Cold has no effect on these board meetings

Mar 12 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

Gale force winds, driving rain and slate grey skies may drain the enthusiasm of many for the North East’s beaches this winter. But for a rising tide of surfers and the businesses which serve them the surf is most definitely up, writes Karen Dent.

THE windswept North East coast may not have the same cachet as California or even Cornwall, but it’s a growing hub for surfers and surf-related businesses.

“When I first started there were about 10 people in the water and I knew them all,” said Paul Davies who has worked at the award-winning Tynemouth Surf Company since it opened in 1995. “Now there are about 200 and I know about six of them.

“I used to get the funniest looks when I was walking through North Shields in the mid-’90s. People still say ‘are you really going surfing?’ but you get it a lot less now. A lot more people that don’t surf come to watch the professionals.”

The Tynemouth Surf Company, owned by Stephen Hudson, has scooped two awards in the last two months.

It was crowned best coastal shop in the UK in a poll of Coast magazine readers in February and has just been presented with the People’s Choice Award, which was launched to mark 10 years of the North Tyneside Small Business Awards.

Stephen said: “We set up the business to help people in the North East enjoy surfing and to bring something interesting and different to North Tyneside. I’m really proud and delighted.”

In addition to selling new and used surfing clothing and equipment, the business has a hire service, repairs surf boards and offers lessons. It even has its own Tynemouth Surf Co clothing line which has proved “super popular”, according to Paul Davies.

“People come to Tynemouth from other countries such as Australia and America and they don’t think there’s a surf shop in Tynemouth,” he said.

However, since the O’Neill British Nationals surfing competitions have been coming to this stretch of the coast since the turn of the decade, Tynemouth has pulled in surfers and spectators from all over the UK.

At the end of April, surfers from Cornwall and Devon keen to sample the North East waves will have a more direct route – Air Southwest is introducing flights between Newcastle and Newquay and Newcastle and Plymouth. The airline calls itself “the surfers’ favourite airline” because it is continuing to carry surfboards for fixed fee, after British Airways’ decision last year to ban them from its flights.

It is now more widely recognised that surfers do not need warm weather and sun-kissed beaches to succeed. Indeed, one of the UK’s top surfers Sam Lamiroy is from Tynemouth and is sponsored by surfing brand O’Neill, which employs more than 50 people in Washington where its UK distribution centre has been based for 17 years.

“Some of the best surfers this country has ever produced have come from the North East,” said British Surfing Association national director Karen Walton. “There are now better wetsuits and cheaper equipment, so people can surf in all conditions. The learn-to-surf market has also become more accessible.”

Indeed, the weather has been no bar to tourism bosses in North Tyneside selling the area as a surfing destination. “If you are a surfer it doesn’t particularly matter if it’s cold,” said Pete Warne, the council’s tourism and events development manager. “There’s no question that Tynemouth has a growing reputation within the surfing community.

“Surfing and extreme sports in general are becoming more and more important to the coastal economy. It’s one of our key development areas for the future. There is clearly a market.”

The council is aiming to further capitalise on this market with an extreme sports weekend featuring surfing during October.

The borough’s annual visitor guide also has a surfer on the front cover – a symbol of how important surfing and surfing culture is to the local economy.

Further down the coast, Zoee Smith co-owns the Saltburn Surf School with her partner Nick Noble. The season normally starts in May, but the school – the only one on the North East coast of England that is approved by the BSA – has already started teaching this year. She instructs individuals and group sessions, such as parties from school activity weeks.

She agrees that the region is becoming much better known among surfing aficionados: “We do get scores of people from Cornwall actually coming up to surf the North East coast. It’s all about weather systems and we are affected by a lot of northerly storms.”

The surf school and its associated equipment hire business is in the same building as the Saltburn Surf Shop, which is owned by Gary Rogers. The shop opened in 1991, but the business itself has been going since the mid-1980s when Gary and Nick Noble sold surf gear from a van.

He said: “There have been surfers here since ’64. I used to write articles for magazines, I tried to put Saltburn on the map. It has the right ingredients – surf that’s good for learners, good for intermediates and professionals as well.”

In addition to clothing and equipment, Gary prides himself on dispensing good quality advice: “I’ve been surfing for 34 years, now so I’ve got a lot of experience behind me. I made my first three wetsuits myself.

“The shop is a hub for local surfers. There’s a very friendly atmosphere. It’s a good place to go. We’re here to be asked for our advice.”

Surfers do not need warm weather and sun-kissed beaches to succeed