In Conversation with Sam Christopherson
As part of Carve Collective, we are catching up with surfers, shapers, photographers and all round local legends across the UK and Ireland.
Next up in the series is Sam Christopherson, who runs Coast to Coast Surf School in Dunbar and helped build Belhaven into something far bigger than a surf school, home now to the Wave Project's Scottish operation and a thriving local lifesaving club.
Give us the basics - who are you, where are you based, and what’s your lane?
My name is Sam Christopherson, I'm a dad of three, a surfer and a surf coach. I run Coast to Coast Surf School in Dunbar.
You've been surfing and bodyboarding for four decades and running Coast to Coast since 2004 — what first got you hooked on the ocean, and how did you end up putting down roots in Dunbar?
I come from a family of three brothers, Josh and Tim are my younger brothers. We were all club swimmers when younger and my mum was scared of flying so every summer we used to travel for summer holidays as far as we could go in the UK, usually to Cornwall or Wales and we would go to the beach. My parents couldn't get us out the water and the three of us just spent all day for weeks, playing in the ocean, on polystyrene boards, wooden boards and bodyboards.
You couldn't help but be inspired by the surfers in Cornwall and when we were younger bodyboarding was also a really big thing with Rob Barber leading the way in Cornwall! We used to get shout outs on the 360 bodyboarding mag for Scotland.
We discovered you could surf Pease Bay in 1989 and since that point the south east of Scotland has always inspired. It's perfect for longboarding but if you're patient it has a lot of bigger good days too, creating a frothing stoked local community!
What does a normal week look like for you right now?
I don't really have a normal week as sometimes I'm in Dunbar teaching beginners and improvers, running kids camps or coaching our top groms on the local waves or at the pool. Being the summer I'm also away a lot coaching adults on amazing surf tours in the Hebrides or North coast! These are pretty magical for me as a lot of escapism being out west or north.
What does involvement in your local surf scene look like for you these days?
It's changed a wee bit over the last two years since the wave pool opened at Lost Shore. We coach the top juniors in the area, 8 of whom got into the recent Scotland team for the up and coming Euros in Bundoran, all local to North Berwick and Dunbar which is pretty cool for a small inconsistent coastline, so the pool has been amazing for them.
We also run a lot of coastal lessons. Our area is ideal for beginners, lovely sandy beaches to learn on, but I'd say we are doing more safety management too now as we get more inland surfers hitting the coast without going through lessons, so it's a bit more chaotic especially on the bigger days when the green or star days are way bigger than the beginners expect. Hopefully we will be working more closely with Lost Shore to educate the rapidly increasing surfing population.
You've built Belhaven into something that goes way beyond a surf school — the Wave Project, lifesaving club, environmental education, all under one roof. How did that vision come about and what does it mean to you?
When we built the surf centre in 2019 it came from a back drop of having a community of surf instructors that were water people, prepared to go on any craft from softies and longboards to bodyboards and shortboards to match the craft to the waves and max the fun, so we wanted to expand the community of local surfers with this appeal. As our waves are longboard friendly on the main, the vibe has always been super positive between the water users, so the vision for the surf centre was to keep this vibe and be as inclusive as possible.
Our partnership with the Wave Project started in 2014 where we ran all their courses in Scotland until 2018, it was obvious to include them in the new building and their Scottish headquarters are in the surf centre. We then invited the local surf lifesaving club set up by Sally Harris and now run by Richard, that's now 4-5 times bigger than when it opened in 2019, teaching a lot of kids voluntary safety in the sea, and these guys are doing great things for the next generation and safety on the beaches.
Finally I have a history in Surfers Against Sewage dating back to campaigning on Portobello beach for UV treatment for Edinburgh in the early 90's as a student, I know the link between good pollution systems and fun healthy surfs! We got Brian Allen in as a director of the surf centre who is the local SAS rep. He spent all winter testing Belhaven off season for SAS with excellent results and is a legend!
So yes we got a lot of good people and groups around us that support the surf centre and have helped build a community that's inspirational for the local juniors getting into watersports. Add in the high performance element and Coast to Coast's appeal to locals and tourists wanting to try surf and paddle sports, and you really have a well used inclusive community building that has a lot to offer.
What are you working on or trying to improve — personally or within the community?
On the surf side, I'm on a personal journey on surf education and psychology. Personally I'm trying to learn as much as I can about high performance surfing in longboarding and short boarding to help the next generation and because its just super interesting that you can now speak to coaches all over the world. On a psychological level I'm trying to rediscover some of the charging elements you need to surf high performance waves. My son Joel, particularly is pushing me, I had to slow my surfing down to bring three young kids up to surf, to see the challenges from their level as they moved from beginners to good surfers. Joel's now way better than me and wanting to push a lot of the more challenging bigger waves in Scotland - so I'm getting really surf fit and having to become more risk positive again! A challenge in your 50's.
What or who has been inspiring you lately?
Too many - the young juniors in our area, was super stoked with young Rudi landing his first air reverses in the pool at 15yrs, Ansel winning the longboard Scottish Seniors aged 16yrs and Joel 14yrs and Rosie 15yrs charging in big waves last December at the worlds! Erin is coming through as a proper young girl charger - one to watch! The ladies longboarders also inspired me so much as with Hannah beating the men's champions at the Gathering of the clans last year - that was breakthrough stuff. Its not all about competition though and I've had a few moments on perfect sunset sessions on the islands this summer and the joy and stoke of the customers with us is so infectious. Had a couple of crazy stormy days and getting the customers in on bodyboards and hand planes to get smashed in the shore break has been so much fun!
What are your plans moving forward — any new projects, collaborations, or things you're excited about next?
We are hoping on a national level longboarding to work with some leading coaches/ surfers world wide just to help the kids. And working closer with Lost Shore as its an amazing resource both on coastal safety and coaching. Also hoping to offer more specialism on our tours in Scotland with Coast to Coast and looking to develop some niches stuff on longboarding, hand planes and bodyboarding alongside the foamies and shortboards.
There are a bunch of other really cool ideas for 2027 but I'd rather not say until they definitely come into play.
Shout out one local spot, person, or group that deserves some love. Any closing remarks?
The local spot has to be Belhaven - its a lovely place to surf, the closest consistent beach to Edinburgh with consistent surf and waves for all! we hope with increasing numbers coming from the pool the vibe can be kept friendly and welcoming - a smile goes a long way! If you want to get involved with the surf centre we always welcome support and ideas and a massive thank you to Brian, Sally, Richard, Diane, Dan, Alison, Clive and Alasdair plus many many others for making the surf centre a reality, as takes a community of good people to make a special place.
Photo: Mike Guest
If you think we should be sitting down with someone from your local scene, let us know. Who's next?
