‘…This cartoon is one of a series of eight drawn by Cornish professional surfer, Sam Bleakley. The series follows “A day in the life of Surfer Joe”. During his day, Joe checks the surf forecast, leaves early to catch the best waves before heading to work in a surf shop. After work he heads out again for an evening session on the water. There is also an environmental message in this series as Joe avoids the polluted beaches, and becomes depressed over the state of the local environment. The series represents a day that many keen surfers aspire to, leaving the rat race for an easier life enjoying the Cornish surf.

Sam Bleakley comes from Sennnen in the West of Cornwall and regularly surfs there still. Despite being the European longboard champion, and his career taking him all over the world, he still favours the Cornish waters. He is also a freelance journalist, writing regularly for surf publications. He is sponsored by a number of companies and, in many ways, seems to have not only achieved the aspirations set out in his cartoon series, but gone beyond them. In his own CV he writes: “Surfing is more than just a sport, it is a natural lifestyle, addictive and dictated by the ocean. The best surfers embody a dream; driven, clean living, clear thinking, modest and most importantly, happy”

Sam Bleakley’s Surfer Joe cartoons are part of the museum’s permanent collections and may be viewed by appointment…’

By Sam Bleakley

Piano rolling, sax, bass and drums in synch, the trumpet sets loose on a snaking improvisation. The timing is perfect, syncopated, just behind the beat: invention, not imitation. If the pulse of jazz is the ocean swell, then the trumpeter is the longboard surfer improvising against that backdrop, not by stating the obvious, but by creating space through style. Good longboard surfing on 9 feet boards is a mirror of good jazz – the pauses, the tones, the beats, the walk. Most importantly, don’t get fussy – understatement with precise timing always beats flashy overstatement. Smooth flowing longboarders like Californians Joel Tudor and Kassia Meador do not just play the tune straight, but hint at it with sideways glances, subtle intonations, moves away from the beat, long arcing silences punctuated by perfectly timed clusters of blue notes, or just a single shimmering note suspended in space, like hanging ten.

Nose riding is what sets longboarding apart from other forms of surfing. It involves walking up the board in crossed steps to hang five, or role all five toes over the front of the board. The ‘hang ten’ is the defining dance, the finest statement of balance. Similar to riding the tube, time on the nose seems to expand and happen in slow motion. “Noseriding gives you a perfect sensation of weightlessness,” says Australian pro Belinda ‘Bindy’ Baggs. “It reminds me of how a bird rides the back draft of the wind, gliding.”…

Great piece by Alex Wade…The curious influence of the Bleakley clan - Surf Nation

Stunning surfEXPLORE feature in The Surfers Journal (USA) written by Kimball Taylor

surfEXPLORE China project in Wanning Government Book, Curl magazine (NZ) and Hainan Travel magazine

Features on the Chinese version of Surfing Tropical Beats (Hainan Publishing House) in The Cornishman newspaper (UK) and the Hainan Daily (China)

Surfing Tropical Beats China version on Hainan Island News

‘Postquake Haiti’ article in The Surfers Path

Back for the third time, the surfEXPLORE team find a mixture of exhaustion, anticipation, hope and powerful spirit in the perpetually jinxed country of Haiti, where the wave potential is as strong as that of the people…