MY JOURNEY TO the sea began when I was tiny. My mum, who used to surf in the 1960s, would sit me on one of her old boards and push me into the little breakers in about six inches of water, and we both soon realised I had an insatiable appetite for the waves, an appetite that has never really gone away. We moved to Saunton in Devon when I was nine, and from then on I’d quite literally roll down the garden into the sea: living on the beach is something you never take for granted if you surf, and opening the curtains in the morning to the sea, long perfect lines of swell rolling into the bay creating beautiful peeling waves, still has the same effect on me now as it did then.
Learning to surf in Saunton Sands in the late 1980s was great. The boys were surfing with their nine-foot-plus long-boards, and the atmosphere was mellow, and being the only girl in the water never bothered me because I’ve always been a tomboy, forever trying to keep up with an elder brother who was exceptionally good at sports. So there I was, a tiny whippersnapper, itching to better my surfing and loving every minute that I spent in the water; watching other surfers and looking out for new moves. I was surfing four times a day in the summer holidays, before school and after school through the winter months in temperatures of as low as 7 degrees. French, English or Keen As – yes, I was mustarded right up. And I just couldn’t get enough of the sea – it draws you in, and when that happens your life completely changes.
And then things started to get competitive. I was tackling more challenging waves, faster, more powerful and more dangerous, but I was gaining confidence and building up my experience, and it was really satisfying seeing myself improving. And that’s when the boys started to notice me, and they weren’t too sure how to handle it. They seemed to think along the lines of: ‘She’s only a girl – she won’t make the wave, so I’ll catch it and it won’t be wasted.’ And I realised it was going to take some time to convince this new set of wave warriors that girls can hold their own in the waves. But over time, and after a few tricky moments, I made some good friends and mutual respect blossomed, which felt really good. And when I started pulling off some good moves on my surfboard and throwing a bit of spray on the waves, they started to take me seriously and give me a bit of credit, so that by the time I was going out when the surf was really big, they would help me out by shouting me into waves. They knew I wasn’t messing about and that I was going for it out there.
And then things started to get really interesting. When I was sixteen, Tim Heyland, from a local surf shop, barked at me in his army corporal voice: ‘Oi, Whiteley, English Nationals, Woolacombe, if you come in the top three I’ll sponsor you.’ And since I reckoned I had nothing to lose, I gave it a try. And I won, much to my surprise, and that was the start of my competition career, and I entered every national surfing competition over the next ten years. Contest surfing can be extremely frustrating, since you can never guarantee waves at a certain time on a certain day, and there’s vast amounts of waiting, hanging around for your heats. I’ve spent many an hour feeling increasingly queasy, sitting in damp clothes trying to focus beyond the windscreen wipers and steamy glass. And then the next morning it’s back to work and back to training, which usually involved a soft sand run up the beach, followed by a severe beating of a punch bag and a painful medley of sit-ups. Maybe a paddle to Croyde on my longboard if the surf was flat, but usually I’d be surfing come rain or shine, through huge and mini waves, and the odd gale.
One of my happiest achievements was winning the Junior European Championships in Portugal when I was eighteen, followed by winning the biggest grin award too. I was on the British team twice for the World Championships, and team trips like those are fantastic to be involved with. There were three of us who would regularly make most of the finals, so we had a healthy amount of rivalry and in turn we each had a slice of the winner’s cake. In the early days the standard of women’s surfing was pretty average, but these days there are some tremendous women surfers around, and we’re definitely not just sitting on the beach in our bikinis watching the boys any more; we’re out there doing it, and catching up rapidly. Especially with the likes of Layne Beachley around, six times and current world champion, to name but one. My personal favourite was Lisa Anderson for the US, who was one of the most influential female surfers to take the standard to the next level, and she notched up five world titles along the way. And Robyn Davies, our home-grown talent from Helston, Cornwall, has been putting in some impressive performances, battling it out with the pros on the WQS tour (World Qualifying Series).
Surfing has taken me to some amazing places: Indonesia, Hawaii, Fiji, Sri Lanka and the States, to mention a few, and I always spent the bulk of the winter in Manly, Sydney. One trip that sticks out was to New Zealand. I cannot describe how stunning this country is, so diverse: lush rainforests, crispy beaches, silent mountains. The place is tops, and the people are too. Another hot spot would have to be Ireland. Uncrowded surf, Guinness, seafood chowder, Irish bread. Perfect. And Fuerteventura has turned into another haunt; there are some great waves to be had along the north track, point after point of perfect rollers. And the Maldives were pretty amazing too, where the most wonderful waves peel past the tiny atoll of Lohifushi. On one particular occasion the surf had picked up and the other residents of the island had scarpered from the water, except for one longboarder called Brian from Salcombe in south Devon, and me. And I remember catching some of the best waves of my life, in the most beautiful surroundings, translucent sea, wearing only board shorts and a rash vest. Heaven. And Fiji is pretty extraordinary as well, although the rips were really hard work when we were surfing the outer islands. Paddling back out to catch wave after wave seemed to take for ever as the current keeps pulling you back in the opposite direction, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget the colour of the sea there. It transfixes you; it’s got to be the most beautiful blue in the world.
During my competition years I was lucky enough to be involved with Surfers Against Sewage, a charity set up by Chris Hines and a few other surfers who were fed up going surfing in filthy waters, coming out with sore throats and bad stomachs. Their aim is to clean up our seas to benefit all water users, and for four years I went on the tour bus they organised, travelling around Great Britain to a different place each day, with press calls and other media activities, school talks and fundraisers, and we met some great people along the way.
And now for the first time in my life I don’t want to run away to other shores. I’ve set up a surf school with my partner, based at Saunton Sands where I learnt to surf, and I’ve got a whole new perspective; I’m not just surfing for myself any more. When you start teaching something, you have to learn yourself again. Everything you have been doing instinctively for the last fifteen years has now got to be explained in great detail, and it gets fairly technical in parts. But it’s been fantastic introducing so many people to the sport, and it’s even better when you get to see their big smiles when they stand up for the first time and ride a wave into the shore. It gives me huge satisfaction. And last summer I was involved in a girls-only coaching club, and as word got around we had thirty local girls out there, loving every minute of it, which was brilliant. The club was free, and the idea was to get more women involved in the sport. We’d help coach them and give them advice on boards and other tips along the way, and it was a huge success, and most of the girls are regulars in the water to this day, which is great to see. Surfing has taken me all over the world, and now it feels like it’s brought me home again.