The Wave Bristol: An interview with Sam Bleakley
Interview with Sam Bleakley
For RedBull Germany
Sam, how did The Wave Bristol Project come
about and how did you get involved?
It’s a really inspiring story, and wholly reflects
the future-facing, multi-cultural and ambitious energy of Bristol. Like a lot
of powerful things in life, trauma often inspires passion. The founder and CEO
of The Wave UK (the company for not just the wave site, but the brand and
business) lost his father in 2010. He was deeply driven to make a big
difference through a project that set out to not only improve the health of
communities, but to be a hallmark for creativity, sustainability and social
impact. Of course surfing is a driving force (and what a great driving force to
have), but the vision is so much wider, creating both a green and blue gym that
enriches every visitor through education, perhaps rehabilitation and the simple
thrill of riding perfect long peeling waves in a safe, accessible and
democratic environment.
Fusing nature and surfing is at the heart of The Wave. The site
will offer a tremendous interaction with green space. Also, it will be a beacon
for ethical trade, transport management, local food sourcing and green energy,
reducing carbon footprints and using fewer plastics. The Wave will be a real
hallmark in British outdoor business in my opinion.
Focusing on the surfing; localism, access and
overcrowding can be a barrier for riding waves to many groups in society. This
project leapfrogs those limitations by offering equal access to all in a
sensibly managed location. Within a short period of opening, I forecast that
the positive outcomes can range from high level training (taking UK
shortboarding to new heights in the professional arena), new events that
showcase longboarding as dance choreographed to music, and empowerment programs
to improve the confidence and happiness of thousands of individuals, both young
and old.
Surfing is changing. Estimates for the global surfing population range from 20 to 30 million.
This growing culture is widespread and diverse, exhibiting a significant shift
in demographics, including a broadening age range, increasing participation of
women, multi-ethnic and multi-ability backgrounds and vulnerable members of
society. The Wave UK is right on this
pulse for this change.
A huge
breakthrough was of course the planning approval from South Gloucestershire
Council on the 19th of June 2014. Since that moment, Nick and his
team haven been operating at breakneck pace to raise the necessary £6.5 million
budget. Nick is an inspiring person, with unwavering focus, a beautiful family,
and a real belief that things have to be done brilliantly and sustainably so
that everyone can benefit. My involvement came to fruition when Nick asked me
to be an ambassador for the project…
As an ambassador to the project: what are
some of your tasks?
Nick was
very particular about approaching a number of British surfers who he felt would
be supportive of the project, truly believe in its potential, and also operate
in their own work with values that reflect the vision of the project. I was very
stoked when Nick asked me to be ambassador in 2012. All the ambassadors will
naturally share the excitement of the project wherever possible, and have
extensive use of the facility for training. And of course it’s healthy for us
to promote this. Among a variety of other things, I am particularly inspired by
board design for the site, both helping engineer the ultimate learner-board,
and fantastic longboard noseriders, with a real drive to experiment and a
demand to use sustainable resources and equipment wherever possible. But
perhaps the most wonderful experiences will be participating in equal
opportunities projects and seeing those contagious smiles as kids rise to their
feet, or merely trim prone, as the day tips whole into the horizon and they are
stoked on surfing for the first time – like we are were when we first started.
Everyone has that right.
In 2013 I
was working at Falmouth University trying to launch a new Cultural Tourism
degree from scratch. It was very ambitious and I was given very little time to
prove it’s worth. Alas the course did not come to fruition - it did not meet
recruitment targets, and I no longer work at Falmouth University. But along the
way The Wave became a proposed industry partner for the course. Across a number
of related events with Nick and The Head of Sustainability at The Wave, Chris
Hines, I really become aware of the attention to detail and passion in The Wave
project and the strong foundations they were building.
In
presentations, I recall Nick saying “we want our project to be fun, thoughtful
and engaging, yet have a big heart, serious thinking and a sustainable
outlook.” Right on, I thought. I also recall him saying “the more you educate
yourselves about the issues facing this eco-system, the more you’ll want to
help ensure its health - then share that knowledge to educate and inspire
others.” That inspired me a great deal and I realized that I really wanted to
work with The Wave, initially to help build the brand identity by providing
creative content (from my writing, travel and film projects) and sharing the
fruits of other really exciting project based work. I would happily devote a
lifetime of work that could be performed with The Wave on topics such as Surfing
and Education - Learning Through Surfing, Emerging Surf Cultures, Surfing as
Dance (Performance & Music), Surfing, Health & Risk, Surfing and
Sustainability, Surfing and Self-empowerment, Gender Equality, Communicating
Surf Safety and Green/Ethical coding Surf Exploration, Cultural Tourism and Development.
List goes on…
On the projects website it says planning
permission has already been granted in June 2014 and that building starts this
year: what’s the status on the project and when will we see The Wave Bristol
become a reality?
There was
a hugely successful CrowdFunder Campaign in December 2014 that raised £219,473 (clearing
the target of £150,000). That really proved to the investors (remember this is largely
a private funded project) that the interest and market is strong and vibrant.
Some of the opportunities in the CrowdFunder Campaign included participating in
the Dig Party in February 2015 as the first spade goes into the site, and a
number of ways to actually ride the facility in October and November 2015
before it opens to the public.
Have you yet had the chance to try the
Wavegarden facility in Spain? What was it like? How does is compare to the real
thing?
In early
November 2014 I accompanied a number of The Wave ambassadors and team to the
Wavegarden Testing Facility in San Sebastian, Spain. The site is not open to
the public, but is the home of a team of engineers, scientists, surfers and
business people developing the whole concept in order to sell the technology
(with necessary installation, safety and management systems in place) to those
interested. During the development of the Spain facility, they have opened up
the site for promotional purposes once a year (usually during the ASP/WSL
contest in France) – this is the marketing material we have all seen online and
been totally transfixed by.
The site
is set in a stunning river valley that protects the lake from the wind. The
first thing I noticed was the importance of scale – clearly, the bigger the
site, the bigger and longer the wave could be because the space will allow the
water to spread and settle more quickly before the next wave is created. A
small site will always be a challenge. The Spain site is hemmed in by the river
valley and thus will likely not become open to the public, but will continue to
allow testing and development of equipment and ideas. It’s a groundbreaking
project with a wonderful team onboard.
The
anticipation of arriving and then waiting for a ride was like magma boiling up
inside me. The facility uses the bow wave principle – akin to a boat wake, and
quite simply a machine that moves though the water, incased in a cage,
underneath a pontoon. As the machine moves down the lake, it create a rideable
wave either side of the pontoon, allows the water to settle, then moves up the
lake, again creating waves either side of the pontoon. At the moment waves of
1.9 metres every twenty seconds are possible. The bathymetry of the lake can
allow a number of ridebale waves for varying abilities from one bow movement. The
possibilities to explore and experiment with wave shape and wave refraction
through altering bathymetry is limitless and very exciting.
Surfing beachbreaks is often about making beauty
from chaos, creating rhythm from disharmony. I paddle out at home (Gwenver
beach Cornwall) on the most challenging days and to see if I can tap the pulse.
Often I fail. The foam head phantoms forever clip my wings from flight and slap
me out of tune. But the drumming is fulfilling. And I love this. But instantly
I realised that with the Wavegarden, the guaranteed perfection of the ride
creates a whole new experience, aesthetic and challenge. I suddenly felt the subtleties
of the changes not in the wave, but in my thoughts and feelings. The potential
for a perfect fluid glide is as much
psychological as physical.
At the
moment the Spain site (limited by the width of the river valley) has just one rideable
wave either side of the pontoon. Curiously, you surf towards the pontoon. You
wait for your ride sitting close to the pontoon, the machine starts to move,
instantly creating a bulge, and you start paddling. An immediate slight
refraction in the wave bow causes a small current to pull you away from the
pontoon, but the secret is to paddle towards the pontoon and take off. Once
your are up and riding the experience is very similar to riding a fusion of a spinning
pointbreak like Noosa Heads in Australia, and oily Californian kelp reef like
Pacific Beach Point, and a harbour wall.
Of course
(aside from the contrast in catching the wave) the noticeable difference is
that in the ocean the power moves out from the pocket of the wave into the
face, whereas a bow wave has maximum energy on the shoulder, refracting away
into the curl. The white water thus surges like a riverbore, pulling you a good
distance when you wipeout. I was instantly mesmerized by the experience. Hoots
welled out and burst out, and the thoughts of noseriding captivated me.
Like
riding waves in the ocean, surfing the wavegraden was about timing. Tuning in.
Being cool-headed. In
the ocean, you’ve always got to be in your senses. Don’t challenge nature,
adapt. Stick with your animal instincts. It is the same in wave sites… and the
anticipation of the next wave will keep you coming back for more.
Meanwhile there’s another artificial wave
project taking shape in North Wales, the Surf Snowdonia – how come Great
Britain happens to be at the forefront of these developments? British waves
cannot be that bad... ; )
I’m not
plugged in to the developments of the Snowdonia site, but I certainly don’t
think the drive is caused by the UK’s wave quality. We have 7,723miles (12,429 km) of coastline encompassing an impressive
mix of beaches, reefs and points. The motivation behind these projects is far
more than wave quality. These are ambitious forward facing community endeavors.
Yes they raise debate, but that’s healthy, and will inject new energy into
surfing. The UK has been at the forefront of many exciting surfing based
projects, notably the Surf Science and Technology degree pioneered at Plymouth
University in the late 1990s.
In the
wake of the late Ricky Grigg’s research on the conditions that produce waves,
it was clear that the academic arena in which surfers could shine was the study
of their liquid environment and its flux. Consider the massive number of
variables that enable us to surf – the meteorological and oceanographic
phenomena that generate swell, the geographic location of the break, the
geology of the reef, not to mention the global industry that has supplied your
wetsuit and chemicals-based surfboard. Combine this with the culture in which
you are deeply embedded and the psychological focus required to ride the wave,
and you’ve got a formula for some serious study.
Such
study characterised the first so-called ‘surfing’ degree run at Plymouth. Of
course it was not a ‘surfing’ degree, but an interdisciplinary study based
around surfing. In an era where the Government aimed to get 50% of school
leavers into higher education, successful courses had to combine practical
experience with serious academic study – they thus had a high ‘relevance’
factor. The Surf Science degree attracted those who were contemplating a career
in an industry connected with surfers, and many of its student’s shaped their
identities around being surfers. The leaders of the course however wanted them
also to see themselves as future scientists, technologists and business
innovators. It was a unique and revolutionary course, the original vision of Dr
Malcolm Findlay.
I think
the UK is still enjoying the fruits of that course. I firmly believe that the
likes of Magic Seaweed to Wave Sites were all in some way inspired by the
forward facing nature of the Surf Science degree, even if the connections
appear tenuous. The Wave sites will hopefully be a seed for new ways of
Learning Through Surfing. Perhaps the cultural, humanities and
artistic aspect of surfing, with reference to style, idiosyncratic characters
shaping a lifestyle, poetic questions about the ‘feel’ of a board or a wave,
not just its technical dimensions. Surfing has an expressive side and this is
just as open to study and debate. If the stoke of surfing is at heart, the
possibilities are limitless.
What’s your take on artificial waves in
general? Why are they good for surfing/ bad for surfing? What do they bring to
the sport?
Firstly, we should be careful of the word
‘artificial’. My favourite wintertime spot in Cornwall when there is a huge
westerly wind and swell is a harbour wall, by no means a ‘natural’ break, but a
fantastic wave. The infamous Hollow Trees (HTs) in the Mentawai Islands,
Indonesia is not a ‘freak of nature’, but a channel blasted out of the reef by
dynamite during the Second World War for Japanese seaplanes to land. The
Superbank in Australia is a reminder that coastal management is vital as
surfing crowds increase and coastal tourism has to be balanced with traditional
coastal economies. Coastal surf breaks can learn a great deal from the
management polices at wave facilities, and vice versa.
Secondly,
surfing is full of heroic accounts of conquering and claiming. Suddenly in surfing
we have the chance of a blank slate - a democratic wave open to all, and
potentially accessible by all, so the beginner and the expert can share the
same buzz without egos and localism. We should celebrate this, and be cautious
of sweeping statements that only reiterate the secrecy and privatization that
can be a burden to surfing.
Thirdly,
wavepools have been around since the 1980s, and although that system of raising
water and dropping it into a sluice to produce a wave is energy inefficient,
culturally wavepools have not had a negative impact on surfing. I’ve ridden the
wavepool in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and it was great fun. Surfers are some of
the best lay oceanographers in the world, with felt-understanding of wave
dynamics, meteorology and ocean physics. I think it’s really exciting for
surfing that we have a new generation of wave sites, wavegardens and surfing
lake technologies emerging. I believe these sites will contribute to the depth
and strength of the surf industry, education and culture, and become another
hallmark of surfing’s syncretic history, like developments (all controversial
at the time) of; romanticizing Hawaiian surfing in the early 20th
Century as part of America’s annexation programme to develop tourism (and attract
Americans to these Islands); fins; fibreglass boards; surf contests; shortboards; thrusters; surf schools; the longboard
renaissance…
The
‘feeling’ of surfing is always compelling, and addictive, no matter what level
you are at. We are all sharing the same priceless experiences of adrenaline,
fear and fulfillment.
There’s also some talk about surfing becoming
an Olympic sport somewhere down the road, now that perfect waves can be created
at the press of a button – do you see that happening? Would that be a good
thing for surfing?
The
International Surfing Association have been pushing Olympic surfing for decades.
And I believe that the Sydney 2000 Olympics was very close to including surfing
as a ‘special sport’. In fact, there was a surfing exhibition surfing the
Melbourne Olympics in 1956. I have competed in what is dubbed the ‘Olympics of
Surfing’ (The ISA World Surfing Games) and it’s an awesome event. It will be
fantastic for surfing to become both an Olympic and Para-Olympic Sport. I
watched in awe at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi as Slope Style Snowboarding
was launched. Mesmerizing. The impactful beauty of surfing certainly rivals (if
not betters) snowboarding.
The
Olympics is one of the great cultural events and celebrations of life. My
favourite ever Olympian is Carl Lewis. Not for his personality, but for his
sheer brilliance, elegance and style running and jumping. Lewis never achieved
the big sponsorships he expected, and was accused of being arrogant, but he had
his own unique approach to everything. Above all, he ran and jumped so
gracefully. He’s a near perfect model of how to move efficiently. Surfers can
learn a lot from great Olympians. I was only 5, but one of my earliest TV
memories is watching Lewis win gold in the 100m in LA in 1984.
For every
professional surfer, there are thousands more just surfing for the fun, far
removed from the hustle and bustle of contests. So called ‘free surfing’ is
true surfing for most. But the ancient Greeks developed competitive sport as a
complex cultural and ritual occasion, birthing the Olympic games. Sport was a
way of saying something through the body, a form of persuasion, rhetoric and
drama, in front of an audience. In developing what the ancient Greeks called arēte, ‘virtuosity,’ you engaged in
self-forming (rather than self-expression). Sport was an aesthetic activity, an
art of character moulding, or identity construction. Competition remains an
important element of surf culture.
The
biggest challenge is having contestable surfing conditions close to the Olympic
sites, and developing an original format that captures the attention of the
audience and the true flair of performance surfing. Perhaps wave sites can
facilitate the relationship between surfing and music, dance and performance,
so an Olympic surf event can be akin to ice skating, where surfers perform to a
soundtrack of their choice and are judged on style, interpretation, technical
ability and flow.
Last but not least: What do you wish for when
you think about surfing’s future?
Firstly,
my career is very much orientated around travel. I don’t have an answer to the
negative impacts of jet kerosene, but I don’t want to brush it under the
carpet. I think positive relationships with your local surf break are very
important to foster. Local surfers are often the stewards of that coastline,
the first to taste pollution in the water, to challenge poorly-planned coastal
developments, and I’d like to think more surfers become political voices both
locally and globally. A surfing world leader would be very exciting.
Despite
my mixed feelings about my passion and dependence on travel, what really
inspires me are the emerging surf cultures of Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
These are the communities that can add new flavor to surfing more widely.
Secondly,
we need to tackle head on our dependence upon petro chemical based equipment – fibreglass
and polyurethane surfboards, neoprene wetsuits, urethane leashes. We should be
world leaders in sustainable equipment. There is a lot of great work going on
in this arena, and it’s vital that the professional surfers advocate this as
they are the role models for the new generation.
Thirdly,
new surfers should chose functional surfboards that will make the experience
safe and fun for the breaks surfing.
Surfing
is both an illness and a cure – an addiction and a lifesaver. The ocean has
knocked me senseless, torn ligaments, ruined my sinuses, reduced my spectrum of
hearing, dragged me across infectious live coral reefs, held me down so I am
close to drowning, and engineered a face-to-face encounter with a tiger shark.
But such bruises generate a kind of wisdom, and they are suffered because the
rewards of surfing are immense. Surfing has opened me up, split my skin,
widened my horizons, and closed me down, because any obsession restricts your
involvement in other aspects of life. The sea has focused my restless, complex
personality and given me calm. Travel has permanently reddened my eyes, but
layered experience upon experience in building character. Surfing has been my
life practice – all other activities, including my academic and writing
passions, have been built around it. Everyone has the right to surf.
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| Photo: Courtesy of The Wave Project |
