After a tense couple of days for staff and customers The Wave has announced its future is secured.
Doubts had been cast after legal and financial wranglings at one of the main investor groups however a statement put out today revealed the stake had been taken on in a restructuring and Julian Topham, who founded and ran Boardmasters for many years and is Chair at Surfing England has been invited to be be the new CEO.
The statement reads
“The Future of The Wave”
As of today The Wave has new owners. The company has been acquired as a part of a financial restructure by a group of investors, who have asked Julian Topham to step into the role of CEO.
Julian has worked within the surf, music and sustainability sectors for many years – most notably founding and running Boardmasters and Vision Nine. He is the Chair of Surfing England and the Blue Earth Summit, alongside a number of other ventures.
Julian said:
“I have known about The Wave since it was just an idea, and have surfed it many times since it opened in 2019. I have worked in the surf industry for 25+ years and in my view The Wave is an extremely important part of the UK surf community and has the ability to grow and support a diverse and inclusive surfing community. I want to ensure it stays that way, and thrives, for the long term.
“We appreciate there has been huge uncertainty in the last week, for so many people, especially our wonderful Wavemaker staff, customers, and partners, so a big thank you for your understanding. There will be a short period of transition as a company changes hands and we get up to speed, but we are doing everything we can to make this as smooth and as fast as possible, and get The Wave open again.”
Please bear with us as we work with the team to get the waves rolling again. We will be updating everyone on a regular basis, as and when we can.
