International Surfing Day

The 21st of June this year will mark International Surfing Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the sport of surfing, as well as our oceans and beaches, so we thought we’d take the chance to talk quickly about surfing here in Scotland.
The day was established in twenty years ago in a joint effort by Surfing Magazine and the environmental charity The Surfrider Foundation, to establish a day dedicated to encouraging us to appreciate the ocean. In the past twenty years, it has become a day celebrated around the world, with festivals in Morocco, Canada, and Japan.

Now, when you think of surfing, your mind probably goes to warmer climates than here in Scotland, but we’re actually quite a popular destination for surfers around the world. The sea surrounding Scotland has a reputation for strong and consistent waves, resulting in many areas around the country becoming popular surfing spots. For example, Thurso, on the north coast of the country in Caithness, is a very popular surfing spot due to the strong and fast waves of the North Sea.
Just outside of Edinburgh, we have Lost Shore Surf Resort, an inland surf resort that houses Europe’s largest artificial wave pool.

Even here at Napier we have our own Napier Surf Club, where students meet for regular surfing trips and social events, even travelling up north to take part in the annual Scottish Student Surf Championship!
You can learn more about the surf club here!

A few years ago, we actually partnered with Lost Shore Surf Resort to collaborate on research into surfing, resulting in the creation of the Surf Lab. The surf lab will be looking at areas such as surf therapy and, development of equipment. This continues Edinburgh Napier’s involvement in pioneering work in surf research, following the completion of the world’s first PhD in Surf Therapy by Napier student Jamie Marshall. You can read more about Jamie and his PhD work at Napier here!

This is a brief blog about some surfing sites in Scotland. We hope you all take this unusually hot weekend here in Scotland to enjoy the beach!

By Matthew Ferrie

Summer is here, enjoy

Photo by Jeremy Bishop