Interview: Dunbar bodyboarder Josh Christopherson on making Scottish surfing history

I’m not really that into competitions,” says Dunbar-based surfer and bodyboarder Josh Christopherson. There’s nothing particularly controversial about that view – lots of people are attracted to surfing precisely because you don’t need to do it competitively in order to enjoy it. It sounds odd coming from Christopherson, though, because he recently made history by becoming the first Scot ever to reach a final in the European Surfing Championships – an event first held in Jersey way back in 1969. These days the contest is better known as Eurosurf, and the 2017 edition took place last October in the beachbreaks around the village of Bore in southern Norway. Christopherson didn’t just make it to the final in the bodyboarding category, he also picked up one of the highest individual wave scores in any category along the way. You might reasonably expect somebody competing at such a high level to relish the adrenaline of fiercely-fought 20 minute heats, but contests just aren’t Christopherson’s thing.