Registered or Premium Member? LOG IN  |  Not a Premium Member? TRY PREMIUM FREE NOW 
--->
SCOTLAND: THE NEW INDO?
The inaugural O'Neill Highland Open comes to Thurso East
By: Chris Nelson
SURF NEWS SCOTLAND: THE NEW INDO?
March 28, 2006
Tweet this page
In case you haven't been paying attention, things are changing in the world of surf contests. Back in 2000, the O'Neill Deep Jungle Open saw some of the world's best surfers charge the hollow rights of Nias, a wave that has become the epitome of the 1970's era of discovery. Six years later, O'Neill are taking their five-star WQS event to the 'Norse Shore' of Scotland to take on its coldwater cousin. This event has come a long way in just six years -- from balmy 82 degrees sea temp to a chilly 43 degrees.
 
Surfing has always had a predisposition built into its genetic makeup. It is a throwback to the Polynesian roots, passing on a trait to every new generation of waveriders. We are drawn towards the warmth, like a glacier grinding down a valley, pulled inexorably away from the freezing latitudes to the comfortable heat of the lush green that lies, always waiting below.
Previous       10 of 17       Next
SCOTLAND: THE NEW INDO?
The Vikings must have had an inkling about this spot when naming it. The reefs at Brims Ness -- which roughly translates as 'surf point' pull in any swell going and have been the saviour of many a surf trip. Photo: Mark Lumsden
Surfers have for decades migrated toward the sun and empty line-ups of the tropics. The original lure of 'The Islands', the cross border smash and grab to Baja, the adrenalin rush of exploring Central America, the European road to Morocco, and the Aussie dash to Indo.

But now, with boats swarming around Macaronis and surf camps springing up on One Palm Point, there is a change taking place. It only took a few to start with, brave souls fighting the pull of the tide, but the rewards they reaped have changed the way we look at surfing. Suddenly the globe looks a very different place.
"This event tests riders in the true cold harsh conditions of surfing -- showing the sport as it really is for many surfers."
Keeley Holmes of O'Neill
There have always been those who have gone against the flow. The early pioneers of the waves of Canada, Ireland and Norway. The recent advances in wetsuit technology have only helped this change in surfing's polarity, as the modern search has evolved to take the words 'warm water' from the equation. One wave sums up this new frontier, Europe's very own 'cold water Nias' -- Thurso East in Scotland.

1975 was not a good year. It was post-counterculture and pre-punk. It was disco. It was the fuel crisis and The Osmonds. In Indonesia Troy, Geisel and Lovett were standing slack-jawed at the perfect barrelling righthander they had discovered on their excursion to the Sumatran island of Nias. At the same time, British surfer photographer Paul Gill, wearing flairs and sporting a natty moustache, was stumbling across a flat, Scottish slate reef where a frigid carbon copy tube was peeling. One event triggered an avalanche of followers, the other, more of an icy trickle. It seems the gene was just too strong -- head south my son…

Over thirty years later, on April 25th, The O'Neill Highland Open will kick off at the legendary right hand reef break of Thurso East where some of the world's best surfers will take on its hard charging coldwater barrels. "In hosting the event in Scotland we are going back to our roots of coldwater surfing," says Keeley Holmes of O'Neill. "This event tests riders in the true cold harsh conditions of surfing -- showing the sport as it really is for many surfers."
MORE SURF NEWS
SURFLINE HOME PAGE