GB Surfing: A New Era On The Waves

GB Surfing is the new home of elite level surfing in Great Britain, set on building a team of athletes capable of winning Olympic medals. Previously British Surfing, the organisation has officially unveiled its rebrand as it begins a journey to realise its Olympic aspirations.

With a new name, fresh image, and bunch of new hires on board, we caught up with GB Surfing Performance Coach, Luke Dillon, to hear more about the changes and how they can turn British surfers’ Olympic fortunes around.

Can you tell us about your career to date and new role at GB Surfing?

I started surfing aged eight in my hometown of Newquay, Cornwall and have been competing since the age of nine. I started competing for fun when I was a junior, but I soon got drawn in to competing whenever possible.

I’ve won English and British Junior and Senior titles domestically and won a European Junior Event and finished seventeenth in the World Under-21. I’ve been competing on the World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series for seven years and had some really good results. After Covid, my goals began to change, and I wanted to lead the next generations of Britain’s elite surfers to the top of professional surfing.

My new role at GB Surfing is the Performance Coach. I will predominantly be looking after the GB Surfing Progression Squad and focusing on all aspects of their surfing to progress them through their careers and into the Olympics. It’s a hybrid role where I can balance my own competing for the next year to try to qualify for Paris 2024. The final qualifying for Paris 2024 is in Puerto Rico in February.

What is the current state of play in British surfing? How successful has Great Britain been in the sport in recent years?

With the inclusion of surfing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the sport has received a boost financially from UK Sport and commercially through athlete sponsorships.

In the UK our wave quality and sea temperature’s start us on the backfoot. Prior to surfing’s inclusion in the Olympics, we haven’t had the same financial support as our European neighbours and the rest of the world. It’s been down to the athletes and their individual sponsorship to be able to train overseas and compete.

We’ve had sporadic results through the years – finals placing’s in WSL events, top 20s in the ISA World Games. We’ve had three juniors win gold medals at the European Junior Championships.

I have no doubt with GB Surfing’s plan and vision that we’ll achieve many great things in the future.

What are the motivations behind the rebrand and what impact do you hope it will have?

I think it’s a fresh start. Its new faces, new ideas. The same common goal. To take Great Britain to the top of professional surfing. To create something that will last here for future generations. To inspire them, motivate them. I hope it’ll have a lasting impact on the sport in this country.

Outside of the rebrand itself, what other big changes are being made?

Surfing’s inclusion in the Olympics has changed a lot for us here. We now have some financial support to be able to help progress our next generations. There’s a lot of plans and discussions about what the future holds.

For now, it’s about improving our current talent pool and putting the wheels in motion to develop our surfers, make results and head towards Olympic qualification.

How can GB Surfing realistically challenge nations where it is easier to find waves? How can that gap be closed?

We must be smarter. Smarter with our money, our time and our surfers. Our waves here are suitable through some months for competing and training but we are going to have to travel more to help give our surfers the best opportunity we can. Help give them consistent coaching and waves to improve their ability. To improve competition tactics and make better results. There is lots to investigate, I’m personally excited and looking forward to the challenge to take our surfers and get results.

Vicky Gosling OBE and Dan Hunt have also come on board? What will their roles involve and how important are those hires?

Vicky is the Chair of the GB Surfing Board and Dan Hunt is the Executive Performance Director. They both have huge knowledge and experience in elite sport, and I think it is game changing that they are onboard.

Vicky recently helped lead GB Snowsport, as CEO, to their most successful ever season, and Dan has played a key role in successful Olympic winning programmes, and Tour de France wins. They both know what success takes and I am incredibly excited to be working with them and developing alongside them.

Are there other sports/case studies you look at as inspiration for this Olympic push?

Surfing is new in terms of professionalism and data, so I think it is essential to investigate other sports and see whether we can adapt new methods in our focus and training.  I’m trying to research more information on how Brazil ascended to Surfing’s main dominate force in the last ten/fifteen years.

The Olympics provides a huge portal of information on how countries have excelled their teams into great results and medal success, for me it is finding patterns of success and applying it to our team.

Is there a tangible target, such as medals/finalists etc, for Brisbane 2032?

The target for us is to be podium competitive by the 2032 Olympics. There are certain milestones we want to hit along the way, but for us it is all about building a long-lasting, sustainable programme that develops world-leading, medal winning surfers. This will take a bit of time, but we are confident that we have the talent, and the expertise to achieve this.

GB Surfing website goes live at 9am on Friday 14 July. www.gbsurfing.com

LUKE DILLON