Hello, and welcome to issue 218!

And what a packed issue it is. While in the last issue we reflected on travel and the world that opens up before us after we ride our first green waves, I think in many ways this issue really highlights the widespread appeal of our shared stoke and experience. And also why we love sharing those stories.

We catch up with the surfing and shaping legend Maurice Cole, from Victoria, Australia, who tells us of his adventures, scrapes and achievements over six decades. Then a few pages later British and Irish groms including Josie, a 12 year-old triple champion from West Wales. And if you look beneath the surface, their basic loves and motivations are the same – to ride a few waves well. If you go down and hang around any local in Britain or Ireland, you can find the same thing – groms eloquently discussing waves and surf conditions on equal terms with septuagenarians, and even beyond.

In ‘Here Come the Crews,’ we set a world record by squeezing 28 surfers into an article on Indo boat trips. On board frothing surfers, surf dads and a couple teens from all around the UK. Usually, if these were shots of top pros we’d weed out the best and just run those, but everyone was so excited we couldn’t leave anyone out… Well apart from poor Tommy Benfield who caught Covid on the journey out and missed all the best sessions. (Our thoughts are with you!) Photography-wise we uncovered the story of Megan Gayda, who left home in Essex at 15 years-old to travel to Ireland. Her photos of huge waves now stand aside some of the world’s best ever photographers, whose shots and incredible stories feature our ‘Power of Three’ feature.

With such diverse circumstances, yet the single-minded quest of all who feature in this issue, I was trying to figure out what it is that sets our common experience apart, and why are all just chasing the moments, split seconds in, or on, waves that so profoundly touch and guide our lives in an evermore chaotic and angry world.

And all I could come up with is that it kinds of feels like flight, but really it tastes like freedom.

Steve
Editor

Travel. This issue is packed with it. It is without doubt one of the best things about surfing.

I remember, as a grom, my head being filled with tales of wonder by the crew hanging out at Tris surf shop after they’d returned from places like Morocco, Sri Lanka and Bali. How someone drove a Morris Minor from the UK to Colombo, of round the world yacht trips and waves like you’d never seen. I used to sit on the cliffs of Porthtowan and wonder what was over the horizon.

St Ives as it happened, but still, when you live in a valley with one road in and one road out and you don’t have a car, it kinda looked exciting!

Porthleven was my next aim. After bagging a ride I got my first surf there and I fell in love with the place. Then, on around the coast of Ireland, Scotland and beyond. My head is full of memories; laying in a tent listening to glaciers calving in the highest mountain ranges of the Andes. The sights and smells of Bali when it was a truly special place. Camping on a beach on a tiny island, off an island, off Tonga, just hanging out in the middle of the Pacific.

And then there’s also the people you meet, the on-the-road experiences, and of course the surf, which after all, drives us out of our comfort zones.

Some of our stories come from afar, some nearby, but all encompass the essence of adventure – which can be on the other side of the world, or like groms across the globe, just on the other side of the bay.

Dig in, we hope you enjoy, and maybe even plan a trip…

Steve
Editor

Keep it real.

Welcome to our first issue of the new year and the 29th year of Carve! There’s a wide range of contributions that all have one thing in common – a genuine love of surfing. The people behind them aren’t doing it for fame, or money, ego, likes, clicks or views. It’s just for the pure joy of riding or documenting waves.

In a world that seems to be more divided than ever, focussed on sound bites, untruths, image and – let’s face it – some pretty weird TikTok videos, it’s really refreshing to put together an issue with articles from such a talented, yet grounded, bunch of stoked individuals. Even though we reach millions of people per week through our social media @carvemag with a few clicks, there still something special about spending the time and effort to put their photos and words into the mag you are holding. It just all looks, and feels, so much better in print than it ever will online.

In this issue we’ve got stories from Thurso at the top of Scotland, to Bournemouth in the south of England. From Donegal in the west, to Kamchatka in east Russia. From people who have found joy in 2 to 20 foot waves. From empty sessions on their own doorstep, to some of the hardest to reach shores on the planet. And from the world’s toughest proving ground, Pipeline Hawaii, to an off-grid beach in the middle of nowhere. Plus we have Wales’s first world champion, Llewellyn ‘Sponge’ Williams. And what legend he is.
Putting it all down on glossy paper somehow keeps things real, instead of reel. We like that, and hope you do too.

Steve 

Editor

Welcome to issue 215

This issue takes us right around the globe and back home again. From the editors ‘OG’s’ – the Aggy boys – tales of survival in a remote paradise found, to Luke Garside’s words on the lure of the worldwide joyride we call surfing, and Richie Fitzgerald pioneering giant waves in the Cold Water Eden of Ireland. 

Conor Flanagan describes how he found solace swimming out and shooting immense waves after an injury prevented him from surfing them. We also have amazing coverage from places classed as ‘less glamorous’ surf spots, but are no less loved by our own surf communities. Christian Jones takes us beneath the surface of surfing around Plymouth, Simon Buck shows us around the people and places of Cromer, and Carve’s 2022 photo winner, Sean Pritchard, refers to his ‘Hiraeth’ (Welsh for homesickness) and nostalgia for your homeland. Plus we have some of Simon Hickie’s incredible shots from around Cornwall. 

Paradise is where you find it

Welcome to issue 214. Another volume of Carve dedicated to getting you stoked on the stories from the British and Irish surf community, but mainly to encourage you to run away from most 9-5 responsibilities and make the work/ life balance work in your favour!
If there is one thing I love about putting together the mag it’s stories of random happenings that lead to success. In this issue we have two. Firstly the story of a surfer from St Ives who’s life choices and a random Christmas gift from his mum led to the invention and subsequent runaway adoption of dryrobe® as a national fashion. It’s a hell of story and one that has a lot in common with many surfers and the entrepreneurial spirit that chasing tides and swells breeds. The second is how a lad and his girlfriend from Bude have ended up running one of the world’s most famous surf camps. They just went away for winter and end up as the bosses at HT’s. Bleddy brilliant.
The other great thing about print is that we get to properly showcase the amazing photo talent of the UK and Irish surf communities. We kick off with a former Porthleven grom who now shoots his home break with style, and we have our annual photo comp. We had hundreds of entries this year and it’s just a pleasure to go through them all as they come in, although pretty tough choosing which ones to feature. Digital is great for many things, but showing off class photos, not so much.
This issue we also have a lot to amp you up on the travel front now that the world is pretty much open. Cue stories from remote WA and NZ, to a bunch of lads from South Devon going on their first trip to Nias and a crew scoring to a luxury yacht trip in the Maldives complete with bio luminescent dolphins.
So dive in, and get inspired!

Steve 
Editor