Wavelength Big Cheese Greg Martin swung by to drop off a copy of the latest issue of his mag. He’s shaken things up a bit, there’s a new look and a new feel to the magazine and I like it. In this issue, Chris kicks off a series of features that explore surfing heartlands around the UK by focussing on his relationship with Saltburn, Cleveland’s very own surfing Mecca. – DT. Extract below.

 

WELCOME TO SALTBURN – CHRIS NELSON

Cresting the top of the cliff at Saltburn, the split second before the North Sea is laid out before me, my heart rate still increases palpably as the rush of adrenaline hits. In my early days of surfing, before I figured out how to read a chart and before the Internet brought swell forecasting to the masses, this drive was my beat. Cresting the top of Saltburn Bank the conditions would be revealed for the first time, framed between the pier and towering headland. There was always sense of apprehension that built as we passed the petrol station on the A174 and built as we drew closer to the hotel and the big reveal. Would the drive have been worth it? But we knew all the time that we’d be getting wet whatever kind of welcome Huey had arranged. For as with so many surfers from the northeastern reaches of England, Saltburn was where I was baptised into the surfing tribe, where I rode my first wave, where the hook was set… (Cont.)

This article appears in the Evolution Issue, Wavelength Magazine.