Scottish Surfing: Riding the wave from Tahiti to Edinburgh
Surfing isn’t probably the first thing you think of when you think about Scotland. Cold north seas and a people known for their kilts rather than their wetsuits come more to mind. Still, there’s a surprising popularity for the sport here and a growing uptake to ride the Scottish waves. Admittedly, the latest waves are in an old quarry, but it counts. Read on to find out more about Surfing, Scotland and the latest wave technology,
Surfing History
Surfing began in Polynesia more than 1,000 years ago, where Pacific Islanders rode waves for sport, status, and spiritual practice. Hawaii took the tradition furthest, developing it into something closer to an art form. There, surfing was called heʻe nalu, meaning “wave sliding,” and it carried real social weight. Chiefs proved their right to lead by riding the best waves on the finest boards, while commoners surfed too, but on simpler equipment and lesser breaks.
Captain Cook’s crew witnessed surfing firsthand in the 1770s, and Joseph Banks recorded Tahitians riding waves as early as 1769. Soon after, missionaries arrived in Hawaii and disapproved of the sport, viewing it as immodest and disruptive. Their influence took hold, and surfing nearly disappeared by the late 1800s.
Then came the revival. Hawaiian waterman Duke Kahanamoku helped restore the sport in the early 1900s, carrying it to California and Australia along the way. His name is still woven into surfing’s modern identity.
Britain’s Unlikely First Surfer
Britain’s first surfer was not a beach bum, but a middle-aged agricultural professor named John Wrightson.
In September 1890, two Hawaiian princes, David Kawānanakoa and Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, were studying at Wrightson’s college in Wiltshire (please check out their excellent moustaches). Their guardian took them to Bridlington on England’s east coast as a reward for good schoolwork. There, in the grey North Sea, the princes built boards from local timber and surfed, and Wrightson joined them, reputedly becoming the first Briton ever to surf.
A letter from Prince Kūhiō survives today, written to the Hawaiian consul about the trip. In it, he described the rough seas and noted how quickly Wrightson was picking up the sport.
There is a Scottish thread here too. The princes’ cousin was Princess Victoria Kaʻiulani, heir to the Hawaiian throne, who was half Hawaiian and half Scottish, with a father from Edinburgh. So Hawaiian and Scottish royalty were connected decades before anyone surfed a Scottish wave.
Surfing Arrives in Scotland
Scotland’s surf scene grew slowly, then quickly, a bit like catching a wave. In the early 1970s, surfers explored the coastline, trying Machrihanish first before pushing north toward Bettyhill near Thurso. Scotland held its first surfing championships at Bettyhill in 1973, and soon after, a surfer named Pat Kieran discovered the reef at Thurso East and wrote home about it, drawing more surfers north.
Thurso transformed from a quiet fishing town into a coldwater surfing destination, and today it ranks among the best right-hand reef breaks in the world. Surfers founded the Scottish Surfing Federation in 1975, and it still operates today under the name Scottish Surfing. Spots emerged across the country, from Fraserburgh in the east to Tiree in the west, and because Scotland’s waters stay cold year-round, its surfers tend to be hardy and committed.
Lost Shore: A Wave Without an Ocean
Scotland recently added something its coastline could never offer on its own: a perfect wave, on demand, just outside Edinburgh.
Lost Shore Surf Resort opened on 11 November 2024 in Ratho, in a former quarry about 25 minutes from the city centre. It cost roughly £60 million to build, and it is the UK’s first inland surf resort and currently Europe’s largest wave pool. Wavegarden Cove technology powers the lagoon, generating up to 1,000 waves an hour across more than 20 wave types, suited to beginners and elite athletes alike. The resort also includes lodges, camping pods, a sauna, and restaurants.
The numbers are striking. In its first year, Lost Shore drew over 100,000 visitors, created more than 130 jobs, and added around £11 million annually to the local economy. I personally cannot wait to get out there and have a go at surfing now the summer is here.
Edinburgh Napier University and the Surf Lab
Lost Shore did not stop at building a wave pool. It partnered with Edinburgh Napier University to create something new called the Surf Lab.
The Surf Lab officially launched in October 2025, and it is described as the world’s first research collaboration between a university and a commercial wave pool. The idea began years earlier, when Lost Shore founder Andy Hadden and Napier academic Dr Brendon Ferrier first discussed it back in 2017. The lab focuses on several areas, including surf therapy, high-performance coaching, adaptive surfing, and equipment design.
The lab has already produced real results. Researchers tested nine different wetsuit brands under controlled conditions to find the warmest option for Lost Shore’s customers, and the winning suit was made from Yulex, a plant-based rubber. As a result, Lost Shore now runs the largest plant-based rental wetsuit fleet in the world.
Edinburgh Napier’s interest in surfing predates the resort itself. In 2022, the university completed what is claimed to be the world’s first PhD study in surf therapy, and the Surf Lab builds on that foundation. It gives researchers a fixed base inside Europe’s biggest wave pool, where students, athletes, and industry partners can all use the space. The university hopes the lab will support business growth and community wellbeing, alongside its sporting goals.
It is a fitting partnership. A university built on research and knowledge now extends that work into a converted quarry, and Ratho has become both a surf destination and a genuine site of academic study.
A Sport Still Finding New Shores
From Tahiti to a Yorkshire beach to a quarry near Edinburgh Airport, surfing keeps adapting. Scotland’s relationship with the sport began almost by accident, through royal holidaymakers in the 1890s, and grew through decades of hardy surfers braving freezing reefs in the north. Now, with Lost Shore and the Edinburgh Napier’s Surf Lab, Scotland is not just catching waves. It is helping shape where the sport goes next.
Library Resources
Why not check out the book The Science and Culture of Surfing by David Kennedy, available as an eBook. We also have articles like Surfing and Modernity in the North of Scotland and Surfing in Caithness and Sutherland: Environment, Tourism and Tension. Plus so much more on Librarysearch.napier.ac.uk
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By Juliet Kinsey
Image credit: Paul Byrne on Unsplash
