Chris Nelson is a writer, author and Event Director of the London Surf / Film Festival. He cut his teeth surfing the unforgiving reefs of England’s northeast coast in the late 80’s where ice-cream headaches, leaky neoprene and pollution filled line-ups kept a small local crew on first name terms. The hook was set and he has been scouring the globe for empty, frigid waves ever since. His latest book Cold Water Souls: In Search of Surfing’s Cold Water Pioneers took him on a 3 year journey to the planet’s most inhospitable outposts, seeking out those hardy waveriders who call these icy line-ups home.

During the '90s he founded Asylum and Freeride, two of the UK’s most influential boardsports magazines and as editor interviewed surfing’s heroes and antiheroes. Since moving into the world of the freelance scribe, Chris has penned seven books on surfing. He contributes to surf media across the globe, as well as national magazines and newspapers on surf culture and travel issues. When not seeking out frozen shorelines, he can be found surfing the cliff lined beaches of Cornwall, where he now lives overlooking the sea.