“I think about the sea all the time, what it’s doing, what it's done, and what it will do.” Surfer Hector on the Pembrokeshire coast.
There’s a strong breeze blowing across lush fields and flowers of varying shades dotted here and there. The landscape is calling out to be explored on a bright morning that’s unfolding in Wales.
But there’s absolutely no way that we’re stopping to look at anything around us. Instead, we’re wading at speed through the overgrowth, almost a jog, to keep up with surfer Hector who has set this gruelling pace.
We’re on the Pembrokeshire coast, on a quest. Hector is carrying his surfboard over his shoulder in a silver cover that shines in the sun, and he’s decked out in a green t-shirt that matches his wetsuit bucket. He’s got the bare minimum to carry. Every so often, he stops to check his phone to find the route again, a furrowed brow under his cap.
There’s a nervous energy emanating from him, barely able to make conversation, fixated on the path ahead. He’s a man with a singular mission, unable to focus on anything else. As he half-jokingly told us before we set off, it’s time to find the best waves on the emptiest beach around, and nothing can stand in his way.
We pass groups of families on a leisurely walk along the coast path, as we storm by to reach a high cliff top. Below us an almost deserted beach appears, surrounded by tumbling rock formations and swathes of mustard gorse.
Hector comes to a halt to look down, intently watching as the waves roll in, one by one. You can feel the giddy excitement growing as he begins running down to the shore. Apparently, these are exactly the conditions that he’s been searching for the last few days.
Scrambling after him, we make it just in time as he pulls on his wetsuit, unzips his surfboard and heads out. He turns back once, making brief eye contact for the first time all morning. His intense stare back to us seems to say – nothing can stop me now.
Watching Hector surf is mesmerising. He’s the only surfer in the water, gliding over waves, black wetsuit silhouetted against the white froth. Beside the towering cliffs, he’s a tiny figure streaking across the billowing spray.
Every so often, he leaps off his surfboard, like a cormorant diving for fish. You can tell he’s entirely in his element.
In the shallows, with a scraggle of swimmers, the waves are ferocious, crashing down and pulling you under in seconds. Overhead, Hector appears, effortlessly moving in harmony with the rolling wall of water.
“The movement of surfing is like a flow state, like a dance.” He tells us later.
Hector emerges after a couple of hours, walking slowly back towards the rocks. The joy on his face is infectious, grinning from ear to ear from the pure fun of it. He now seems at one with his surroundings, calm and still. It’s a captivating transformation to witness, like we’re now with a different person.
Later in the afternoon, we sit in Hector’s van, overlooking Freshwater West Beach to talk.
By day, he’s a carpenter, based in Bristol, designing and building intricate structures for clients in different locations. His van serves as home, ferrying him between carpentry gigs and to the coastlines of Pembrokeshire and Cornwall, whenever possible.
He describes his van as a close friend, racking up the miles together, brimming with tools and surfboards. It embodies his blend of work and life, where reconnecting with nature can be a part of his routine.
The sea is a form of sanctuary for Hector. When he’s lying on his board, waiting for a wave, thoughts will bounce around his head. It gives him time to reflect and absorb, before focusing completely on how he’ll execute the next move as the set rolls in.
When he can’t get to the beach, Hector heads to The Wave near Bristol, the artificial surfing pool. The cost of these sessions, he enlightens us pointedly, is the same as a weekly session of therapy.
Through surfing, he can relinquish any daily stress, from work, relationships, or family. This connection with the sea is so strong, he can always return to it.
“I think about the sea all the time, what it’s doing, what it's done, and what it will do. It's a good escape when things are less good elsewhere in life. I think about it and just mull over how wonderful it is. It’s a subject to continuously meditate on.” He gestures wistfully to the horizon.
Hector grew up in Dorset, already connected to the sea. He remembers many family holidays to Scottish islands and other places across the country, being outside. He discovered surfing at a young age and became entirely hooked, beginning a lifelong obsession.
“It makes you feel great in the moment and then afterwards for the next two days, you feel really good too. Then all I want to do is surf again once you’ve recovered. It's either a healthy or unhealthy addiction – it's very easy to lose your life to it.”
What’s especially addictive for surfers is following the everchanging weather systems that define minute changes in the quality of the swell. It’s an elusive chase and requires an in depth understanding to predict what the sea might do next.
Surfers like Hector are forever tuning into an invisible radio and searching for a perfect frequency that only they can hear.
"For a lot of the time, when you're surfing, you're either sat in the sea waiting for the next wave trying to predict it or driving around looking for the right beach.” says Hector.
He evokes writer Willian Finnegan’s quote that surfing is ultimately “a lifelong study of the sea.”
"It’s unusual as a sport for requiring you to predict nature, a natural phenomenon, endlessly.”
It also creates a chance to be alongside wildlife, entirely immersed in the same open space, which can be magical and unsettling. Hector says,
“Seeing them around you while you’re surfing makes you aware of how clearly you're not one of them. They are so fast and so at home and you're just flapping around in comparison.”
While we watched Hector on the Pembrokeshire beach, a seal continuously bobbed up next to him. It’s a battle of nerves, to see who is more frightened. He also recounts paddling alongside dolphins and whales in South Africa.
Only an experienced surfer like Hector feels safe on an empty beach, without a lifeguard, able to identify the dangerous rips and familiar with the nearby animals. It's a solitary way to experience the outdoors, where less (or fewer!) is more. Having the waves to yourself, or with just a couple of friends, is the ultimate thrill.
We talk about the visceral experience of being outside for hours. For Hector, the mixed sensation of suncream and seawater reminds him of surfing, especially a trip to Indonesia when he got burnt from too much direct sunlight in the water.
It allows you to experience different weather in a unique way, from scorching heat to cold-water surf, that has become increasingly popular due to improvements in wetsuit technology. A trip to Scotland with heavy snowstorms found Hector paddling out in a blizzard. He couldn’t feel his hands or feet but found it exhilarating.
"It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, you can always enjoy the process of surfing.” He points out. It’s the experience itself that holds the most value.
Dusting off his splattered carpentry clothes and stepping into a wetsuit, he can become himself again, brown from the sun and gushing about how good it felt to be back out there.
Hector talks about his love for the entire lifestyle around surfing – the privilege of being in beautiful places, camping and sleeping in the van, and cooking outdoors.
When we cook with him at lunch, the precision with which he uses and cleans his Trangia cooker is the same care he takes to never drop his wetsuit in the sand, keeping it pristine. In contrast, the immense urge to be in the swell brings out a wild side in him.
“There's that anxiety beforehand, the anticipation surrounding surfing that I always feel. Then when you come out, you become more aware of what's around you, these stunning cliffs and the seal and the birds in the sunshine.”
Not everyone can execute moves on a surfboard, but that feeling of being in the great outdoors and entirely unwinding is relatable. Surfers simply have the skill to experience the waves in a special way.
We say goodbye to Hector as he reverses in his van, turns to waves to us, and revs up the hill in a spray of gravel. We’re left looking at the dark dots bobbing up and down on the turquoise expanse below. It will only be a matter of time before he returns to join them.
For Hector, the sound of the sea is less a calling and more of an irresistible pull. Like a natural magnet, the lapping tide will draw him back, over and over.
You can find Hector on Instagram @kennard_brothers
