Crest Surfcast

22 year-old Gower phenom Alys Barton has just made Welsh and British surfing history! Never before has someone from these shores qualified for the WSL Challenger Series, and with a runner-up in the last QS in Morocco, Alys has done just that. She will now go to five global stops to compete against the best the world has to offer. Alys checked in with Tom and Rob this week to chat about her stoke a...

We finish 2025 with an episode we've wanted to do for ages - Surfline's Jamie Bateman, quizzed by Dr Sindia Sosdian (and Tom too, sort of) on all things oceanography and surf forecasting. How is the Surfline forecast calculated? What are the most important metrics to use? What crazy requests does a surf forecaster get, and, most of all... What will the surf be like on Christmas Day? Produced by Ja...

With the European QS season wrapped up, and the ISA Worlds behind us too, Wales' top pro surfer PLD joins Tom and Sindia. A year of two halves, PLD gives us a frank assessment of his competitive goals, as well as a look at who else is worth a watch from the UK and Euro roster. Where did everyone surf during the named storms we've had so far? Clue - PLDs story links to the previous topic, and that...

The newly crowned open men's and open women's Welsh champions, Eli Perrins-Davies and Emily Williams, sit down with Tom for a run-through of the event, and of what the wins mean for their surfing careers. Also featuring Sindia Sosdian's perspective on the tight finish from the women's open final, and a full run-down of the rest of the results. Produced by James Dodd Artwork by GS Design Co Music C...

Plenty to talk over, whatever the waves have been doing! Logan Nicol joins Tom for an update on the Wilkinson Sword, held in Fresh West last month, as well as mulling over the upcoming final event of the European QS tour, the Caparica Pro, and Patrick Langdon-Dark's chances there. Besides that, of course, is a little update on the surf diaries so far, and then some advice on fin setups - a topic w...

We had to drop at least once before 2024 was done, didn't we? Our excuse is we kept waiting for the Welsh to run... but then it did, so here we are. We've got the exclusive first interviews from both Mens and Womens winners Logan and Josie, as well as a 'best bits' file of Greg Owen's commentary. Tom debates with studio guests Sindia Sosdian and Logan whether summer or winter is the better proposi...

Who in Wales doesn't miss the Rhines? Of course, it was only a matter of time before Crest and Welsh Surfing legend James Rhino Thomas appeared on our bandwidth again - and this time it's from New Zealand, his new place of abode. Following a late arrival, as Rob had to finish his Cricket Club's AGM first, he and Tom ask Rhines about all the important things; how is the surf, what's the weather lik...

We formed this podcast to chat with legends, and here they are! To celebrate the WSF turning 50 this year, Crest has pulled together quite a guest list. Mark Vaughan and James Jones have joined Tom and Rob on the couch, alongside none other than Linda Sharp and Herbi aka Huw John. These guys pretty much are the WSF over the past few decades, and once again, Linda's encyclopedic knowledge of Welsh,...

For most of Wales' sixty-plus years of surf culture, the idea we could have a world champion was beyond improbable. Not any more. Last winter, at Pismo Beach, California, Llywelyn 'Sponge' Williams broke the best record of them all - the first ever Welsh world surfing champion. This is an incredible tale, from the beaches and points of the Llŷn Peninsula to touring the world, and could it even one...

Charger, style-master, Olympian and current European Number One... could there be a better start to our fourth season? On the morning of the final (Boardmasters), Tom and Millie Phillips sat down with the defending event champ, Portugal's rising star Yolanda Hopkins. Yolanda has been a popular figure on the QS in recent years, as well as qualifying for the Toyko Olympics in style. She has already...

It's here! Season 4 is go, and it's kicking off with Rob and Tom's analysis of the 2023 Welsh. Held over the Mayday weekend, it turned into a real showcase of the state of Wales' surfing, and our presenters should know, having watched just about every heat as our team helped run the webcast with Camera Anchor (a.k.a. Craig Nicol). This full breakdown includes a comprehensive list of results, score...

The latest on Llewelyn 'Sponge' Williams' win at the World Games - a first in Welsh Surfing. Then we have a run-through with Producer Dodd and Tom of some of the last two seasons' guests' favourite memories of Christmas surfs. Plus, will there be a wave on Christmas Day? Or is it too early to tell... Produced by James Dodd Artwork by GS Design Co Music Copyright James Dodd 2020

The Season Three finale sees us chat to a very special person in Welsh and British surfing. John Purton has been shaping surfboards seriously for some half a century, and in that time has met, known and worked with some of the top athletes these shores have known. Involved from the first moments of the UK surf industry, we hear about the various labels JP has shaped under, and the characters and c...

With more heat than ever on governments' approaches to clean oceans, sewage discharge, sustainability and plastic reduction, we catch up with one of the shining lights of surfing's ecological movements. Hugo Tagholm has decades of experience trying to hold power to account on behalf of the environment. Right as the SAS Safer Seas and Rivers app was in most headline bulletins for exposing the exten...

In the second of Rob and Tom's dispatches while on WSL duty in Newquay, this is a celebration of a range of voices from the UK junior scene. During the Havianas Junior Open, beach marshall Tim Pitt let Crest run a pop-up interview station during Rounds One and Two of the boys' event, through which they managed to get the thoughts of a range of the competitors, including the eventual boys winner Ja...

Having annoyed ears around Wales for decades, Rob and Tom were both fortunate to finally make their debuts as WSL rent-a-gobs last week at this year‘s Newquay Boardmasters Surfing Festival, after the event was given QS status again. A fitting fiftieth episode has emerged; a special Crest live which Rob did on Saturday afternoon, with the help of Callum Thomas, while the juniors were on hold for a...

In the summer of 2020 we had the pleasure of talking to Mark Schofield for a whole evening, covering his surfing life and his views on just about everything else we could think of. In March of this year, we sadly lost this colossus of the Welsh surfing community. This is a re-cut of the conversation we had with Schof back then, and a chance for us all to both enjoy his voice, and to feel the pain...

It has to be the coolest moniker in surfing – Wavemaker. Nick Hounsfield is best known for being the person who brought surf stoke to the inland flats of northern Bristol. In one of The Wave's fabulous glamping pods, Tom and Emily caught up with the man who took the place from inception to conception. What made Nick one day wake up and decide he wanted to undertake such an ambitious project? What...

An exciting adjustment to the promised schedule for this month, as for the first time since Carwyn Williams (we believe, at least) Wales is home to Britain's top ranked pro surfer. In case you didn't know, Pat Langdon-Dark is a young Gower goofyfoot who finished the year 13th on the WSL Europe leaderboard. It seems the prospect of a British, and indeed Welsh, surfer making it to some of the bigges...

Besides being one of the best surfers this land has known, Jamie Bateman has recently become Surfline's chief forecaster for the UK and Ireland. He's long been one of the most interesting guys you could sit down with for a chat about the ocean and its ways, but now he's officially employed in that capacity. In another video edition episode (thanks to Craig at Camera Anchor if you head to our YouTu...

Founded off the back of a skate ramp made from stolen ply, the Langland Board Riders is now one of the most dominant forces in Welsh surfing. Having fostered some of our greatest past and present surfers, this is an organisation which taps into one of the land's best known surf communities. Joined by a panel of LBR stalwarts, we talk history, culture, localism, the Mun, iconic events like the Toxi...

To finish our 2021 Season, here's the second instalment of The Gill's life story. What was it like to discover some of Northern Europe's most iconic spots? What about the process of sharing those finds? Tom and Rob hear all about these moments, as well as tales from Ireland and Wales - not to mention a life-changing trip to Mauritius and of course his long-standing personal friendship with none ot...

The greatest tales, from the greatest of legends - put simply, this is why Crest in Partnership with Elusive was started. Season Two culminates here with one of the all-time storytellers of Welsh, and indeed global, surf folklore. Paul Gill (a.k.a. The Gill) here talks to Tom and Rob for the first of a two-part life story. From a childhood in the stands at Anfield, to some of the best Mundaka ever...

During the recent Blue Earth Summit, one of the UK's most iconic surf figures joined Rob and Rhino to discuss the importance of this key moment in the history of the surf industry. Now working for Patagonia, multiple British champ, seasoned traveller and big-wave legend Gabe Davies, is well placed to reflect on the nature of surf culture, and the ways it can and should change to confront modern ec...

We've been huge fans of Adz Lison's The Grumpy Surfer Podcast since it's debut moment, so we simply had to do a crossover episode with him. And why not make it a triple? Also joining us, therefore, for this special, are the 'Pagans', Pat Langdon-Dark, Callum Thomas and Logan Nicol. In this three-way edition, Tom, Rhino and our TGSP/Pagans counterparts embark on a review of the 2021 international p...