Good morning friends.
We are very happy to feature Andrew Cotton on The Good News Channel today. You probably remember him from last year surfing one of the biggest waves in history in Nazare Portugal. Andrew is no ordinary 35 year old man. Most people hunker down at home when a storm is coming. But that’s when Andrew heads out and comes alive. You might think of him as some sort of storm chaser, but its different in the sense that when he finds a storm, he runs out into the ocean to surf waves the size of skyscrapers that many times come crashing down on him.
Probably the most publicized wave I’ve ever caught that day and it was giant. Biggest, scariest waves I’ve ever seen. We surfed for 4 hours, dodging peaks and trying to get in position and I only caught this wave.
What I liked most about Andrew after corresponding with him and reading up on him is his attitude. He is extremely positive. One quote of his really caught my attention in an interview he did with Mpora.com in April of 2014, he said; “Surfing doesn’t revolve around getting a good sponsor. It revolves around you as a person, it’s how you treat your surfing and your goals.” It’s that same attitude that helped him push through the doubters over the years.
After several knee injuries, people said its time to give up surfing. Andrew didn’t see it that way, it just meant he had to train even harder. Then when he had two kids, people would say to him; “It’s time to grow up and get a real job. But to Andrew this was a real job, the dedication and sacrifices he’s had to make to get where he is goes head to head with any so called “real job.”
It all starts with Team Cotton, Honey my daughter, Ace my son and Katie my wife. This was at Woolacombe in North Devon close to where I live on our 2 minute beach clean. Great little habit to get into and doing our little bit to keep the beach litter free. Check out; http://beachclean.net/
He started surfing when he was 7 yrs old growing up on the North Devon Coast of the UK. Ever since then, catching waves and being around the ocean was his life. At the age of 25 Andrew needed to start earning consistent money and trained to become a plumber.
Probably the best wave I ever caught in Ireland back in 2012. It got me to the final 5 of the WSL big wave awards which held in LA, unfortunately I lost out to Garrett McNamarra’s wave at Nazare in Portugal where I was the one who towed him into that wave.
After sometime he realized the 9 to 5 work life was going to keep him away from surfing for too long and maybe even for good. That was something Andrew was not willing to do. He was meant to be a surfer, a big wave surfer
Myself and Gmac after a paddle session in Nazare, Portugal. I can remember it well, I only caught one wave but it was solid. Pretty sure Garrett only got one too, then we got cleaned up and couldn’t get back out. I remember looking at it from the beach and it was absolutely huge and pumping with no one out! Gotta love Portugal.
Today he’s 35 years old and is a professional surfer tailored for the life he wants. The loves of his life are, wife Kate, his two children and surfing. He now lives in the surf town of Braunton in North Devon near where he grew up. Andrew is not a full time pro by his own choice. He is a lifeguard where he can train and surf everyday and be close to his family.
Andrew’s good friend and filmer Mikey Corker, we’ve been working together now for a few years on different filming projects and before that we traveled and surfed together from time to time. He loves his job, this shot was taken by Finn Mullen just after I caught a bomb at mullaghmore in Ireland back in January.
Myself and water photographer Ben Selway in Western Australia. We used to shoot a lot together when I was younger, had some great memorable trips with Ben. Great photographer and an even better human being.
This is the road around the headland at Mullaghmore in Ireland with Jorge Leal another filmer and photographer I met and worked with in Portugal . This was his first time to Ireland and he was loving the scenery but not so much the weather.
Andrew says Surfing is like nothing else. If you are a mountain climber, you know where the top of the mountain is, if you are a runner, you know the distance you have to run, but with surfing you never know. There are infinite possibilities and its never exactly the same.
Paddling Nazare is never easy, but that makes the waves you do get even better.
With all the media attention and glory, this gentleman has remained as grounded as they come. He loves his family and he loves to surf. What can be more blissful than that ?
