Coast to Coast Surf School was established in Dunbar and 2024 marks its 20th anniversary. Now operating in Scotland’s West, North and East coastlines offering a wealth of water based activities, including surfing tours, paddleboarding and coasteering. They have been a Member of the Mutual since 2014 and share with us their thoughts on the forthcoming Olympics.
Sam Christopherson is a senior instructor at Coast to Coast Surf School and he shared his knowledge of the surfing community and what they offer.
What impact, if any, do you think having surfing in the Olympic Games has on your business, attendee numbers and interest from the public?
I think there is definitely more awareness in surfing by the general public in the UK, it’s no longer considered a mad or niche sport. Surfing has growing culture all over the UK, and the Olympics is providing a focus for competitive and youth surfing.
Have there been many changes to the type of person trying surfing with you?
I would say that the pandemic had the biggest change when nearly all people from all backgrounds were exposed to the outdoors on their doorstep. We saw many more Scottish and Northern English at that time on our beautiful beaches. The Olympics has definitely inspired the youngsters with a growing number of younger surfers looking to develop their surfing rather than it just being a fun activity.
Who should we look out for? Which team or individual do you think may win medals at the Paris Olympics?
We would have to say that both the Brazilians, Americans and French are the favourites for this olympics. The likes of John Jon Florence and Gabe Medina have to be amongst the favourites in the men and Brisa Henesey and Caitlin Summers in the ladies but watch out for the locals from Tahiti who although not household names due to local advantage on one of the worlds most scariest waves will provide some upsets. Unfortunately the British never qualified but our new generation lead by Lukas Skinner (2nd in world at U16yrs) are showing they can mix it with the best so the future is bright.
Do you have any new plans to grow or develop Coast to Coast Surf School?
At the moment Coast to Coast Surf School has a lovely balance of surf and adventure, with wild week long surf camps in the most remote and stunning parts of Scotland and local surfing in Dunbar where our surf centre base is, close to Edinburgh and Glasgow. So our intention is to try and what we do well even better and carry on giving an excellent 5 star service. We also have a junior development team with a high percentage of the surfers in the national junior surf team so it’s all very positive? Who knows with a bit of luck some of our young surfers might make the GB team in two Olympics’ time….watch this space.