Surfer and author Tom Anderson’s new book on UK surfing takes this distant off shore sport where Jack Kerouac took the car and road trip. Andersons cheeky and oddly reflective prose is a delight to read and I found myself hooked by this book from the off, even though I have no interest in surfing. It’s as much a travel book as a memoir and has a wonderful vein of black humor running though it. 

This is Anderson's secret; to bring character, anecdote and old fashioned bloody good writing to an area that’s not been known for it’s literary tradition and plonk himself as firmly and with as much finesse on the keyboard as he does on the surfboard, and with as much flair too.

The book explores surfing in the UK with Anderson documenting the crowded line-ups and secret breaks around the country along with the characters he meets along the way. He has a deft eye for anecdote and a real warmth for catching the essence of this coldest of seas.

Here’s a tiny extract for a taster….
“The Severn Bore is a bit like Marmite. Obviously the main similarity is that as a surfer you’ll either love the idea of surfing the Severn Bore or you’ll hate it. The wave itself is like Marmite in as much as it’s brown, sticky, smelly, slimy, sludgy and – when you inevitably get face-planted somewhere and duly force-fed a load of its trademark filth – you’ll also discover it has a very distinctive taste.”

That’s him in fun mode, he’s just as good when talking Newquay or Pwllelli and the chapter on Ireland brought me vividly closer to any surfer i've been too since 1988, but that’s another story all together.

Anderson lives in Porthcawl, on the South Welsh coast, a place I know very very well from my childhood. He conveys the raw primal energy of this part of the British coastline in a breathtaking easy way and is at ease with capturing the softly lilting people who live alongside it. 

Next time I’m down that way, looking out over Ogmore Bay trying to spot the seals, I’ll wonder if one of those bobbing black rubbery heads might be Tom, looking back at me and winking.

Out now £8.99

Available from the publishers here:
Or all good bookshops