Editor, Mike Lay, talks about sharing tubes, stories, and a pathway to positive change.
“What I loved about that session at The Wave, well, apart from getting tubed, was the diversity and talent of the crew in the water,” said Wavelength Print Editor, Mike Lay. “From Sarah Baum, whose surfing blew my mind, to Mini Cho, the first Mozambiquan pro surfer, to all the Cornish lads, it was an incredible hour of shared waves and stories.”
Lay was referring to the Jimmys X Wavelength Pro Surf Invitational, which was the final act of an exhilarating, action-packed three days of impactful conversation and inspiration from Blue Earth Summit ’22. The Wave in Bristol had juiced up the settings to pro-level on both the left and the right, and 15 surfers from around the globe traded barrels as the attendees of the Summit watched on from the gantries.
“In many ways, that surf experience mirrored what I enjoyed most about the Blue Earth Summit,” continued Lay. “Seeing the likes of Sea Shepherd, who have legitimate people making a positive impact, rubbing shoulders with business people who haven’t always had sustainability as a top priority was good to see. Hopefully, the Summit provided a space to have that conversation to find a way where profit and positive change don’t have to be oil and water.”
Sea Shepherd, in partnership with Finisterre , had run a workshop on Day 2 covering activism on the front line. It was just one of many talks that placed ocean conversation as a key plank of the Blue Earth Summit. The former CEO of Surfers Against Sewage, Hugo Tagholm, delivered a speech full of razor-sharp statements about how our oceans are being destroyed, and solutions to stop it. Chris Bertish, the big-wave surfer, Stand Up Paddle Boarding Guinness World Record Holder and Ocean Pioneer, held a talk and workshop having witnessed the issues like few others. “The amount of plastic I saw SUPing across the Atlantic, was more terrifying than being attacked by a shark,” said Bertish.
The evening before the Invitational, Lay had been at the PropYard in Bristol to launch Volume 263 of Wavelength, the second magazine on his editorial watch. The issue’s theme is custodians and explores the myriad forms that custodianship can take and learn about individuals and organisations around the world who, through surfing, have been compelled to protect their waves, oceans, and planet.
The magazine features a piece from Sean Doherty, the surf writer who helmed the successful ‘Fight For The Bight’ campaign against gas exploration in Australia. Hannah Bevan tells the story of one of the most successful environmental lobbying groups of all time, the Surfrider Foundation, and chats with their CEO, Chad Nelson. Australian Irish transplant, Noah Lane, recounts a recent trip to Nicaragua, in search of empty waves and a more conscious version of consumption.
Mike himself writes poetically about the filmmaker and musician, Mikey Smith, and his recent film project, Hunros Jorna, a hypnotic masterpiece charting the beauty of a life spent devoted to salt water. He also interviews Dr. Cliff Kapono, to find out how he has managed to craft a career combining surfing and science and how his indigenous roots have led to a life of intuitive responsibility and sensitivity towards the ocean as a whole.
“This issue’s contributors are a motley crew of custodians, young and old, male and female,” says Mike. “Each brings their outlook on the world, their own story, and, as a collective, I hope they can offer a view of what it is to be a surfer today, connected to, and grateful for, the ocean we play in and the planet we live on.”
It was a sentiment that not only underpinned the Jimmys Pro Surf Invitational, but also the new Wavelength magazine, and Blue Earth Summit ’22 as a whole. Whether it was Richard Walker, the CEO of Iceland, who threw down the gauntlet to encourage big business to engage in corporate activism, or Felix Daglish, who won financial support to solo cycle from Dorset to the Orkney Islands on a specially designed quadriplegic bike, conversations were had, and real plans were made to protect the environment we all live in.
We’ll provide more inspirational stories from the Blue Earth Summit ’22 over the coming weeks.
Fancy getting your hands on a fresh copy of Vol. 263? Wavelength gets delivered straight to your door before anyone else, either as a single edition or annual subscription.
