British Surfer

cover by Fuzz Bleakley

In 1969 Rod Sumpter took time out from his film making to be editor ( from issue no 2 onwards) of Britain's first surf magazine, preceded only by a surf newspaper. It was called British Surfer and sought to embrace UK surf culture with its own identity, not just following trends and news from the US and Aussie mags.

The mag was nicely produced and stands as an important piece of our surf culture. Unfortunately at the time it didn't sell in large enough numbers to cover costs etc - as with most early surf mags - and it finished production after six issues. Because of this its bloody hard to find any now, so thanks to Alex for sharing the full set from his collection.

For some nice youtube footage of Rod Sumpter in the mid 60s click the link , Rod is in the no.5 vest.