To celebrate International Surfing Day (Sunday 22nd June 2014), we caught up with Simon Jayham of Surf GSD – who told us this fascinating story about his very first experience of surfing on Gower. For more information about surfing on Gower, feel free to download the Gower Surfers Map.
Over 20 years ago I pulled up in to the Wormshead Hotel car park, Rhossili, overlooking three miles of beach with perfect medium sized waves rolling in, groomed by offshore winds.
It was early in the morning and no one was around, so I pulled on my wetsuit and ran down the steps to the beach, entranced by the scenery.
The adrenalin rushing and my mind shouting.. ‘he was right, he was right.’ Who was right? Previous to my trip to Gower, I had spent several years traveling around the world in search of empty waves and had bumped into a fellow surfer in a hostel who had shown me pictures of waves and pointed them out on a map. They were here on Gower, Wales.
‘He was right!! There are waves on Gower, more than that, there are still empty waves!
I have spent the last 20 plus years surfing here on Gower and traveling abroad in the winter months. I have yet to re-live that self actualisation of visiting a spot with clean waves all to myself.
I feel I must confess to being a surf, travel addict, as the saying goes, ‘only a surfer knows the feeling…’
See you somewhere, Simon Jayham of SurfGSD – Gower surfing school (Still looking for empty waves)
Surf GSD Gower Surfing was established 15 years ago and is one of the premier ‘Surfing Great Britain’ approved surfing schools. Celebrity guests include Jason Bradbury, who had a an indoor surfing lesson on The Gadget show and Anna Richardson on C4’s Supersize versus Superskinny took an outdoor surfing lesson at Caswell Bay.
If you’re interested in learning to surf, please contact Surf GSD direct:
Mobile: 07739536122
Email address: simon@gowersurfing.com
www.gowersurfing.com
We’d love to hear about your surfing experiences on the Gower Peninsula. You can share them with us on Facebook or Twitter.
