SLOW WAVES

Dave Lyons, Mike Guest

Surfing in southeast Scotland is about as far from barrelling waves in Hawaii and sun-kissed Californians as you can get. The weather is cold, the water is colder and the waves are fickle. But there’s a growing community of committed (and often cold) surfers between Dunbar and Eyemouth nonetheless.

This is not a spot guide and you won’t find any stories of gnarly waves and epic sessions. This isn’t even really about surfing – it’s a collection of stories celebrating the ways the surfing community along this coast is making a positive impact far beyond the confines of the sport itself, from supporting the mental health of young people, to campaigning against water pollution, to contributing to the towns and villages in the southeast of Scotland.

Slow Waves takes its name from Slow Ways, the charity which funded the project. Slow Ways is an initiative to create a network of walking routes that connect all of Great Britain's towns and cities as well as thousands of villages and every national park. People can use the routes to walk between neighbouring places or combine routes to travel over longer distances.

Kick-started during the first Covid lockdown, Slow Ways grew through hundreds of volunteers suggesting thousands of routes. There are now over 8,000 routes in the network that cover over 120,000km. Using the Slow Ways website and app, people are now walking the routes to make sure they are good enough to be in the network.

Tales from a Slow Way is a Slow Ways initiative to fund creative projects celebrating communities along Slow Ways routes. The Slow Ways route Duneye one runs from Dunbar to Eyemouth, connecting the only two shops where you can rent surf kit along Scotland’s southeast coast: Coast to Coast Surf School in Belhaven Bay and St Vedas Surf Shop in Coldingham Bay.

Slow Waves was created by Dave Lyons and Mike Guest. Dave is a journalist and charity communications professional who surfs regularly on beaches between Dunbar and Eyemouth. Mike is a photographer from Edinburgh and self-confessed salt water addict. As well as working for major brands, Mike works with community initiatives, including recently facilitating a group of young creatives in Caithness to make work exploring their relationship with the ocean. 

Dave and Mike walked the 42km Duneye One route over two days, heading southeast from Dunbar to Eyemouth, passing through the three main surfing beaches on this coast; Belhaven Bay, Pease Bay and Coldingham Bay. The stories in this zine are all connected to one of those beaches and present a snapshot of a thriving surf community, its history and the way it reaches beyond what on the surface can appear to be an individualistic sport.

The zine features interviews with Sam Christopherson from Coast to Coast Surf School; Alison Young, Wave Project Scotland Team Leader and Robyn, a former Wave Project participant and now volunteer; Martin McQueenie from Momentum Surf School; Sally Harris from Groundswell Scotland; Elspeth Simpson from Surfers Against Sewage and Steve Powner from St Vedas Surf Shop.

180 x 250mm
120 page, double sided with fold out spreads
1st edition. 100 Copies

£12.00 (plus £3.00 UK postage)