The last place you might imagine a surfing hotspot to develop is on the pebbled beaches of Whitehaven.
But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and over the past few years, the town has slowly become home to a growing community of surfers.
While it might seem like a sport made for warmer climates, the surfers taking on Whitehaven’s waves go out during the winter months, when storm swells, which create larger waves, are more likely.
But too far up or down the coastline, and the conditions are un-surfable, making Whitehaven, and some of its surrounding areas, a diamond in the rough.
It’s a mini surfing miracle that has enticed surfers to travel from as far as Kendal and Carlisle to visit the town and catch some waves.
One of those surfers part of this new community is Stephen Hancock, 57, who lives in Whitehaven, not too far away from the sea.
Stephen, who grew up in Australia and has lived in Whitehaven for the past six years, has surfed on and off all his life, but only fully got back into the sport during lockdown, after spotting other surfers taking on Whitehaven’s waves.
He said: “I didn’t get back into surfing for quite a long time until I had a house here. About five or six years ago I had a house on Bransty and I used to walk down with my paddleboard, and 99.9 per cent of the time I’d be there by myself.
“But when it got to big storms, a couple of Carlisle people came down here and some surfers from Kendal would come up now and again.
“Then a couple of kitesurfers and sailboarders, they started seeing people out in the water, so they got their paddleboards, and old surfboards out too.
“One of them the decided to set up a WhatsApp group and now there’s at least 40 of us I think, not everyone comes to surf at the same time, but now on a good day out there you’ll get at least six or seven at a time out on the water.
“I’ve been doing this now for about four or five years, and the passion doesn’t fade, it’s absolutely brilliant, and we’ve got a proper little community going now.”
While it is possible to surf with a typical longboard off the coast of Whitehaven, the sea’s conditions are particularly good for variations of the sport like hydrofoil surfing and kitesurfing.
Hydrofoil surfboards, also known as foil boards, are surfboards with a wing-like structure that extends below the board into the water to reduce drag and allow the surfer to move faster with more control.
It’s ideal for places where smaller waves are more common and higher speeds are needed to travel along the waves.
Stephen said: “I ride a hydrofoil, and all it is really is an aeroplane that fits on the bottom of your board.
“I’ve got a surfboard shaped like a baked bean as they need more floatation here and you’ve got to set off in at least a metre of water. Then, it’s all designed on speed.
“Just like an aeroplane the board lifts up and you lift off the water and because of the way it’s designed, there’s no more friction under the water, so you just take off.
“The first time you get up and get that little flight, it’s like the first time you ever get on a bike or go down a ramp on a skateboard, it’s totally different and new and then your brain sort of says, that’s actually possible, you can do that.
“Once your brain says you can do it, you just keep going and you get a bigger and longer flys.”
But to actually get up and on the board, a specific set of weather conditions first have to be met first.
Stephen said: “Here in Whitehaven, it’s all about the conditions. We’ve got Ireland blocking any storm swell from the West, we’ve got Scotland that comes right out and blocks any swell from the north west, so that’s two places blocked off already.
“Wales also sticks right out and blocks off a little bit from the south, so you’ve only got a small gap left to allow storm swells through. So we wait for big storms off the Atlantic, that come off from America.
“In Whitehaven, we’ve got this special little unique place where you’ve got protection from the wind, but just enough so there’s still space to bring the surf around.
“It’s a diamond in the rough. Which is quite amazing, because I wasn’t expecting that when I bought a house here, I just saw the harbour and wanted to be near that.
“But the swells come every year and there’s lots of them and they start off from America, swirl anticlockwise and that means as they push closer to us, with the wind and storm swell it’s just enough to get it all the way into giving us our little waves in the harbour.
“It is unique that we get those conditions here because of all that land around us, so that’s why we rely on that winter weather, it is much more of a winter activity because we rely on those big Atlantic storms.
“For me, warmth is everything, we use 6mm thick wetsuits, well I do anyway, I’m a big softie! Some people don’t go as overboard as me, but I like a hooded thick wetsuit and 5mm gloves and 7mm boots to keep me warm.”
While Whitehaven’s surfers are looking for storm swells to get out on their boards – they’re not looking for cracks of thunder, rain and wind, instead, it’s about finding the right wind speeds and underwater conditions to make surfing possible.
Stephen said: “It always relies on wind, to do a downwinder, you’re relying on 18mph, but anything in the range of 15-25mph works, anything else gets quite nasty.
“There’s multiple places we can check for wind conditions, but the way we check the waves here in Whitehaven is on a website called Surfline, they give you a reading for St Bees and the wider area.
“But the different conditions also affect what kind of surfing you can do, so either longboard surfing or hydrofoil as the condition here are brilliant for it.
“But because we’ve got this WhatsApp group, it’s the perfect way to communicate about conditions. Someone will put in the group any eyes on north shore, and people go down have a look and give a report.
“Mainly it’s us older folk in the group, but there are a few younger people starting to get into it now too. They often were going over to the North East because that was their only opportunity.
“They’re starting to catch on that in the right conditions you can come onto the West Coast and get a bit of surfing in.
“But the waves here don’t get generally huge, maybe up to a normal ceiling height, wouldn’t get any bigger than that, but that’s big enough for a lot of people. “
When Stephen says Whitehaven gets little waves, he’s really talking in surfer terms, as they can reach over 8ft in height off Cumbria’s coasts.
Despite how unnerving that may be to onlookers, for Stephen, it’s a sport that he’s been passionate about for most of his life.
He added: “It’s almost the same thing as climbing, you’ve got to get into that nice mental zone or you wouldn’t leave the ground. You need that combo of excitement, apprehension and not being too scared or timid.
“I like everything about it, because it’s quite a unique sport and you have to keep your eyes on conditions, that adds in an element of expectation there.
“You get that excitement when you think it’s going to be good and then when you’re doing the downwinders it’s just the joy of being out in the elements.
“It’s very much a ritual, you get down there make sure you sort your wetsuit out and make sure you’ve got everything, and give your board a wax so you don’t slip off.
“It’s a bit like meditation in a way, you get your exercise but you’re also relying on nature and obviously the water has energy that moves independently of you and you’ve got to work with that.
“It definitely helps to have skateboarding or surfing experience, but there’s some people who don’t have much experience and do it, it is a matter of you’ve got to be dogged and just keep going with it.
“It’s also quite tidal here, so when the tide is too high to surf and it has to go out a bit, we’ll sit there and wait for the first wave and have a chat and just get excited.”
As with all water-sports, surfing isn’t without risks, and while Cumbria isn’t threatened by great white sharks or jellyfish with fatal stings, the elements can prove lethal.
Stephen said: “I once did a downwinder down here and I must have sailed over thousands of jellyfish, proper big lions mane ones, so you wouldn’t want to go faceplanting on one of them.
“But one of the first times I’d done it coming down northerly winds I was falling off a lot and absolutely dog tired. I got to Whitehaven Harbour and someone called the RNLI out. I think I must have been resting and shaking my fingers off from the cold. They came to check on me and we had a chat and they made sure I was okay.
“There was also a time I was coming by the breakwater at Workington and I came around a corner and didn’t see a fisherman and got tangled in his line.
“I did a silly thing and took the sail off to untangle myself and a gust of wind took it and it went off to the speedway track. I was still there and had to paddle, so I must have been paddling for three quarters of an hour still toeing fishing line behind me as well.
“So you’ve got to be wary, but surfing wise there’s no real dangers, as long as you’re confident with the water and you take the right things with you.”
With Hydrofoil surfing there’s no limit to how far you can go out to sea with the added help of a sail, but it’s all dependent on skills and endurance.
Stephen said: “In Southerly wind, I come down here in my van, leave my van here, and go what they call downwind, so I use my foil and my sail, and I go to Maryport and catch the train home.
“It’s about 11 nearly 12 miles in distance. You’re definitely in the elements and you do sometimes go half a kilometer off shore sometimes, or close to anyway and then because you’re following the wind and swell it’s a bit like skiing down moguls where they have bumps.
“You’re limited with a longboard here but with the hydrofoil you can also go to Bassenthwaite and Ullswater and do downwinders on those lakes too. So we’ll go and get a couple of vans at one end and the other and we sail all way down to other end of the lake.
“But if you don’t have waves to power you, you need wind and a sail, so you have a handheld wing that connects to your wrist so it doesn’t blow away.
“It can be quite a tiring experience, downwinders take a bit of skill, sometimes you actually go faster than the wind.”
Stephen said he plans to keep surfing and that Whitehaven is currently his favourite place to surf.
He added: “The community we’ve got now is a beautiful little network, it’s fantastic, and people are absolutely amazed when they see us out there.
“But it’s definitely got some history here too, people do come and go, the kitesurfers they’re up Allonby way and they’ve got a WhatsApp group, but they’re out every single day.
“There was apparently a group of people early in the 80s I think, and one of them still comes and does a bit of surfing now, that was when they were still dredging the harbour and they had a bit of a surfing group then, but then it died out and we’ve sort of started it up again.
“I think because it’s a niche community, it does bring people together.
“I would say it has to be a growing community, it won’t grow dramatically because of the environment. Whitehaven is generally not seen as a surfing town it’s more football and rugby, but always from now I think there will be a little niche crowd of people who carry it on.
“Well I hope they do because when I’m sat down there as an old man I want to be watching something drinking my coffee!”
Terry Wake, water safety officer for Workington RNLI, said surfers needed to remember the risks involved in the sport.
He said: “Most surfers have a good understanding of the risks involved in their sport but more experienced surfers tend to push themselves in bigger surf and dangerous conditions.
“Those new to surfing can lack the experience to manage difficult conditions.”
The RNLI provides advice for people who want to go surfing:
- Surf with a mate – Especially in a big swell. Surfers look out for one another.
- Tell someone you’re going surfing – Let someone know when and where you are going out and, importantly, when you expect to be back.
- Check weather and tides – Before you set out, check the local forecast for wind, swell and tide.
- Know your limits – It’s easy to be caught out. Don’t challenge yourself too early and know your limits.
- Be aware of rip currents
- Always wear a leash – So you don’t become separated from your board.
- Wear the right wetsuit – Wear an appropriate wetsuit for surfing. As well as keeping you warm, wetsuits give some added protection from scrapes on rocks or other impacts.
Understand surf etiquette – the RNLI has a guide on its website www.rnli.org
