Gwyn Haslock: First Lady

Gwyn Haslock has nearly 6 decades of surfing under her belt. She was born in Cornwall in 1945, and is renowned as one of the UK’s original surfers. Gwyn holds many competitive surfing accolades, including multiple British National Champion titles.

We first heard about – and wrote about  -- Gwyn’s story in 2015  after connecting with English bellyboarding enthusiast Sally Parkin, who said: 

“I am not sure who you would say started Men’s competitive surfing – but there is no doubt in my mind that Gwyn Haslock started women’s stand up surfing in England – she entered the first ever British National Championships in 1966 – she was the only female competitor and it was because of her that the surfing organisers started a Ladies National Championship in 1969 – there were six competitors and Gwyn won. She went on to win the first ever GB Ladies surfing championships in 1970, 1971, 1972 1973 and 1974 – came 2nd in 1975 and won again in 1976 – she also won the English Surfing Championships in 1990.”

Gwyn joins us for a lighthearted chat about surfing beyond retirement, being happily unmarried, and staying fit for surfing.

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound Engineer: Ben Alexander

Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Wave Brain  - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker 

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