SURF 154

Surfing Through Darkness

An ocean exploration undertaken in support of Darkness Into Light.

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In 2023 I became an ambassador for Pieta's Darkness Into Light campaign.

The organisation had arranged media interviews and public appearances to help raise awareness, but I felt I could contribute something more meaningful.

Rather than simply talk about resilience, I wanted to demonstrate it.

I designed Surf 154.

The objective was simple: to surf 154 waves between sunset and dawn—one wave for every person who, on average, dies by suicide across Europe each day.

It was created to raise awareness and funds, but it quickly became something far more interesting: an exploration into uncertainty, adaptation and trusting decades of experience when the familiar disappears.

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Mission Brief

Objective

Ride 154 waves between sunset and dawn while raising awareness and funds for Darkness Into Light.

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Known

• 154 successful rides required.

• The challenge would begin at sunset.

• A safety and support team would remain on shore.

• Every wave would be counted.

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Unknown

• Surf conditions.

• Wave frequency.

• Weather.

• Equipment problems.

• Injury.

• Whether the challenge would take two hours... or the entire night.

That final point shaped everything.

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Preparation

Preparation happened quickly.

There wasn't months of planning. The campaign already existed and, once the idea was formed, we had only a narrow weather window in which to attempt it.

Training focused on one question:

How many waves could realistically be ridden before darkness made surfing impossible?

The answer changed every session.

On one evening I managed more than forty waves in thirty minutes.

On another I managed only a single wave in half an hour.

That uncertainty meant we couldn't predict whether Surf 154 would be completed in under two hours or continue until sunrise.

We prepared for both possibilities.

Image: GPS training record.

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Caption: Training sessions varied dramatically, making it impossible to predict the duration of the final challenge.

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Into the Unknown

As the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, I entered the water with no idea how long I would remain there.

Leigh Hawthorne remained on the beach counting every successful ride.

Rich Robinson monitored the surf and my progress throughout the challenge.

Laura Montgomery provided medical support should it be needed.

Mark Millar managed vehicle support.

Months of preparation weren't possible.

Good planning was.

Now there was only one thing left to do.

Start.

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Adapting to Darkness

As darkness increased, my colour blindness became a significant factor.

People often assume surfing at night is difficult simply because it's dark.

For me it is different.

As the light disappears I struggle to distinguish between the sea, the sky and the approaching face of a wave.

Vision becomes unreliable.

Instead, I rely on movement beneath the board, changes in the energy of the water and instincts developed through decades of surfing.

As the challenge progressed, Rich entered the water to help identify approaching waves and provide another layer of safety.

It wasn't about replacing experience.

It was about combining preparation, teamwork and experience to keep moving forward.

Every wave still had to be caught and surfed.

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The Unknown Becomes Known

As the wave count increased, something unexpected happened.

Instead of becoming overwhelmed by the darkness, I gradually adapted to it.

Each successful wave reduced the uncertainty.

Experience replaced doubt.

The unknown slowly became familiar.

By the final rides I wasn't fighting the darkness.

I was working with it.

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Mission Complete

Against all expectations, the challenge was completed in 1 hour and 59 minutes.

We had prepared for an all-night expedition.

Instead, favourable conditions, teamwork and years of experience combined to produce a result none of us had predicted.

154 waves.

Mission complete.

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Reflection

Surf 154 began as a fundraising challenge.

It finished as another reminder that uncertainty is not something to avoid.

It is something to prepare for.

Whether surveying remote coastlines, searching for undiscovered surf breaks, swimming through darkness, building boats or exploring big wave locations around the world, every expedition contains an element of the unknown.

Experience doesn't remove uncertainty.

It teaches how to move through it.

Surf 154 reinforced a lesson that has shaped much of my life:

Preparation builds confidence. Experience builds trust. Progress comes from stepping into the unknown anyway.