In part 3 we chatted to one of our own here at Mangos, Luke Simmonds.
Name: Luke Simmonds
What do you do? Student / Photographer / RNLI Lifeguard
(Pic: Chris Brewer)
How long have you been surfing? I've been infected by wave riding now for 7 or 8 years i think. I grew up pretty landlocked towards the London area and was surrounded by people who prefered a good game of cricket or a rowing regatta than a good old surf mission. Luckely I'd always been pretty sporty as a kid and liked the idea of surfing but had never had the opportunity, until my dad got some free train tickets from his commuters pass anywhere in the UK and he proposed we go as far as possible. We ended up in Newquay, Cornwall and decided to try out surfing and a month later had a family holiday to Cali booked and caught my first green waves at Malibu point, yeah I got hooked pretty quick.
After that every weekend or break I was travelling back to the coast I could to surf and get in the water even moved to newquay in summers to work and surf at 17, since finishing school I've based my life and decisions around it and it seems to be working out alright so far. I'm still a kook but i got a few years to work on that.
First Surfboard? first board was a crapp yellow 7'0 banana that I got from some shop in the Newq as it had some sweet fins thrown in, no idea who the shaper was think it was an ozzy import. The thing was floaty and good for learning but realistically should've got a big fat boy flyer in heinze sight probably would've slided better, but heck it was a learning curve.
Notable Surf Trips? I mean before the age of 18 every trip to Cornwall or Devon was like a mini surf trip which was kinda cool as actually had a crew of keen surfers back at home. I've had a few cool trips out to the standard Indo routine and around a few of the islands like Sumbawa and Lombok which were pretty rad and managed to get some surprisingly perfect and uncrowded waves out there.
Kinda been on abit of a mission to make the most of my time around the British Isles and Europe whilst im studying and before I go on some full on travels apre University next year. Like Scotland & Ireland I've been a fair few times now and the waves are pretty mystical and I don't really mind the cold anymore I just love the weird adventures you end up on these trips and the funny characters you meet, Plus.. the waves Pump! had better waves in both these uncrowded places than I have had in the warm and crowded waters abroad. I'm sure I'll do the whole Southern Hemisphere stuff next winter after I've travelled the whole of Europe in Boris the van.
(pic: megan hemsworth)
I actually just got back from probably one of the best surf trips I've ever been on from Thurso, Scotland! I'm not saying too much as im writing an article and were putting together some clips from it, but what I will tell you is that it was one of those trips that had abit of everything in it! waves that scared you to the core, waves that you couldn't help but fall in love with and a lot of stories and interesting mishaps along the way.
Current Equipment? My go to now is my performance twinny or my retro keel fin fish with glass ons shaped by Hugh Brockman whos my go to shaper nowadays. I used to be super narrow minded and only think about narrow performance knives and its all I wanted to surf, until I realised I was never gunna be a pro surfer and wanted to just enjoy every wave and fit the board to the wave rather then try and force it. So now im pretty interested in going retro and just styling out and having as much fun as i can on any kinda board and becoming a more all rounded surfer, not just a performance prawn.
(pic: Daniel Cullen)
Any final thoughts, inspirational quotes ect? here's a quote I've been running through my head since watching Taylor Steeles latest surf flick Proximity from his holiness the Dalai Lama when asked what surprises him most about mankind -
“Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
I like this cus it brings things back down to earth and helps me to keep a open mind to what's ahead of me.
Also I'd like to just say cheers to our team here and everyone involved in all we do here at the Surf shop which is heading in a pretty positive and prosperous direction due to the hard work and input from the whole team. yew long live Mangos surfing.
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