of British popular culture by small seas and
an inconsiderate climate. Now it is a vast breaker” (2006). Surfing‟s
commercial presence in England however has caused a divide among surfers
which forms the backbone for this study. When interviewed by Alex Wade
(2007), Penwith local surfer Jonty Henshall stated that many new surfers have
been moulded by a perceived sense of what they think a surfer should be, a
perception driven by corporate marketers which has lead to new surfers
covering themselves in logos, paddling out at unfamiliar breaks and behaving
ignorantly. This supports the Stormrider Guide‟s belief that the summer season
has been divided into two very distinct seasons; May to September when
Cornwall is described as being awash with money, discos, packed surfing
breaks, hippies, punks, travellers and poseurs, then October to April when the
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