The Best of Competitive British Surfing

ABOUT GB SURFING

Formation

In 2016, the IOC made an exciting announcement: shortboard surfing was to become an Olympic event, making its highly anticipated debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

Hot on the heels of this announcement, the Surfing Federations of England, Scotland, Wales, and the Channel Islands joined forces to form British Surfing in order to ensure GB teams could be entered in ISA Olympic qualifying events.

Fast forward to July 2023, and British Surfing changed its name to GB Surfing, to better represent the organisation’s Olympic aspirations.

Purpose

Select and manage any Great Britain surfing team competing in ISA and/or Olympic qualifying linked events.

Although GB Surfing has taken charge of elite surfing in the UK, the individual Home Nations will continue to manage other elements of the sport across their country, whether that’s by fostering grassroots participation in the sport or hosting a range of local competitions.

Aims

We aim to develop world-class athletes capable of winning Olympic medals by Brisbane 2032.

To do this we will build a sustainable progression programme to ensure systematic development of high-performance surfers representing the UK and enhance the existing Home Nations framework.

Olympic Journey

Our Olympic journey started in October 2023 with the announcement of the first Progression Squad. This squad will be made up of potential Olympic competitors and medalists in LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032.

Our funding is not based on immediate Olympic success, but rather on our ability to hit key development milestones ahead of Brisbane 2032.

MEET THE TEAM

Alys Barton

DOB: 11/04/2004

Hometown: Swansea

Home Federation: Surfing England

Instagram: @alysbartonsurfer

  • 2022 European Surfing U18 Champion
  • 2022 British Champion
  • 2022 2nd place at QS in Pantin
  • 2023 2nd place at Boardmasters

Ellie Turner

DOB: 10/09/2001

Hometown: Bude

Home Federation: Surfing England

Instagram: @ellieturnxer

  • 2017 2nd place in World Grom Search
  • 2017 ISA World Junior Championships U16 4th place
  • 2017 Pro Junior Tour 2nd place
  • 2019 2nd place at QS in Caparica

Patrick Langdon-Dark

DOB: 28/02/2000

Hometown: Swansea

Home Federation: Welsh Surfing Federation

Instagram: @patrickldark

  • 2024 2nd place at Boardmasters
  • 13th in the European rankings
  • 5th place in a QS 5000 event

Stanley Norman

DOB: 10/02/2003

Hometown: Bude

Home Federation: Surfing England

Instagram: @stanleynormansurfer

  • 2023 British Champion
  • 9th place at QS in Lakinow, France

Lukas Skinner

DOB:18/01/2008

Hometown: Perranporth

Home Federation: Surfing England 

Instagram: @lukas_skinner

  • 2024 Boardmasters winner
  • 2024 + 2023 ISA World Junior Championships U16 silver medalist
  • 2023 World Grom Search Finals Winner
  • 2023 European Grom Search Final Winner

Charlotte Mulley

DOB:19/08/2005

Hometown: Gold Coast, Australia

Home Federation: Surfing England 

Instagram: @charlottemulley_

  • 2nd at GB Cup
  • ISA Junior Games for Team England

Will Nelson

Head of Operations

Will is responsible for overseeing the business operations of GB Surfing. Reporting directly to the Board, Will also is the Accountable Officer to UK Sport. 

Will started his career in the communications team at Sky Sports before joining PR and social media agency, Soapbox London.

Gwen Spurlock

Team Manager

Gwen was a competitive surfer for Wales and Great Britain, winning 4 Welsh titles, 4 GB junior titles, and 3 National Tour titles.

In 2015, she transitioned into coaching, soon becoming Head Coach and then Manager for Wales. She was appointed the Joint Head Coach for the GB team in the first Olympic Qualifier in 2019.

Gwen brings an enthusiasm for high performance surfing to the team, and hopes to help GB Surfing develop a world-class programme over the next 10 years.

Luke Dillon

Performance Coach

Luke is making the transition to coaching from competing as one of GB’s most successful ever surfers – a 2x British National Champion, 4x English Champion, European Junior Tour winner and a Top 20 ISA World Games finisher.

He will oversee the day-to-day coaching of the Progression Squad, lead on all UK based training activity, squad planning for the winter camps, and athlete reviews. He will also play a lead role in the preparation for the 2024 ISA World Surf Games in Puerto Rico and beyond.

Vicky Gosling OBE

Chair
Vicky joined the Board of British Surfing in 2022 as Chair. She is currently the Chief Executive of GB Snowsport, Founder of the Rugby Centurions, and sits on the British Olympic Association board.
Vicky previously served for 21 years in the RAF, reaching the prestigious rank of Group Captain.
She launched the Invictus Games in 2014, going on to be Chief Executive of the second Invictus Games in Orlando in 2016.

Hugo Adams

Independent Non-Executive Director
Hugo has over 25 years of commercial and marketing experience and knowledge in the consumer goods industry. He is the former Chief Executive of Start-Rite and has held senior leadership positions at seven market-leading companies including Superdry and Marks & Spencer. As well as sitting on the GBSurfing board, Hugo is also currently an INED at Inspecs Plc.
Hugo is an enthusiastic, but beginner, surfer with two much more talented surfing children. He is a big advocate of all things sustainability, as well as the physical and mental health benefits of the sea.

Rhys Beer

Independent Non-Executive Director
Rhys is Senior Vice President for Platform & Content at sports media and technology company OneFootball. He previously spent five years as Head of International Content Strategy & Acquisitions at Meta and has held leadership positions at Comcast NBCUniversal, DAZN and The Football Association. Rhys is a respected commentator on the changing face of the media & tech sector, having been recognised by Leaders Sports Awards as one of the world’s top 30 sports leaders aged under 40.

Simon Brewer

Independent Non-Executive Director

Simon is a Principal at Bond Trust Limited and joins the GB Surfing Board as Treasurer. Trained at PwC, Simon is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He also went on to be one of the founding partners of Sanne Group Plc.

Simon is a keen surfer and helped establish the Jersey Surfboard Club Junior Academy, as well as managing the Channel Islands Surf Team at ISA and ESF competitions worldwide.

Dave Cove

Independent Non-Executive Director
Dave has 30 plus years of experience in the sport and leisure industry. He is currently Director of Consulting with an industry leading sport and leisure consultancy company.
Previously, he spent 14 years as the CEO of a large leisure charity. He has also been the Independent Chair of Wycombe Wanderers FC Foundation, Chair of British Surfing, Vice Chair of Sports Leaders UK, Trustee of the Sports Council Trust Company, and a Board Member of the Football Foundation Grants Panel.

Huw John

Welsh Surfing Federation
A member of surfing governance at Welsh, British and European levels since 1983, Huw brings over 50 years of experience to the board.
He is proud to have been part of the development of competitive surfing, at home and abroad, and will continue to strive for honest and democratic solutions to all the opportunities that the future of surfing may bring.

Ben Powis

Surf England Representative
Ben is the CEO of Surfing England, overseeing events, coaching, clubs, talent development and more. Previous to joining Surfing England he worked for 20 years in the clean tech sector. He brings a combination of sound commercial approach and strong commitment to the surfing community and athletes to the British Surfing Board. A passionate surfer himself, he loves sharing the stoke of surfing with the next generation.

William Watson

Scottish Surfing Federation Representative
William has had a leading role in the SSF since 2005 and was one of the founders in British Surfing in 2019.
In his professional life, William works as an operations and engineering manager. Having spent a large part of his early career working offshore, he went on to manage a number of teams delivering projects and operations in the UK, Albania, and Australia.

Arlene Maltman

Channel Island Surfing Federation Representative
Arlene’s extensive competitive, amateur, and professional surfing career includes winning 2 British Titles, the European Championships, and being selected for the World Games by Team GB on 3 occasions. She pioneered women’s surfing in an era when the sport was predominantly male.
She brings to the board her wealth of surfing knowledge which spans over 45 years, and a passion for equality.

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