Having travelled to numerous surfer paradises over the years, it seemed a strange quirk of fate that my first attempt at catching waves would be on the outskirts of Bristol. Nevertheless, five miles inland, under a blanket of grey clouds and cold drizzle, I found myself wriggling into a wetsuit.
Ordinarily the lack of sea might present an obstacle to surfing – but this was not an ordinary venue. The Wave is a £30 million outdoor surfing lake that opened in November 2019. The centre features a 0.7-hectare lagoon divided into four areas, with two Bays (for beginners) and two Reefs (for advanced and intermediate surfers). Advanced Wavegarden Cove Technology creates 1,000 waves per hour in a variety of styles, reaching up to six-and-a-half feet. The beauty of the artificial facility is the consistency – surfers don't have to wait idly for decent waves, and it doesn't matter if you miss one as the next one is reliably right behind it.
Before heading to the break zone, I joined a group of fellow Kelly Slater-wannabes for ground training where our instructor Josh, sporting a Bondi-approved aesthetic,
