Surfer interview: Surfing the Severn Bore with Lumoxs

“I can’t wait to do that again,” Ash ‘Lumoxs’ Lawton said after surfing the legendary Severn Bore in Gloucestershire, the surge wave that sweeps the Severn Estuary. Lumoxs is a pro longboard surfer based in Perranporth, Cornwall. It was a chance to see a great surfer meet the great bore and to catch it ourselves.

So, we checked into our hotel on March 1, booked on the day for £45 a night, a grand manor – a bit different from your average surf lodge. I phoned Ash on the way down to order some food for us and, ever dedicated to the surf, he texted back: “There is talk that the [wave] tonight is surfable so I think we’re gonna surf it from the Inn.”

He’d been chatting with a few other surfers including Rick ‘Peg Leg’ Stevens, a Perranporth surfer who is, like Lumoxs, sponsored by Beachbeat surfboards. “The name says it all,” said Lumoxs, “He only has one leg but this does not stop him from surfing in the slightest!”

We met up with Lumoxs and his girlfriend Sam later in the bar. He had a massive grin as he described the madness of sitting in a river for half an hour in the dark, waiting for a wave, with a few other guys. A plane flying over had given them a false alarm – the only warning you really get is the rumble as the white water comes towards you.

Photos from thisisgloucestershire.co.uk

Even more excited after the story, we set our alarms for 6am and headed to bed.

In the cold of a minus one degree Celsius morning, we headed for the first ‘surfable’ spot. Vans, cars, people and boards were everywhere. A massive 5-star bore had drawn a lot of attention, drawing news trucks and helicopters. It’s the highest rating the bore can get and only happens once every four years.

I was excited to see how a 17-stone guy like Lumoxs would surf one of these waves. This particular 17-stone guy had won two Hot Doggers longboard competitions last summer and had come 7th in his first British Longboard Competition.

We suited up, clear skies, freezing cold and dived into the fresh water (which is much colder than the sea), and paddled for the far bank. The wave came. People paddled, shoved, pushed and then just held their line for as long as they could, occasionally popping down on the board to keep the speed and then getting back up again.

Photos from thisisgloucestershire.co.uk

We got out of the freezing water, dripping, we jumped into the van in our wetsuits and headed for the Bore Inn. The wave takes 45 minutes to get from one spot to another because of the meandering river so this meant we could wait to catch the next one. The parked cars on the road told us we were at the Inn and we jumped out.

We pushed past spectators, slid down the muddy bank and joined an even bigger crowd. I caught up with Lumoxs properly, sitting next to him on my board and holding on to a branch while men in suits complete with ties and hats drifted by on inflatable chairs – quite a carnival atmosphere.

Lumoxs was sitting on his black, yellow and pink coloured 9’4” from Beachbeat, shaped by renowned shaper Chops. “He took 6 months over one of my boards so he could get it just right,” Lumoxs said. He also told me about his new sponsors Plain Lazy clothing, Splashography and C-Skins wetsuits and how he’ll be competing on the European Longboard Tour this summer in France and Spain with the likes of champion surfers Ben Skinner and Sam Bleakley.

Then the Severn bore came: the wave had an almost mythical quality to it. We were sitting there in brown water and this thing drifted, or maybe surged, down the river like some monster from a fantasy book. Lumoxs described it: “The wave picked me up and just threw me out into the face like I was a twig! Unreal amount of power. I then got straight to my feet and just stood there in amazement. I was dazzled by people’s flashes on their cameras and everyone hooting and cheering us on…unreal experience!”

Speaking about his surf he said: “I whitewater warriored it and bellied it all the way in, trying not to hit trees, people, boards and any other things in the way! I took this wave for about 30/40 seconds and I didn’t stop smiling the whole time!”

Hundreds of lenses were pointed, including our own:

And iTV’s coverage with Ash being interviewed at 0.33 seconds:

We won’t go on a 5-star day next time but we’d do it again.

Laurence Jarrett-Kerr