Cover shot by Ricardo Bravo / Red Bull Content Pool
Scottish big wave surfer Ben Larg has had one heck of a rise to the mainstream.
In his first real prominent season, Ben invited Nic Von Rupp to surf a hellish Scottish slab, the duo having met randomly. Nic then returned the favour and brought Ben to Portuguese mega wave, Nazare.
This was Ben’s first time scoping out the world’s biggest juggernaut and in typical Larg-ian way, took a swing at it, becoming one of the youngest surfers to wrangle its many nuances. Then, Ben released an edit with French surfer Benjamin Sanchis in Scotland and ended up signing a deal with O’Neill. Or they might have all happened at once. Five-years-ago is such a blur.
Since then, things have only gotten better. And Ben, born in 2004 from the Isle of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides, has been on somewhat of a meteoric projection. The kind that led him to another UK big wave surfer Andrew Cotton.
“Cotty gave me so much advice,” said Ben, when he caught up with Wavelength last week. “He’s also building this UK-based team and we’re partnering together for various competitions.”
This is just the tip of the iceberg for a localised big wave scene that’s had a bit of an injection in recent years. Not in terms of cash, but in terms of the characters out of the UK.
Laura Crane’s established in the big wave scene and at the forefront of tackling Nazare. The North East’s Louis Thomas Hudson has had a few devilish seasons in Portugal. Ireland’s Conor Maguire continues to set a very high bar and Gearoid McDaid seems to come out swinging at everything he looks at.
It’s not all about big waves for Ben Larg. A lil’ rippable Netherlands in-land wave tub is a-ok too. Photo: Red Bull Content Pool.
For someone whose big wave career started from such a young age, we wondered how Ben went about school and the balancing act here. “Online schooling,” he said. “King’s InterHigh – meant I could travel, and learn and not be a drop out. Great option for anyone pursuing a career with lots of travel, but also for anyone struggling with school.”
Right now, Ben’s focussed on staying ready for when the northern hemisphere big wave season unleashes on the shores of UK and Europe.
“I was in Australia a few weeks ago, and had planned to surf The Right and Gnaraloo with Ned Hart and Zac Haynes, but the swell wasn’t there so I flew to Bali to score the swell here,” he said.
“The Right would have been amazing, I’ve not surfed it before but you see the images and the videos and I thought, this was going to be the time to get it. There’s still a window to do it this season, but we will see.”
How to stay ready? Lunges. Photo: Red Bull Content Pool.
From there, it’s a return to feet on the ground in Scotland. Ben will head back to Tiree, to help his mum at a surf school and then his dad who works at a joinery. “Or back to surfing some okish beachbreaks,” he said.
As with every big wave season that rolls around, the pendulum has been shifting between paddle and tow. Where it lands this season is anyone’s guess. “And when we think about competitions, there’s only really one: the Nazare Tow Surf Challenge. So it makes sense at the moment to focus on tow,” said Ben. “But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for paddle waves.”
So how does the future big wave scene look then if there’s only one event? “I don’t know,” he said. “We do have this amazing crew in the UK and Ireland doing amazing things. But you look at the cliffs of Nazare during a swell and there’s easily 30,000 people watching. So there’s a lot of interest about it all. Last couple of years, I’ve had a perforated ear drum. It’s been good to tow for me so I don’t get it filled with water, which is when I start to get super dizzy. I feel like it’s shifting to paddle and it’s good to see that, my ear is so much better than it was and I’ve got some decent plugs not too, it all helps.”
And then it is about big waves! Nazare 2023. Photo: Red Bull Content Pool.
As for where to paddle? “Aileen’s,” said Ben. “That’s the goal. Watching that wave made me fall in love with big wave surfing. I paddled it for the first time recently, I had an injured foot but paddled out and got the most amazing vision out there. It’s an insane place.
“But there are loads of undocumented spots across the UK. I’ve found some pretty nuts waves and they’ve not seen the light of day. These will be my mission for the foreseeable, I’ve got a few big ones scouted out and that’s where I’m focussing. Watch this space.”
Come September, let the season of exploration commence!
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