‘…a slice of the ocean:’ How ‘blue health’ and surf therapy are influencing British inland surfing

‘The Wave’ in Bristol is Britain’s first inland surfing destination, founded by advocates for the mental and physical health benefits of the sport. I spoke to a Bristol surfer and a leader at The Wave, discussing how surfing could be a powerful medium for human well-being.

It’s a dark evening in October, but Bristol surfer Will Nell is reminiscing on sunny days spent at the coast. ‘Surfing influenced my move to Bristol,’ he says to me. ‘I basically moved to the south-west, to cut out the commute.’ Will started surfing while attending university in Nottingham: ‘I hung out with some guys from Plymouth University. We agreed to go to Polzeath one weekend. I was a crap surfer but I felt that, if I practiced, I could probably get alright at it.’

Eventually, he did, and surfed in Biarritz, where, as he enigmatically says, ‘the sea was big’. The aforementioned move to Bristol came in 2006 and now, alongside his family Will visits calmer beaches in Wales, North Devon and Cornwall.

‘It clears your mind of the clutter that goes with work, studies or family life,’ he says. ‘All that you can think about is, where you want to paddle to in the water, and where you want to take off from. I’m sure that people have got scientific studies to prove x y and z. But I just know how I feel when I do it.’

Those scientific studies might not be of huge significance to Will. However, for an array of researchers, surfing is an important part of burgeoning scientific field called ‘blue health.’ This term is aptly defined by the Irish surfer and scientist Easkey Britton, who writes ‘blue health is an emerging body of science and practice that seeks to investigate and understand the healing potential of water or blue spaces. It offers a lens to see understand and experience our connection to the world’s waters.’ The argument is that water, whether you’re immersing yourself in it, looking at it or even just listening to it, can enormously benefit human wellbeing in many different ways.

At the University of Exeter, researchers have found that people who seek stretches of coastline, like Will, tend to experience ‘better general and mental health’ than people who stay inland (The Guardian 2019). ‘Surf therapy’ organisations have backed up these ideas, like The Wave Project in Cornwall, which uses ‘surfing as a social good’ to make ‘a measurable difference to young people’s mental health’. On a broader scale, the EU commissioned an investigation in 2016, which focused on the links between coastlines, waterways and human health. Blue health is, in short, a very rapidly growing field.

When I speak to Cornwall native Abby Richardson, she tells me, ‘I’m not a surfer, full disclosure. I’m still terrible!’. Nonetheless blue health has played an integral role in her working life. It all started when, nearly twelve years ago, she received an unexpected phone call from her surfer friend Nick Hounsfield:

‘Nick was an osteopath. He was looking at the problems that he saw around his practice, like physical ailments, bad diet and lack of connectivity with others. He rang me up and said, “I’ve got this crazy idea. I found this tech that I’ve just seen online, which can make perfect waves anywhere. I reckon that this could be the draw to create an amazing health space.” I was a freelance PR at the time, so I said that I would give him a few months of support, and see where it went.’

In November 2019, Nick and Abby would open ‘The Wave’ in Bristol, Britain’s first inland surfing destination. It’s a fascinating place to visit: an enormous surfing basin, with adjoining restaurant, slap-bang in the middle of the countryside. Surf lessons are offered all-year-round, with the technology in the basin creating perfect waves each time.

Abby explains that The Wave is meant to fulfil two simultaneous purposes: constantly balancing profit with its necessary social responsibilities.

‘Some businesses will say, “we’ve got a charitable trust or foundation that does all of the impact work.” At The Wave, we make sure that we are giving those wellbeing benefits to as many people as possible, and not leaving it as an afterthought. If there’s an adaptive surfer, then we bring in more coaches, or discounts. We might need four coaches at once because we’ve got a surfer with high paralysis that needs pushing and catching. We take those financial hits, because it’s important to do so.’

The Wave also works closely with charitable causes, like the aforementioned Wave Project in Cornwall. Years ago, the project founder Joe Taylor reached out to Nick Hounsfield, offering to readapt the project’s surf therapy for inner-city kids living in Bristol.

Abby explains: ‘The way that the Wave Project works, is that they have six weeks of therapy courses. The kids might be on the autistic spectrum, dealing with chronic anxiety, acrophobia or additional needs. It’s about building confidence and resilience. We did a six-week pilot and the results were brilliant. It was amazing to bring the program inland, to a very different demographic at our little slice of the ocean. And now we’ve just finished our fourth year working with them.’

Surf therapy, moreover works in constant parallel to blue health research, to which the team at The Wave are always contributing.

‘We’re working with an organisation called ‘Surf Well’, Abby says. ‘We’re doing a trial with them, next year. They provide day interventions for first responders, like paramedics and police, who have gone through some very traumatic events. These people spend the day surfing, and the sport becomes a vehicle for them to open about up what they’ve gone through. It’s something about the act of being in a space, and the absolute concentration of getting on the board, not falling off and catching the wave, which makes them want to open up. It’s really, really fascinating.’

The Wave team have attracted an array of successful sportspeople, including Easkey Britton, to become ambassadors for the company. They’ve also become well-known in the south west as something of a business success story. Will Nell expresses his admiration for The Wave, when I bring it up in our chat.

‘I suppose that the only thing that you could compare it to is The Eden Project. The Wave is of such a size that Nick Hounsfield had to have the concept, sell the concept, get funding, get the land… you’ve got to give the bloke credit for persevering. Imagine how many knockbacks you would get in that situation.’

Nick Hounsfield, no doubt, kept getting knocked off of his figurative surfboard, before he eventually brought his crazy vision to fruition. His story could perhaps be a metaphor for blue health itself. The act of being immersed in water is a way of clearing your mind, and also jettisoning those mental obstacles that stand in the way of what you’re aiming to achieve. Who knows then? Perhaps, if we’re all to achieve some great things and become a mentally healthy society, then getting some regular doses of blue health, or even just learning to surf, could be the way to go.