Numb and Numb-er-rer

Two years ago surfer Ian Battrick, from Jersey in The Channel Islands and Photographer Tim Nunn released a book called Numb. At the time it was a bit of a first for a couple of guys from The British Isles, and it’s subject, some feral coldwater adventures through Canada, Norway, Iceland and Scotland was way ahead fo the curve when it came to the whole cold water movement which we are now surrounded by.

The book documented six years of travel, from deep snow, volcanoes and sub zero temperatures in Iceland to Bears and surviving weeks in genuine wilderness in Canada. It was a bit of an instant classic, and the hard backed coffee table book stacked with images and tales sold out pretty quick. Well the boys are back with the second edition, thicker, with new stories and trips and a lot more imagery, so we caught up with Tim Nunn for a quick chat.

So two years down the line, why did you decide to do another edition?
I think firstly whilst Numb was a big success and it sold out, we knew we could make something even better. Making a book for the first time was a real mission, and once the dust had settled we knew just with the material we had already collected we could tweak and make it even greater, but with extra trips to Iceland and Scotland it is so much more.

So what’s different about this edition?
It’s thicker, about 64 pages thicker, it’s got a new cover which will be revealed soon. We have been to Iceland three more times and scored the best waves we’ve ever had and been on some really epic adventures there. So In my opinion where Canada was the standout tale in the first edition Iceland matches it. We’ve also been back to our favourite slabs in Scotland and Ian has some incredible POV angles to add as well as some other shots from me, plus more of the local boys. We have also extended Canada with some more shots as well. So it’s bigger, better and hopefully even more inspiring.

You’ve launched a publishing company as well so this wont be the last book?
Yes I’ve been working on Esker for some time (www.esker.tv), to bring everything I do and a lot of my friends do into once place so we can create some amazing projects. But a big part of that is to publish some really great books, on subjects and with imagery which may get lost in the modern online world. So Numb is the first and then we have plans for more, including the next one with Ben Selway.

The publishing model is quite an interesting one as well, can you tell us a little more?
It’s not that different really, it falls halfway between a kind of crowdfunding and a standard model. Books cost a lot to print, it’s why there are not loads more, so you either get a publisher which is hard or get commercial backing which can, as we all know, affect the content. We didn’t want to go down a too commercial route, I’m not a massive fan of crowdfunding, so we met halfway. We worked out to help us print we needed between 50-100 pre-orders to help make it happen. We know we have a certain amount of people who back this sort of thing and are willing to part with £30 to get an awesome book, and we’ve added the extras of signed prints and a thank you in the book, just to make their contribution to making it happen a little more special. It’s also a little cheaper than the final price for the pre-orders.

So how can people help?
It’s simple, order a book here and that’s it, that’s all we need and hopefully we can kickstart a revolution in really good independent publishing around surf and our amazing culture.

Thanks Tim, can’t wait to get hold of our copy, here’s that link again so you can help get behind the whole project – http://www.numb.bigcartel.com/product/numb/