photo credit: Gary Knights

Coast is proud to be sponsoring Mike Winter!

I started surfing at the grand old age of 20. I didn’t live by the coast but was brought up with love and respect for the ocean by my mum who was born in the north east coastal town of Saltburn. I started shaping boards about 2 years ago, basically because I couldn’t get hold of the boards I wanted. I worked in an art gallery and spent most of my days waiting for customers, reading up on shaping and being incredibly inspired by what I saw happening in Cali with board design.

It wasn’t till 2010 that a friend persuaded me to shape a board for him after seeing my hand plane I made out of an old snapped board. I think my background in sculpture helped me translate my ideas into foam creations, but I am lucky to have had the guidance of some world class shapers along the way. I don’t really have a favourite place to surf, but a perfect right hand point break with endless nose ride sections would be amazing.

Follow his blog here