My first memories of surfing were from camping trips down in France near La Rochelle at 11 years old. My mum, dad and three sisters went down there one year in a tiny caravan and I got my hands on a Poe styrene surf board. All I remember was just getting bored of lying down on it so I just stood up and cruised along holding the leash in my hands it was so much fun until it snapped, so I think the rest of the trip I just went fishing.

When I got home my best mate Colm Garrett was off all the time on surf trips with the older boys so I bought a Wave Warrior body board off his brother Ciaran Thompson. Yet again I was over lying down and straight away was on the beach grovelling standing on the body board at my local break Llantwit Major whilst all the older boys and Colm were ripping up the point. I just remember thinking "right I want to do that". I was pretty hooked by that time and used to go up the local surf shop every day, I had my eyes on this certain surfboard heavy session fluorescent board covered in piranhas. With my birthday coming up my folks said you’ll have to wait and see so I just kept on their case until I probably did their heads in so much they bought it for me, I was stoked… Every day I was down there it was amazing every thing else was out the window; football & rugby were finished not sure if my dad was tamping cause he was a first class rugby player and probably wanted me to follow in his footsteps, but the thought of tight shorts and cold fields kind of put me off. I started watching videos like Green Iguana with Occy going mental in waves that I used to draw on my school books every day…

Colm Garrett, Terry Spargo, Elliot Stokes, Dean Aiken, Gareth Vaughan! There was a team of us, cheeky little grommets causing mayhem down the beach getting banned from the Beach Café every weekend shouting abuse at the un-locals and getting beaten up by the older boys… Mark Vaughan, Chris Fowler, Kieran Nolan and the famous Jock Jones, they used to nail us!!! So many times I remember getting thrown in the river in the middle of winter with my suit half way down and seeing Monk getting spun around in a cow pat, Tel getting posted and Troll getting the worst dead arms ever from Bill…. Classic times!!!!!!!!

After a while we were competing. We all did pretty well winning some comps and all getting sponsored - it was so good to have stickers on your board when you’re a grom…. My folks used to be amazing for me and all the boys we would load up the van all pile in and do trips to Newquay, West Wales and Jersey competing against classics like Egor and Joe Moran those boys were so funny as groms and we used to get up to no good every time we went to Newquay those boys had it wired sneaking into Berties and stuff…

After a few years of my Mum and Dad driving me to every comp in the UK, they realised I might actually make it some day in surfing so off we went to Bali for the Bali groms I was so stoked never forget my first wave in ULUS, then it was off to Hawaii at 16 so scared I'd seen it all before on video but to stand on the beach with my board was mental. I remember botteling it one day. It was big and windy and we were staying on the south shore at the time. I was gutted that night I should have gone out. My Dad was like you came all this way and didn’t surf Pipe, your going to regret that… I was so annoyed with myself… So the next day we went up again conditions were still the same and my dad just said get out there now or this will be the last trip. Out I went didn’t have a clue what I was doing but had some waves and went over the falls on a heavy one and snapped my board clean in two. I had a massive grin all the way back to the south shore, from that point I knew that I was going to keep coming back to surf Pipe it blew my mind watching guys get massive barrels in real life.

That was pretty much it then, surf trip after surf trip and contest after contest. Had some good sponsors and started doing well and getting more and more money pushed at me.

At the age of twenty I finished second in Europe and went back to Hawaii and competed in the world juniors and got a write up in the top 100 juniors in the world. This pretty much made my career move forwrd after being to old for the juniors to carry on as an open surfer and do well.

For a while I was competing in WQS events all over the world getting a couple of results which I was happy with. I was also getting skunked and scoring rubbish waves and spending a fortune it wasn’t really what I wanted out of surfing so with the money I was getting off my sponsors I decided to spend on trips to perfect waves. The plan was to try and build a reputation as a free surfer, surfing bigger waves and getting more barrels than I would grovelling around in 1ft waves with two hundred other hungry surfers.

Now its all turned out nice! I don’t really have to do events anymore, I still do a few just to keep up my competitive edge but right now im basically just doing photo trips and getting good magazine coverage. This keeps my profile really high and keeps my sponsors really happy which will allow me to carry on as a pro surfer for a good few more years, its also really good for my parents surf shop cause they have a great knowledge behind them after travelling to exotic places like Bali, Hawaii and a load more. They have seen it all face to face and been in many surf shops all over the world. They know what’s what in the surf industry and make sure the shop is stocked up with the best products on the market.

My plans for the rest of the year involve a few competitions but hopefully there will be some good waves. The first event is the Newquay Boardmasters. Not really expecting much surf for that but im sure it will be fun. Then its off to France for an air contest, it’s a night event sponsored by Quiksilver so im hoping to do well in that…..

After the summer its two comps in Spain and off to the Canary Islands for hopefully a month to train for another Hawaii season, that’s probably the closest you’ll get to Hawaii around here. Big waves, heavy locals and that island ego vibe that gets the adrenalin going…

If you want to get any info about surfing or Point Break Surf and Skate don’t be afraid to send me an email or even just pop in the shop and be welcomed by legendary Jackie and Selwyn, owners and founders of POINT BREAK SURF AND SKATE, THE BEST SURF SHOP IN WALES!!!!!!!!!!