Rob Fowlie at Carwyn’s Surfhouse
Meeting a Big Wave Surfer
It was in October 2022 and as it was tradition, Charlie was in Hossegor and stayed at Carwyn’s Surfhouse. This year though was different. The Quiksilver Pro France had been canceled with quite short notice. Since Charlie had her flights booked, she was still going to stay in Hossegor for at least a few days.
The first thing Carwyn had shown her the day she arrived was the bar at the back of the house that he had completely redone over the summer. There was a brand-new barbecue and a table. On the wall behind that table was a surfboard, broken in two pieces. As is always the case at Carwyn’s Surfhouse, there was a story to it. He had picked this board up in Nazaré in February and met on this occasion big wave surfer Rob Fowlie. Charlie took a picture of that board, made a note, and got on with her day.
Surprise visit
It was her last evening before she would continue her trip towards Hendaye and San Sebastian. Charlie came to the surf house late in the evening after the Surf Summit. Until now she had been the only guest the whole week and as she parked her bike, she heard voices from the house.
She came up the stairs and there was a team in branded t-shirts with the logo “grs” sitting in the kitchen. They were all different ages, but apparently part of the same team. One of them was about Carwyn’s age and it turned out that they had known each other for their whole lives. Charlie introduced herself and the first name she heard was: “Hi, I’m Rob.”
Rob Fowlie and his crew at Carwyn’s Surfhouse, from left to right: Luke Raistrick – Videographer, Jules Chenoweth – Water Safety, Rob Fowlie – Big Wave Surfer, Jeff Scott – Jet Ski Driver, Ben Hartley – Photographer, Minnow Green – Spotter
She sat down, put some of the remaining spaghetti on her plate, got a beer, and started chatting with the other guys around the table. Ben was the photographer, Luke the videographer, and Jeff the jet ski driver. They were on their way to Nazaré and had been on the road the whole day. The plan was to stay at Carwyn’s for the night and continue at 5.30 a.m. the next morning.
Rob Fowlie and Carwyn Williams in October 2022
Carwyn was mostly excited about the three jetskis parked at the end of his driveway, one of them just recently bought from big wave surfer Andrew Cotton. Charlie kept on chatting with Jeff and Luke about their roles on the team. Just as they were about to go to bed, Carwyn asked for a team photo. He dragged Rob out of bed again and they all gathered by the entrance for a picture. Charlie took that opportunity to catch the surfer’s full name and Instagram and that’s when it dawned on her that it was the same guy who had been riding the broken board that was hanging in the bar at the back of Carwyn’s house.
The optimist could say now: “Great that you got a few pictures!” Charlie just thought: “I should have asked a few more questions.”
