Charlie Unsworth
Starting with basic swimming lessons as a small toddler, I began my love for the water. From there all I had to do was learn to surf. The only problem being, I lived in the middle of the UK in Derbyshire. I would help my Dad(Ozzy) wax, de-wax, fix and kit-up his boards from an early age which gave me the surfing bug before I had even touched the water.
Ozzy learnt to surf in his early twenties meaning he could pass is knowledge of the waves and surfing onto me and my brother. With the cold North East of England being our ‘local surf spot’ we would make surf trips whenever we could with my whole family jumping in the car to go and surf. With our main surfing stint being on our yearly holidays to Croyde Bay.
Always surfing my Dads mini-mals I only surfed when he wasn’t, which meant me my brother (Eddie) and my Mum (Jane) would body board in the shallows which devolved my understanding of waves. At 8 years old I bought my first surf board whilst on holiday in Croyde Bay, an epoxy 5’10” TakeOff Fish for £62 with a foot sized hole in the deck. Super chuffed with my ‘new’ board I took it back to the caravan we were staying in and repaired it as best as I could. From there I surfed as regularly as possible, every chance I got, I was in the water. With my family having the traveling bug we started to take more trips abroad and surfed whenever there was a wave. I thought I would be a weekend warrior forever…Then I learnt to drive. With now being able to drive I surfed more, Improving my style and skills with every surf.
At 18 I became a Level 1 Surf Instructor, moved to Croyde Bay, lived in a tent and started work at Croyde Surf Academy. I did a full surf season, improved ten fold and my love for surfing just got stronger, seeing every wave as surfable, 1ft mush or 3x over head and clean, I’ll be happy. I then bought myself a small van and put a bed in the back of it which I then lived in for the next season working as a surf instructor. I now surf as often as possible around my instructing and have plans to travel in the off season, chasing waves around the globe looking for the ultimate ride.