Sri Lanka, nestled in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, offers a perfect blend of diverse surf breaks and a unique cultural experience. With a varied coastline made up of easy, deepwater reef breaks and lovely beachies, the island caters to surfers of all levels, from beginners to seasoned pros.

Weligama, Ahangama, and Midigama are renowned for their consistency, each providing the distinct surf conditions that make Sri Lanka an attractive choice for all levels of surfer. Along with the consistency of its swells throughout the year, the appeal of this area – especially between November to March – are the mellow, warm, easy peelers that suit alternative surf craft perfectly. Think long, reeling, chest high waves, perfect for longboards, fishes, mid-lengths and mini-mals.

The winds are predictable, offshore in the mornings – giving us beautiful, glassy conditions until the onshore winds arrive around midday – giving us time to eat, chill, read & rejuvenate with some yoga. And nap, of course. And then, if we’re lucky, the winds can change again, just in time for a sunset surf. 

Oh, and all of this is sans wetsuit. Dream.

From beachfront cafes serving fresh coconuts to the vibrant colors of traditional fishing boats dotting the horizon, the surf experience in Sri Lanka is not just about the waves – it’s a holistic immersion into the island’s traditions.

Beyond the surf, Sri Lanka’s cultural richness and warm hospitality are what really makes this place special. The vibrant local communities, delicious food, ancient temples, wildlife sanctuaries, spice gardens – and the opportunity to explore the lush landscapes and bio-diverse jungle – make Sri Lanka the perfect destination for anyone looking to embrace both adventure and well-being.

So as our first Wild Swim Cornwall Weekend of the Summer ended, we waved goodbye to an epic bunch of swim happy Swim Sistas & tried to get a good nights sleep before our early o’clock alarms! After 6 weeks of flat sea and a what seemed like an eternal heatwave the first week of July had somehow turned into the onset of Autumn.

Undeterred we drove on through the mizzle, marvelling at the Devonshire countryside (we don’t get out of Cornwall much in Summer!) and arrived a wee bit after the local swim gang. Hele bay was already awash with colourful Speedo cossies, bobble hats & buzzy chat about cute suits and unseasonable air temperatures. Lovely Anna from Speedo dug into her treasure trove for a matching set of Speedo suits for us all, joy! After wriggling into our bikinis and one pieces under the Hele Bay arches (possibly the most perfect beachside changing ever!), we tracked down and tucked into a queens ransome of M&S cake supplies, before melting into the Hele Bay throng, and eventually into the sea itself. Mission complete!

After a big community dip .. check out the video here .. can you see us? We warmed up with hot drinks and breakfast sandwiches and met loads of lovely locals, before chatting to the Speedo team about Surf Sistas & how Swim Sistas came about during lockdown.

Greg Dennis and William Cooper Mitchell were on hand to capture all the visuals for #outsidersclub and had us back in the water for another swim, and rock hopping for some portrait shots. Fortunately this is our natual habitat, so although if you look too closely we may look a little purple, we were still living our best lives!

Massive thanks to the Hele Bay swim community for such a lovely welcome, we fell in love with your local! In fact the whole coastline in Northern Devon is stunning and we will definitely be back for more exploring!

Check out William and Greg’s work for the Outsiders Club instagram below ..

Many thanks to:

Speedo – https://www.speedo.com/
Gung Ho Creative & Kirsty Hind – https://www.gunghoco.com/
Greg Dennis – https://www.gregdennis.co.uk/
William Cooper Mitchell – https://www.coopermitchell.com/

Bella won the Emerging Filmmaker Award at the London Surf Film Festival in 2022, for her edit First Light Stillness (watch here), starring Surf Sistas Coach and Longboarder Beth Leighfield. Since then, she’s had the drive to continue making films documenting surf stories.

Her surf muse, Beth Leighfield, is a talented Longboarder, having recently represented the UK as the ISA World Longboard Championships in El Salvador (read more about Beth here).

Beth and Bella teamed up again at the beginning of this year, taking a road trip through a remote peninsula in Mexico, to bring us a new surf film: Unplugged. What a dream team!

With the far flung corners of Mexico known for being pretty remote (and also dangerous), we were intrigued to hear how they navigated the challenges of off-grid living, filmmaking and wave hunting. Bella tells us all about it below.

Unplugged: The name tells us a little. But what is the film about? 

The film is about freedom I guess. 

Finding freedom from modern society, from social media and from crowded surf line ups. It’s a 6 minute ode to exploring untouched nature with friends and simply just being there. Unplugged as no real deeper meaning, or narrative involved, it’s more a creative reflection on just living life without anyone else around but a few of your surf buds and no mobile phone service for weeks on end.

What inspired you to make this film? 

Me and Beth in 2022 wanted to start filming more together, and once we won the LSFF award it inspired us to go bigger and farther. That’s when Beth invited me to join her and boyfriend Paul in Baja this year. They were going to be travelling around anyway and said we should join! (We being me and my boyfriend Tom). Then we thought it would make a sick surf edit, if we could film along the way. A surf edit that not only would get to show off Beths beautiful longboarding, but also show off a mixed gender group travelling together. So often you see surf edits online of a women’s group OR a mens group trip,  but rarely mixed, which I feel it’s time to change that. I also thought It would be a wonderful opportunity to freely learn how to do video, with no distractions in a stunning empty place.

You went to a remote part of Mexico, how did the logistics work? 

It required ALOT of planning. 

To travel around the North of Baja, as someone who normally resides in the UK is hard! I was extremely fortunate that Beth and Paul had Gerry their GMC all ready for us, kitted out and prepared for the trip. Me and Tom just needed to get to them. For me I had to travel on 2 planes; Uk – Mexico City – La Paz, and then got a 13 hour bus up the Baja Peninsula to meet B and P. While they had to drive from mainland Mexico, where the truck was kept at Pauls parents, and drive up, around, across the boarder and then drive for days down the Peninsula to meet us. And that was just the travel, we had to spend lots on insurance, good camping gear, camera gear etc etc. It was all so worth it, but it’s no easy quick trip! 

Searching for waves, off road, off grid, in hidden corners.

What was it like camping out in Mexico? 

Amazing, I can’t recommend It enough. You definitely need a car, but it’s the best way to travel in such a wild and wonderful place. 

What were the challenges of making the film in this environment? 

Not having internet to google settings, so I had a little yellow notebook that I filled with all the different things I needed to know about my camera. But also sometimes it’s hard to remember to get your camera out when you’re having a nice moment travelling, you have an internal battle with wanting to capture it all and then wanting to just live it too! 

Any advice you’d give to aspiring female filmmakers starting out? 

Well this one is a tough one for me to answer, as I’m at the very beginning of being a ‘videographer’ if you can call me that yet. But my advice would be to start by filming what you love, and then it will be exciting and you’ll want to keep going. For me I love capturing nature and the sea in all its glory and it makes me want to pick up the camera to do so each time. 

Join us at the Unplugged Screening

Credits for Unplugged Surf Video

Videographer and editor @bellarosebunce
Drone @paulbertrand
Featuring @beth_leighfield // @tombaldwinn // @paulbertrand // @bellarosebunce
Music and sound editor @teddy_white._
Special thanks to @thefilmsafe

However, on day two of our recce, a large swell in the med was brewing, and some strong northerly winds sent those large ripples across the sea to the North Coast of Menorca. This meant only one thing…… WAVES!

On day two of our recce, a large swell in the med was brewing, and some strong northerly winds sent those ripples across the sea to the North Coast of Menorca. This meant only one thing…… WAVES!

Being reasonably sheltered from the long fetch of the Atlantic we weren’t expecting to see any surf, particularly as we were on the hunt for swim spots. But as both lovers of the surf and swim, this greatly excited us!

However, we’re not in any rush to set up a surf trip to the Balearics, the inconsistency of waves here wouldn’t make for a very exciting trip. But we scoped out some incredible swim spots. Think crystal clear waters, mixed with shades of blue and turquoise giving way to gleaming white cliffs and pine tree forests that smell fresher than daisies (and there were a lot of those too).

We fell in love with this little Island. Exploring cove after cove filled with clear water and white sand never stopped enchanting us. To give you a taste of what we found and what might be to come from Swim Sistas, here’s a little snippet of Menorca.

To find out more about the next venture with Swim Sistas follow us on Instagram. You can also sign up to our Newsletter for exclusive first news on new courses dropping.

We’re delighted to be one of the sponsors of the UK premiere of Yama Surf Film. A film by Newquay based filmmaker, photographer and surfer Maddie Meddings and surfer and activist Lucy Small.

Maddie is well known in Cornwall and beyond for her incredible commercial, lifestyle and travel photography as well as being an up and coming filmmaker. She also absolutely shreds in the surf, a female powerhouse to say the least.

She teamed up with Lucy Small last year, to bring you Yama Surf Film. And the UK premiere of this film is in Newquay!

What is Yama Surf Film about?

Yama follows Australian surfer and activist Lucy Small as she travels to Ghana to meet with a group of pioneering female surfers and skaters. Once a stronghold of the transatlantic slave trade and with a history of Atlantic aquatic surf culture that precedes colonial invasion, this is a story of a reclamation and joy. 

Aiming to tell a story that challenges the representations that many African nations are commonly subjected to in western media, Yama begins in the bustling city of Accra and travels to the wave rich coastline where there are communities driving the budding Ghanaian modern surf scene. 

The Fantes are the people who populate the area where female surfers live. Yama is their name for the wooden boats that still cross Ghana’s shoreline today. 

Join us at the UK Yama Surf Film Premiere

We’re stoked to be sponsoring the UK premiere screening, being held in Newquay. A chance to learn more about Ghana, it’s cultural heritage and the experiences of female surfer and skaters there.

Date: Saturday 1st April, 7pm

Where: C-Space, Newquay (followed by an after party at The Dead Famous)

HURRY! Tickets to the screening a limited. They’re available online here.

To see more of the wonderful work of Maddie and Lucy follow them on social:

Maddie Meddings – Instagram

Lucy Small – Instagram

We regularly post exclusive news on new surf films, happenings and the like in our weekly newsletter. Sign up here.

Many of us find ourselves in other parts of the country to our usual jaunts. This could mean time spent away from the sea. Whilst I welcome exchanging blue horizons of the coast for green pastures inland, there comes a point when surfing creeps into my mind. 

This generally occurs in the period of twixmas.

What is Twixmas?

Twixmas is that period between Christmas and New Year, typically 27th-30th when no one really knows what to do with themselves and it all gets a bit weird. It’s also the point when Christmas dinner leftovers get less appealing. You feel me? A strange period. Am I bah humbug if I want to do work or go to the gym? Or do I still have a free pass to be a couch slob?

If you’re in the twixmas limbo, watch a surf film to provide grounding and comfort. We’ve some listed great surf films below, selecting ones that are mostly free or found on Netflix and Amazon. There’s an eclectic mix in here, from informative docos to laid back chick flicks. So sit back and enjoy.  

Other Land

Irish director Alica Ward documents the journey of Australian surfer Vittoria Farmer as she travels the west coast of Ireland, immersing herself in the powerful and bitter cold Atlantic surf. Watching this film is a full sensory experience, with an incredible soundtrack and cinematography capturing the raw untapped essence of the “Emerald Isle.”

The Ying & Yang of Gerry Lopez (Youtube)

Brought to us by Patagonia, directed Stacey Peralta (yep that legendary skater). This film tells the story of Gerry Lopez, both master of Zen and formidable pipeline charger. We explore how he cultivates a life dedicated to surf and yoga. It felt like a philosophy lesson watching this, which I welcomed. I also wanted to jump on a yoga mat afterwards (you may want to as well. It’s a good thing to get some movement into the twixmas period).

Expect a history in the art of zen and surfing. You’ll be surprised, like I was, to learn how much Gerry Lopez has influenced the evolution of surfing.

Surfs Up 2: Wave Mania (Available on Netflix)

We couldn’t leave out a Surf’s Up film – and the second film is available to watch on Netflix! I haven’t watched this one but if the first Surf’s Up is anything to go by it’ll be a fun, easy watch for the family. 

Follow the story of penguin Cody Maverick as he embarks on an adventure to the notorious surf spot “trenches”, where some of the worlds biggest waves can be found. 

Surfing – An All Girls Surf Film (Youtube)

A short 30 min film documenting the top female surfers in the world. This encompasses much of what I love about women’s surfing. Fun, smiles and a supportive environment. Not to mention watching strong females charge on some critical waves. It includes the likes of wold champ Tyler Wright and “The Greatest of all Time” (GOAT) Steph Gilmore.

Torren Martyn – Lost Tracks Atlantic (Youtube)

A four parter, great for a twixmas binge! Torren Martyn and filmmaker Ishka Folkwell adventure from Northern Scotland, through Europe to West Africa. It’s the ultimate surf adventure that captures the essence of why we love surfing; the search for epic waves. 

You’ll be captivated by the diverse landscapes along the Atlantic and if you haven’t watched Torren surf before you’re in for a treat. He’s graceful, even on those heavy Irish slabs, making manoeuvres look effortless with a laid back demeanour.

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

If anything will get you revved up for a surf trip this will. If that is the case, get yourself booked on one of our 2023 surf courses.

Fish People (Youtube)

More of a doco style and great if you want to wake up from the mince pie daze. It’s stretches beyond the realms of surfing, telling stories of individuals connected with the ocean. A thought provoking piece which encourages us to turn inward and examine our own relationship with ocean. I finished watching the film driven by the need to help conserve this entity that’s so special to us. 

Blue Crush

(Ok it’s not free but you can buy on Amazon for £2.49)

My ultimate guilty pleasure. Blue Crush is one of the films that made me wanna be a “surfer girl”. Think noughties chick flick vibes, the surf version of mean girls (just with agro local surfers instead of Regina George). Follow the story of local Hawaiian girl Anne Marie as she overcomes her fears to take on the heavy wave Pipeline, finding love along the way. A cringe worthy but easy watch. I do love it, though I’d rather not admit it. 

If you get amped up to surf over the xmas period, then book a surf course with us to have something to look forward to in the new year!

Think coast path hikes with iconic ocean views, golden sand beaches, sunrise dips and distance swims. Lying on sun warmed rocks next to turquoise tide pools by day and sleeping peacefully under the stars in cliff top Tipis by night.

A breath workshop builds confidence swimming in open water, Yoga centres mind and body, and a wood fired sauna will set you up for a blissful nights sleep under canvas.

If you are in town we definitely recommend you visit the gallery, you will find it in the parade by Kina surf shop, just across from Al Chile Surf shop and the new Selina hostel (was Brunellas).

You can also check out Kara’s work on her instagram and purchase gorgeous prints and originals from her website

Portrait of Kara by Surf Sistas
All Artwork by Kara Sparkman

“There’s a certain magic about travelling with your girlfriends but even better when you get to make eleven new ones! Put a bunch of likeminded adventurers together and you’re bound to have a good time and that’s what we got on our Surf Sistas retreat to Bali. Ten days of sun, waves and great company so that when it came time to come home it was with dragging feet, a fresh tan and a whopping big smile!”

She offers some particularly good advice if you are coming solo and feeling a bit nervous about it.  Remember the majority of our guests do come by themselves so you will always find yourself in good company!

Thanks Caty, we can’t wait to see you in the waves again soon!

www.catyprice.com.au

Surf Sistas Bali Retreats – a few spaces remaining on trips starting 16th April & 14th May – Lets go!