User:Rblackbird/Sam Bleakley

Sam Bleakley

Sam Bleakley (born 23 October 1978) is a travel writer, author and professional surfer, from Gwenver beach, Sennen, Cornwall, UK. Sam’s first book, Surfing Brilliant Corners (2010 Alison Hodge) details a decade of extreme global surf travel, illustrated by renowned photographer John Callahan. Sam has an MA in Geography from the University of Cambridge, is researching a part-time PhD in Travel Writing with University College Falmouth and has been a multiple British and European Longboard Surfing Champion. Sponsored by Biomimetics Health UK, Sam specialises in surf exploration projects with John Callahan and the surfEXPLORE team. He has undertaken groundbreaking trips to Haiti, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Algeria, Liberia, Kenya, Oman, South Korea, Hainan, Palawan and the Maluku Islands, and will release a sequel to Surfing Brilliant Corners with Alison Hodge Publishers in 2012.

Biography

Sam was born in Bay of Biscay Cottage, Newmill, Cornwall, and attended Trythall County Primary school and Mounts Bay Secondary school, Penzance. Sam’s father, Dr Alan Bleakley, is a Professor of Medical Education at the Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Plymouth and Exeter. Raised in Newquay, Cornwall, Alan (knicknamed ‘Fuz’) co-edited the second European surfing magazine, the counter-culture newspaper format Surf Insight between 1972 and 1974. Sam’s mother, Sue Bleakley, is a visual artist with an MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of London. Sam’s sisters, Brioney Henshall and Pheadra Seymour-Dixon are Penzance-based youth, community and social workers. When the family moved from Newmill to Poldown cottage on Escalls Cliff, above Gwenver beach, Sam attended Penwith College. He studied Geography, Geology and History, and gained a place to study Geography at Pembroke College, the University of Cambridge.

Since graduating from the University of Cambridge, Sam has worked full time as a professional surfer and travel writer. His initial sponsorships were with Oxbow surfwear, Vans and Surftech. He is now sponsored by Biomimetics Health and Chapel Idne surf shop. Sam is married to Sandy Bleakley, and their daughter, Lola, was born in 2008. They live on Escalls Cliff above Gwenver beach.

Surfing

Sam started surfing aged 5 at Gwenver, Sennen and Perranthnoe beaches in west Penwith, Cornwall. On a family working exchange trip to the USA in 1987/88 Sam spent the summer staying with then Surfer magazine editor Paul Holmes in California. Paul gave Sam his first board - a 6’ 0” channel-bottomed five-finned Brian Bulkley. Sam took the board home to Cornwall in 1988. He rode shortboards until aged 15 when the longboard renaissance was taking off in Europe in the early 1990s. Sam had always considered surfing a holistic sport that involved riding all boards, and his father had bigger boards in the household quiver for smaller summer days. From watching Billy Hamilton surfing as Matt Johnson in Big Wednesday and Hal Jepson films of the Malibu stars, such as Lance Carson, Sam had learned how to cross stop and hang five in small summer surf from ages 12 to 15.

Oxbow surfwear ran a European tour with longboard stars Joel Tudor and Nat Young in the early 1990s and visited Cornwall. Sam and his father were so inspired they attained a new longboarding video fresh out of California (On Safari To Stay, with Joel Tudor and Robert ‘Wingnut’ Weaver). Aware that there were now young surfers involved in the longboard renaissance Sam felt like it would be an important movement for the future of surfing. The progression to longer boards began with a series of 6 to 7 feet eggs from Newquay surfboard shaper Chris ‘CJ’ Jones, culminating in a modern, lightweight 9 feet longboard. Sam switched from the riding Momentum-generation inspired 6’ 0” shortboards to smooth flowing eggs and radical performance longboards that could nose ride and turn. Bigger boards suited Sam’s height, style and technique, and although he kept shortboarding, it was longboarding that fired him up.

Sam won his first European Longboard Championship Title whilst studying at Cambridge (Praia Grande, Portugal, 1999). He retained the title shortly after graduating (Le Penon, France, 2001). While publishing travel features has been Sam’s primary focus in professional surfing, he also competed extensively both nationally and internationally for over fifteen years. Sam has won two European Longboard Titles and eleven National Longboard Titles. He has won four International Longboard Events and twenty-eight National Longboard Events. He has made it to twenty-four International Longboard Event/Title finals (with a top four finish) and ninety-four National Longboard Event/Title finals (with a top four finish). He has also won National and International Paddle Race Titles. Aside from competing on the ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals) Oxbow World Longboard tour, Sam has worked closely with Oxbow surfwear reporting on events for websites and international magazines.

Surf Writing

Sam’s relationship with publishing has defined his career in surfing. Whilst Sam was studying at University former Carve magazine editor, Chris Power, recruited him as the editor of an annual Longboard Special from 1999. Sam’s BA dissertation explored the relationship between Southern Californian surfing subculture and landscape. Studying Geography, Sam was deeply interested in the travel element to surfing, and sought to find a way to explore remote places as a surfer and writer. Meeting photographer John Callahan opened these doors. John Callahan, a highly regarded and well-established surf travel photographer, was driven to explore alternative and uncharted surfing areas. This matched Sam’s passion for learning about culture, landscape, people and waves in off-the-beaten-track places, and his interest to share this through writing and photography. Upon graduation Sam started to travel with John as a surfer and writer as regularly as possible. This fuelled both his professional career in surfing and his development as a freelance travel writer.

Sam’s passion for geo-graphic (‘earth-writing’) projects of exploration and travel became less about classification and mapping, and more about telling stories - of the connections between people and place - not as place determining identity, but as place being a strong element in shaping identity. Sam’s articles began to focus upon issues much wider than surfing, including geography, ecology and cultural studies, tourism, marine science, geomorphology and oceanography, politics, environmental issues and eco-criticism, post-colonial coastal developments and identity, aid work, emerging surf cultures, neo-colonialism and jazz music. His writing was about understanding the relationships between land, sea, surfing, music and coastal cultures (coastscapes).

The surf and travel work has led Sam to visit Algeria, Antigua, Austria, Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Brazil, the British Virgin Islands, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Maldives, Martinique, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Panama, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tunisia, U.A.E, U.S.A, Vietnam and Western Sahara.

Sam is widely published and featured in international magazines and newspapers. His magazine articles have been translated into Arabic, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Chinese, Japanese, Bahasa and Russian. Sam has written for and/or appeared in over seventy publications. These include 3Sesenta (ESP), Action Asia (PRC), Adrenalin (GBR), Adventure Cornwall (GBR), African Surf Rider (RSA), Australian Longboarding (AUS), Beach Brother (FRA), Carve (GBR), Cooler (GBR), The Cornish Guardian newspaper (GBR), The Cornishman newspaper (GBR), Cornwall Today (GBR), Curl (NZL), The Falmouth Packet newspaper (GBR), The Financial Times newspaper (GBR), Gateway (PRC), Glide (JPN), The Guardian newspaper (GBR), Gulf Life (OMA), High Flyer (GBR), Huck (GBR), i-D (GBR), The Independent newspaper (GBR), Longboard (USA), Longboarding & Freeride (GBR), Lonely Planet, Mabuhay (PHI), The Martlet (GBR), Men's Health (GBR), Men's Fitness (GBR), Morning Calm (KOR), NALU (JPN), The Nation newspaper (BAR), National Geographic Adventure (USA), The Newquay Voice newspaper (GBR), The Observer newspaper (GBR), Outside (USA), Outside China, On Fire (POR), On The Board (JPN), Pacific Longboarder (AUS), Pit Pilot (GBR), La Repubblica (ITA), Resurgence (GBR), Search (SWE), Slack (GER), Slide (NZL), Stranger (GBR), Surf (GBR), Surfeuses (FRA), Surf Europe (FRA), Surf Girl (GBR), Surf News (ITA), Surf Portugal (POR), Surf Session (FRA), Surf Trip Journal (JPN), Surfer (USA), Surfers (GER), The Surfers Journal (USA), The Surfers Path (GBR), Susology (GBR), This is the Order (GBR), Time Out (USA), Time Out Sydney (AUS), Trip Surf (FRA), Wave (RUS), Wavelength (GBR), The West Briton newspaper (GBR), The Western Morning News newspaper (GBR), Wend (USA) and Zig Zag (RSA).

A decade of travel work contributed to the formulation of Surfing Brilliant Corners (2010 Alison Hodge). Sam has also edited the first detailed history book on a European surf nation, The Surfing Tribe: A History of Surfing in Britain (by Roger Mansfield, 2009 Orca Publications). Sam has contributed to The Surfing Yearbook: Presented by Surfersvillage (edited by Phil Jarratt, 2009 Gibbs Smith - UK and Ireland Report), Global Surfari: The Surfer’s Travel Atlas (2007 Aurum - Western Europe and Africa chapters), Soul i-D (edited by Tricia Jones, 2007 Taschen - Safe and Sound contribution), September (edited by Michael Fordham, 2007 September Project - Fish & Bird poem).

Sam has also appeared in Surf Nation: In Search of the Fast Lefts and Hollow Right of Britain and Ireland (by Alex Wade, 2007 Simon & Schuster - The Legions of the Unjazzed chapter), The World Stormrider Guide: Vol 2 (by Antony Colas, 2004 Low Pressure Publishing - Northern Ecuador section), The World Stormrider Guide: Vol 3 (by Antony Colas, 2009 Low Pressure Publishing - Central Atolls, Maldives section), Surf Food: The Ultimate Surfers Cookbook (by Nava Young, 2009Pandanus Productions Angourie - a recipe contribution – Fruit Salad with Honey Spiced Yogurt), Switch-Foot II (by Andrew Crockett, 2009 Hodaddy Australia - Russ Pierre/Cornwall Section) and Ultimate Surfing Adventures: 100 Extraordinary Experiences in the Waves (by Alf Alderson, 2010 Wiley Nautical - China, Oman, Ghana, Liberia, Panama, Algeria, Mauritania and South Korea chapters).

Sam has appeared on various magazine covers, company adverts (including the Digital UK switch-over campaign), posters, and in mainstream newspapers, notably The Guardian, The Observer and The Independent. Sam has featured in over twenty action sport DVDs, documentaries and television programmes about surfing and travel. These include the BBC’s ‘The Perfect Wave’ (Ecuador 2001) and ‘Grandstand’ (World Surfing Games, South Africa 2002), Channel 4’s ‘360’ series (Indonesia 2001) and ITV’s ‘Surf’s Up’ series (Cornwall and South Africa 2002). Sam worked as a consultant, writer and interviewer for Mengejar Ombak - Chasing Waves - The chronicle of Dede Suryana’s rise to surf stardom (Indonesia 2009).

Sam has edited Longboard specials in Carve and Wavelength magazines, UK, and been a surf columnist in The Cornishman newspaper, UK. Sam’s most outstanding contributions have been for The Surfers Path magazine. Editor-in-chief Alex Dick-Read explains. “Sam Bleakley is one of a select few professional surfers whose talents go even beyond his mastery of board and wave. He travels with a clear eye and writes with a crisp, thoughtful voice that never fails to evoke the sense of a place, the flavours of its landscape and cultures, and the thrill of exploring new frontiers in the surfing world. Sam Bleakley’s travel writing offers our readers regular doses of irregular intelligence, humour, insight and adventure.”

surfEXPLORE

surfEXPLORE is an international team led by John Callahan, Erwan Simon, Emiliano Cataldi and Sam Bleakley (with regular guest surfers such as Holly Beck, Randy Rarick, Tristan Jenkin, Phil Goodrich and Baybay Niu). John Callahan remains one of the most widely published surf photographers in the world, renowned for his stunning contemporary images, filled with vivid colour and unique framing. Editor-in-chief of The Surfers Path, Alex Dick-Read, explains: “John Callahan’s expeditions are always original, adventurous and professional. As an editor who has been running his features regularly for over ten years, I can say in all honesty that he is our finest contributor. The teams he gathers, the places he goes, the methods he employs to make the journey shine above and beyond the pedestrian, and of course the photographs he returns home with, are quite simply of the highest quality we see.”

surfEXPLORE specialise in researching and producing groundbreaking exploration projects to create the highest level of surf travel photography, writing and film, and convey important environmental and social messages. The team speaks English, French, Italian and Spanish, and maintain contributor relationships with more than fifty surf and travel publications worldwide in English, Español, Français, Italiano, Deutsch, Português (Brasil), 日本語 (Japanese), 中文(台灣) Chinese, Русский (Russian) and Bahasa Indonesian, ensuring worldwide awareness and multiple international publication of each surfEXPLORE expedition.

With the enduring appeal of surfing, the number of surfers worldwide has been growing each year. Yet none of the established surfing companies have been proactive in making more surfing destinations accessible to the growing number of surfers. The result is serious over crowding at major surfing spots, a revival of localism, and a deterioration of the surfing experience. surfEXPLORE use new and traditional media to encourage others to travel to alternative and exciting areas, surf fresh waves and engage with local people in a positive and beneficial manner. Following extensive and intensive research of surf potential often in places of conflict or post-colonial recovery, such as Liberia and Haiti, we emphasise being in the right place at the right time to maximise local conditions. surfEXPLORE document oceanographic, coastal and cultural issues, and participate in local community work where possible. The intention is to highlight the wealth of unsurfed waves in the world, to spotlight environmental concerns and fragile areas and cultures, and to communicate a philosophy of discovery, freedom of movement, tolerance of cultural, ethnic and religious differences, and embrace of change.

Tropes Of Jazz

Exploring surf and travel writing through metaphors of jazz became vital element in Sam’s recent work. This is highlighted in Surfing Brilliant Corners. Framing surfing through metaphors of jazz, the book celebrates genius bop pianist Thelonious Monk’s 1950’s album Brilliant Corners. Monk’s album was famed for its outrageous, groundbreaking compositional originality, and Sam explores how talented surfers think like great jazz musicians, using invention, complex rhythm, timing and spontaneity to turn impossible wave scenarios into beautiful but challenging music.

Surfing Brilliant Corners details a decade of extreme global surf travel, illustrated by the exquisite photographs of John Callahan. Sam journeys from the living vodou of Haiti, through vibrant African highlife, to a serene Buddhist oasis in communist China. Amongst other adventures, Sam looks deep into the jet black eye of a surfacing shark in Kenya and face a stacked set of foaming lips during storm surf in South Korea with bemused lifeguards waving him and his companions in from the beach to point out that surfing is banned.

Sam explains, “’Jazz’ is not just a kind of music – the primary African-American art form – but a way of thinking and doing (based on improvisation, syncopation, timing, rhythm and beat). Surfers and travellers can be jazz players without ever liking or knowing jazz, where they have that jazz feel that takes them away from the straight line and the standard moves.”

“Surfing is about improvising in brilliant ways that utilise the sea’s surprises. And surfers who travel with sensitivity to local cultures will act like jazz musicians, quickly getting an ear for the rhythm of the moment and showing facility for improvisation. These performances demand a stage - a place – which is the main player and shapes the performance.”

“Thinking jazz is to live an improvised life, one in which imagination, not convention, is at the core. No Room for Squares exclaimed the title of tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley’s 1963 Blue Note label album. The pianist Sonny Clark’s 1958 album on the same label put it another way with its title Cool Struttin’. A blue note is an imaginatively squashed note, played with soul – a note that oozes quality and feeling, and signals ‘style’.”

“My passion to stay with the sea-drummer’s beat and play melodies against the grinding bass of deep ocean swells has taken me from my birthplace in West Cornwall to discover a spectrum of surfing and cultural challenges. I embrace these with a geographical imagination educated by the classroom of Cambridge University and polished by global field trips, often to politically difficult and culturally complex brilliant corners of the world. For me, while exploration is the essence of surfing, I take surfing beyond the wave, to a wider sense of place - to people in concert with landscape, and often to varieties of culture shock. I want to travel to extreme places in the sense of unusual, or out of the way, corners of coastline to engage with the essence of the place and its inhabitants. The journey is as important as the goal. But I do not want to conquer the dark spots on the map. I prefer to think that the sea and travel shape me, rather than imagining that I stamp my identity on anything. By approaching new situations with an openness and willingness to learn, I have come to appreciate that there is a place between acceptance and confidence that demands poise. All surfers know the feeling of poise. The trick is how you translate that moment into life as a whole.”

Sam is particularly interested in the late Polish writer Ryszard Kapuscinski. Kapuscinski’s encounters with ‘otherness’ and Africa in Another Day of Life and The Soccer Wars have been a deep source of inspiration. Sam is also a fan of travel writing anthropologists Alfonso Lingis and Michael Taussig, plus Joseph Conrad, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Haruki Murakami, and poets St John Perse and Pablo Neruda.

PhD

Sam is currently researching a part time PhD in Surf Travel Writing with the Performance Writing Research Group at University College Falmouth. Entitled ‘A new wave of travel writing: surfing ‘other’ coastscapes with jazz in mind’ the research attempts to develop an intermodal form of surf travel writing to capture the character of coastscape through networking travel, surfing and tropes of modern jazz. The aim is to better translate the poesis and performance of surf travel into Sam’s practice as a writer, achieved through exploring five surfing coastscapes (the coastal landscape, seascape and culture) in Haïti, Algeria, Gabon, China and Vietnam. These represent challenging surf travel destinations, shunning conventional tourism and explicitly offer ‘otherness’ through restricted access. In these locations Sam will collect research material through practice-based writing, and analyse and synthesise research material through intermodal writing.