I liked the idea of going somewhere I'd never been before and surfing waves with nobody around even finding new waves that had never even been surfed before.
Photo: @vagueinfluence
Coldwater surfing definitely carries its own charm. Images of glassy barrels breaking in front of a tropical backdrop are universal in their draw
anybody would instantly daydream themselves onto that beach and away from a desk, surfer or not. But present a gem of a wave near anything that makes you even think of the word
cold and surely only a surfer would call it inviting.
Ben Gulliver’s 2017
The Seawolf, filmed in Norway, Scotland, New Zealand, Canada, Australia and The Faroe Islands,
celebrated that same draw some have to cold-water waves. For Valentin Rey, a photographer based in Switzerland, it meant an overnight adventure to shoot one of the film’s locations, which turned into a “you couldn’t have scripted it better” moment.
Sure, winter-time surfing has its drawbacks, but almost any thick-skinned, warm-blooded surfer will take it over the crowds of summer and its equally torturous flat-spells.