  CATCHING THE TUBECOAST MAGZINE SEP ‘04 Surf entrepreneurs flock to Britain’s smallest city in search of waves and work. For centuries the picturesque coastal settlement of St. David’s was a place of pilgrimage for Christians, come to pay homage at the cathedral named after Wales’ patron saint, who was born locally. But today’s ‘pilgrims’ are often as not surfers chasing Atlantic swells, several of whom, having fallen for the area’s wild coastline, it’s palpable heritage and the mellow local surf culture have put down roots in the area. Some have even become entrepreneurs of a sort, setting up businesses that allow them to both make a living and surf whenever there’s a good swell running. St. David’s-based journalist Alf Alderson met up with a few of them to ask them about the attractions of city life. SIMON NOBLE, SIMON NOBLE SURFBOARDS (www.snsboards.co.uk). Setting up a business as a surfboard shaper in a surf town is a pretty shrewd business move – especially when there’s no competition within 75 miles. That’s exactly what Simon Noble did when he moved to St. David’s at the beginning of 2001. Simon, 28, learnt to surf on the Yorkshire coast whilst studying civil engineering in Leeds, and had shaped a few boards for himself before moving to St. David’s after finding that office life in his hometown of Nottingham didn’t suit him. He’d been on several surf trips to St. David’s before and had friends in the area, hence his decision to base his new business here. Whilst he’ll always be found surfing when there’s a swell, Simon is also a hard worker and a solid entrepreneur, applying for and winning a number of grants and awards including the Shell Livewire Welsh Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2002, a Prince’s Trust Award in 2003 and becoming finalist in the Western Mail Business Achiever of the Year competition the same year. SNS boards are now regularly seen out in the surf in Pembrokeshire and further afield, and Simon also sponsors a small team of local surfers. He says that what he likes about St. David’s is the fact that, “When there’s surf, I can go surfing – I don’t have to stick to the 9-5. What’s more, as all my customers are surfers most of them appreciate that fact so I don’t lose business if I shut up shop in the middle of the day”. ANDY MIDDLETON, DIRECTOR TyF ADVENTURE (www.tyf.com) Returning from a round-the-world trip in 1984 Andy set up a surf hire business on Whitesands beach with partner Nick Sime. From that developed a well-known international adventure business (whilst Nick developed Ma Sime’s Surf Hut with his mother into one of the finest surf shops in Wales). TyF Adventure now employs up to 50 people at peak season. And the company also pioneered coasteering, one of Britain’s fastest growing adventure sports. In addition, Andy helped to promote The Bitches Rapids off Ramsey Island into a prime freestyle kayaking venue, with the World Championships having been held there, and he’s now moving enthusiastically towards developing TyF Adventure as a fully eco-friendly business. “We actually aim to go beyond eco-tourism to create a way of working that actively promotes good stewardship of the beautiful coastline that our business depends on”. Sitting outside his magnificently situated home above Whitesands Bay with his family as the sun sinks over the Irish Sea, it’s easy to see that this is one city entrepreneur totally at home in his surroundings – as he says, “I’ve travelled the world pretty extensively, but haven’t yet visited anywhere with such as special combination of people, heritage and coastline”. PETE ROBERTS, WEBSITE DEVELOPER (www.globeorange.com) Pete is a local boy who’s remained close to his roots. He grew up in the bucolic landscape around Nevern in North Pembrokeshire before heading off to South Wales to study industrial design in the early 90s, but was drawn back to Pembrokeshire after graduating by the beauty of the coastline and his passion for windsurfing. Despite the fact that his windsurfing skills were good enough to get him sponsorship, Pete got hooked on surfing on his return home, at the same time as trying his hand at various businesses of his own. “I knew I’d have to work for myself to be able to maintain a lifestyle that allowed me to surf whenever I wanted and live in an area as attractive as Pembrokeshire, but it was a case of finding the right business,” he says. Pete eventually used his self-taught knowledge of computing to establish his own web design company, Globe Orange, in 2001, with the assistance of funding from the Welsh Development Agency. The company has since produced websites for every business featured in this article other than SNS Surfboards, and recent clients include Orange, Johnson and Johnson and the National Botanic Garden of Wales. “I used to do freelance web design before I set up Globe Orange, which restricted me to my clients’ regular office hours, but now if the surf comes up I can down tools and get on it,” says Pete. “At the same time I do have to ensure I get back into the office later in the day to meet my deadlines!” BEN HUGHES, SURF INSTRUCTOR (www.whitesandssurfschool.co.uk) Ben’s association with St. David’s is the classic story of getting into surfing whilst on family holidays here, then drifting back as a student and doing seasonal jobs that allowed him to surf as often as possible before it eventually dawned on him that this would actually be a good place to live and work. “I moved here permanently after uni – it was easy really because I already knew the area and had friends here – and there’s no surf in my hometown of Loughborough!” Ben, 28, worked for a couple of years in the local surf shop, helping out with their surf hire business on the beach at Whitesands before he realised there was also a market for surf lessons on the beach. A qualified beach lifeguard, Ben also took his surf instructor exams, got help from the Prince’s Trust to buy hire equipment, and in 2001 set up Whitesands Surf School, working closely with Ma Sime’s Surf Hut in St. David’s who help with the bookings. “The idea was to have a job that allowed me to be at the beach when the surf was up – the irony though is that’s when business is at it’s best. But I get around that by employing other instructors so I can surf when the waves are good”. And since the work is obviously seasonal, Ben and his girlfriend Ann get to head to warm water surf spots in the winter – in recent years they’ve taken surf breaks in France, New Zealand and Costa Rica, although as Ben says, “It’s always good to get back and surf my home break with friends”. SIMON TWITCHEN, SURFPIX SURF PHOTO LIBRARY (www.surfpix.co.uk) Surfpix is the world’s only photo library dedicated entirely to surf imagery, and was set up by Simon in 2002, since when he’s gathered a stable of contributors consisting of some of the world’s most respected surf photographers, and a list of clients that includes Arena, Wallpaper and Coast (issue 3). The decision to base Surfpix in St. David’s was an easy one, says Simon, a native of Oxford. “I got into surfing when I was 15 and decided at 16 that I wanted my work and life to revolve around it, so I went to uni in Swansea where I’d be near the waves, used to visit Pembrokeshire to surf in my time off, and when the time came to settle down somewhere I decided that St. David’s, with its combination of beautiful coastline, friendly locals and reasonably decent waves, would be a good choice”. Because Surfpix is a digital web-based business it gives Simon the flexibility to surf when he wants as clients simply download the images they wish to buy and – in theory at least – have no need to contact him personally. As with many of the other businesses featured here, Surfpix took advantage of grant aid, in this case from the Prince’s Trust, the WDA and from the EU via Pembrokeshire College in Haverfordwest. ALF ALDERSON, FREELANCE ADVENTURE TRAVEL JOURNALIST (www.alfalderson.co.uk) I first visited St. David’s as a student to see my mate Andy Middleton (see above) one summer, learnt to surf and made lots of friends locally and then kept coming back during time off from working as a geologist in the oil industry. Eventually I got tired of life on the oil rigs and moved to St. David’s on the off-chance something else might turn up. It did – trainee reporter on the County Echo newspaper in Fishguard (I have to say the fact that I used to drink with the editor probably helped in getting the job!). With this move I inadvertently found a career I thoroughly enjoyed whilst living in a place I loved. I decided to become a freelance eight years ago to have more control over my career, and – let’s be honest - because I knew it would give me more time to surf, and from there I drifted into travel writing. So I’m now really fortunate in that I get to travel to some beautiful parts of the world then come back home to an equally beautiful area and write all about it. And as soon as the surf comes up, I can drop it all and head to the beach - after all, it doesn’t matter whether I get the copy written at 10 in the morning or 10 at night as long as I meet the deadline. Probably the best thing of all about my job though is that wherever it takes me to I always look forward to coming home to Pembrokeshire because it really has some of the most beautiful coastline on the planet – and I speak from experience. BOX OUT TAKEN FOR GRANTED Setting up your own business is never easy, particularly if it’s in a relatively ‘remote’ place such as St. David’s, so if grant aid is available it’s well worth going for - as many of the business owners in this article discovered. For more information on business grants, check out the following websites: The Prince’s Trust - www.princes-trust.org.uk Welsh Development Agency - www.wda.co.uk Shell Livewire - www.shell-livewire.org UK Small Business Grants - www.2-small-business.com |
