Alan Stokes on surfing

Britain's best-known surfer on why he loves cold water and staying away from the gym

Alan Stokes might have travelled the world and won countless major competitions as one of Britain's best surfers, and modelled clothes for Animal - among other labels - but he still has his feet firmly placed on British sand. Luckily for us Brits, Stokesy, as he's known, prefers to surf where it's cold.

That might sound odd, but Stokes says it is because cold waters generally produce more dramatic waves. He also says that, paradoxically, he gets colder in warm water because he is forced to wear a flimsier wetsuit. “Cold water wetsuits are such good quality these days that I’m generally warmer in winter than I am in summer,” he says.

Stokes certainly knows his stuff. He hasn’t yet turned 30 but has won numerous major championships since 2003, including the British National Championships Shortboard and, in 2009, the UK Pro Surf Tour Championships.

Has he always been good at the sport, or was it something he had to work at? “No, I’ve pretty much always been good at it!” he says, without a hint of modesty. It’s not surprising though, given that he has been surfing since he was six. “We lived in Kent when I was younger, and when I turned six my parents decided to move to Cornwall. Just before we left, I found this old polystyrene surfboard in the shed. It was ridiculous – it looked like a marketing toy for Surf washing powder or something – but I took it with me and started bodysurfing with it. Those were my first memories of surfing.”

Two-foot waves

Stokes says he would regularly bodysurf at the beach in Newquay with his two sisters, before his mother booked him onto a two-week course of lessons and he began to learn how to surf properly.

“I was surfing in two-foot waves that seemed massive to me at the time,” he says. “But after about two days I had it sussed - the instructor started letting me use his own board.”

It seems that Stokes was always something of a surf prodigy: he admits that he had a strong competitive instinct from an early age. “My parents used to run this local club where kids were taught lifesaving and beach safety skills and some water sports, too. I started competing in – and winning - some of the club’s events and pretty soon afterwards took to competing in national surfing competitions.”

At the age of 15, Stokes was selected to join the English team on the European junior surf championships. He had to travel to Portugal for the event and remembers it being his first experience of travelling as a professional surfer. “Looking back, it was bizarre that I was allowed to go – I mean, I was still at school. Luckily, I had really understanding teachers and was doing alright in my studies. I think schools would be much stricter now. But, to be honest, they didn’t have much choice – I was determined to surf in those competitions and that was that!”

His first big achievement was taking part in the British Surfing Association’s British Schools Competition. He was 16 and, according to Stokes, was competing against people much older than him, but still managed to win the event. “That was probably the turning point in my career – from then on I didn’t look back,” he says.

But while Stokes is talented and competitive, don’t make the mistake of assuming he takes himself too seriously. There's a certain video on YouTube that Stokes says his friend helped him put together for 'promotional use'. According to the video’s blurb, the producers “travel to his home town Newquay, in Cornwall, to get an exclusive look into his life and to find out how he stays on top of his game”. In doing so, it says, they “uncover the hidden truth behind Stokes’s surfing prowess”. This “truth”, the video reveals, involves a team of graphics professionals superimposing images of Stokes - in surfing pose, against the backdrop of an ocean-coloured screen – on to pictures of massive waves. “It’s made my life easier,” Stokes tells the camera, “I don’t really need to leave my house any more.”

Despite his attempt to 'fool' the surfing world, Stokes has managed to win numerous sponsorships with international industry brands including Animal, Creatures of Leisure, Quiver Surfboards, Luke Hart Shapes and Maxi Muscle.

Staying away from the gym

To stay 'surfing fit', Stokes says he tries to stay out of the gym as much as possible as he 'hates exercising indoors'. “I wake up at half past five and drive for an hour to other coasts around Cornwall, then spend the next few hours in the water before driving somewhere else and surfing again. A normal surf is about three hours, but with a good wetsuit I can spend up to six hours in the water. I also do weight training and anything that improves leg strength, like cycling and sand-dune running.

“The good thing about surfing is that it’s fairly easy-going on your body – it’s not high-impact like marathon-running or something.”

That said, a torn ligament two years ago took him out of action for four months. “It was really frustrating,” he says, “But I still went swimming and bodysurfing and made sure I kept fit.”

Stokes’s next major competition is the Sri Lankan Airlines World Qualifying Series event. He has just completed three events in Brazil as part of a world tour and has surfed in numerous locations across Central America, Hawaii, Indonesia, Canada and Scandinavia.

He says he prefers the places that are still relatively unchartered, saying that well-established surfing destinations such as Australia are so packed with crowds and tourists that it’s not so enjoyable. Stokes says Indonesia has “unbelievable” waves of up to 15 feet because much of the land is surrounded by reefs but he loves cold water destinations such as the UK and Norway. He recently competed in an event in John O’Groats, Scotland. “All the hot places have been surfed to death – people are starting to look for more unusual destinations,” Stokes says.

Top of his game

Does he ever feel fear – or the need for a holiday? “I feel fear all the time. But that is part of the thrill – it’s good to put yourself at the edge of your limits,” he says. “And if I took a holiday I’d want to surf anyway, so I never really go. I get to travel the world the whole time so I can’t complain!”

Stokes may be approaching the big 3-0 but his competitive drive and passion for the sport is by no means waning. “I used to feel that I’d probably wrap up the competitive surfing by the time I was 38 – that used to be the age at which professional surfers would start winding down,” he says. “But now those views have shifted a bit. I’m 29 and I’ve never surfed better. I am learning the whole time and am getting better at reading the ocean the older I get - so I see no point in stopping any time soon.”

You can see Stokesy's YouTube video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s_h8sWjRTk
To find out more about Alan Stokes, visit www.alanstokes.co.uk