10,000 People Attend Inaugural UK Surf & Skate Expo 

Ethan Fox-Furnell, 14, was one of the local Newquay teenagers at Concrete Waves when Tony Alva took to the bowl on Saturday. "It was insane, surreal,” he said. “To be in the presence of a skateboarding God was mind blowing. I never thought I'd get to meet one of my idols and I'd like to thank the skate expo 25 team for making this possible. To see him skating the pool (his natural habitat) but in our own town was insane. I will remember this day for the rest of my life.”

The UK Surf & Skate Expo was the first of its kind, bringing together like-minded people and brands from all over the UK and beyond. Held in Newquay, the home of UK surfing, the UK Surf & Skate Expo has been lauded as a resounding success.

“For our first year, this was really special,” said organiser Chris Thomson, CEO of DYSUJO, who put on the UK Surf & Skate Expo. “We had legendary skateboarder Tony Alva come over to be a part of it. We had packed talks from Andrew Cotton, skateboarder Stefani Nurding, Olympic skateboarder Lola Tambling, brilliant surf photographer Lucia Griggi and a Patagonia panel on Surf Activism on stage – plus some of the best surfboard shapers in the country. We had so many members of the public through the door, it was amazing to see.

“We had to close the Expo Village a day early on the Sunday due to a storm, but we then moved everyone up to the Expo Hall for more talks and presentations.”

One of the highlights of the first day at Expo was the Wavelength UK Surfer Awards, which honoured the country's favourite surfers, activists, surf school and more.

The winners were: Eco Excellence sponsored by Foam Life winner, Yvette Cave. UK Surf Photographer sponsored by XtraTuf winner, Luke gartside. UK Surf School sponsored by  Moulded Earplugs winner, Newquay Activity Centre. UK Longboarder Male sponsored by Saxx Underwear, winner   Ben Skinner. UK Longboarder Female sponsored by 10 Over Surf, winner Emily Currie. UK Longboard Shaper sponsored by Union of Surf winner, Skingdog Surfboards. UK Shortboard Shaper sponsored by  Vissla Surf, winner  Skindog Surfboards. UK Big Wave Female Surfer sponsored by Dryrobe, winner Laura Crane. UK Big Wave Male Surfer, sponsored by Dryrobe winner, Andrew Cotton. UK U18 Female Surfer sponsored by Mystic winner  Callie Cruickshank. UK U18 Male Surfer sponsored by  FCS Europe winner, Lukas Skinner. UK Female Surfer sponsored by Yeti, winner Zoe Smith. UK Male Surfer sponsored by  Yeti winner, Lukas Skinner. 


In an emotional speech, winner of the UK female surfer award Zoe Smith said: “A lot of people think a para surfer shouldn't have been a part of this category, but we're surfers just like the next person. This is such an amazing feeling and I hope it goes to show that para surfers have a place amongst all surfers, we’re all a part of the same thing.”

And the Skinner family took home five awards out of the 13, with Ben Skinner picking up best longboarder, his surf brand Skindog Surfboards taking home both the best longboard and shortboard shaper award and Lukas Skinner, Ben's son, winning the best UK male surfer award.

“This is an amazing feeling,” said Lukas. “I've struggled with injuries and a few other things this year, so to come back and win this is incredible.”

On Saturday, Australian big wave surfer and shaper Dylan Longbottom set up in the Expo Village, before holding a talk on the Science of Surfboards in the Expo Hall. “That was so good,” he said. “Can't believe that was the first one, the whole operation was fun, a really good time and the team are incredible. Hats off, we don't even get that level of efficiency in Australia, and we've been doing it for decades.”

Steph Rogers, Brand Manager at Finisterre, one of the exhibitors at the Expo Village said: “It's been amazing and so good to see so many people turn out for it.”

The DYSUJO team are currently taking some down-time, but are getting their heads together for next year's plans. “We've got some ideas,” said Chris. “But we'll take a bit of a break, then formalise and push forward.”

Keep your eyes peeled for a full highlights video, dropping in the next few days.