A Day in the Life of a Professional Surfer
Our Surf Ambassador Logan Nicol takes us with him as he prepares for a surf competition in Israel
After an amazing trip to Israel for the World Qualifying Series (WQS) 3,000 event, I wanted to share what a down day in Israel looked like for me. Despite not having a good result over there, I had the best time and really enjoyed exploring a new country, taking in the local culture and making the most of the warm Middle Eastern weather!
7:00am: On the down days, myself and the other boys I was staying with (Patrick Langdon-Dark, Luke Dillon and Barnaby Cox) would usually wake up, roll out of bed, and check the surf from the apartment window! We were lucky enough to be staying just over the road from the beach!
7:30am: Breakfast time. Apparently, Tel Aviv is the 7th most expensive city in the world - a fact we verified by Google of course! With that in mind, our food options for the trip were pretty basic. But for me, breakfast is the most important meal of the day so I wouldn’t scrimp too hard. I would usually have either eggs on toast or a bowl of porridge, depending if we were in a rush or not.
8:30am: At this time if there were waves, we would be heading down the beach for a surf. Depending on who had competition heats the next day, we would either walk 10 minutes down the beach and surf at the contest site. Or, we would just run over the road and surf straight out front, which is a complete luxury I don’t have at home!
11am: After our surf, we would head back to the apartment, usually fighting over who gets to use the shower first. Relaxing and preserving energy before the contest started was really important. Often to unwind, we would just chill out in our place, watch some surfing on our phones or stick a movie on.
The view from our apartment
1pm: Lunch is up! Our two staple meals were quite basic. This was either rice, kidney beans and chickpeas (surprisingly very tasty) or a tuna pasta dish with some veg thrown in…ooh and lots of red sauce too!
2:30pm: Once our food had settled, it would be time to check the waves again! With the warmth of the land and the Mediterranean Sea, there was usually a strong onshore breeze in the afternoon. Sometimes this would mean the waves were a bit bigger but often it would just turn the whole beach into a mess.
3:00pm: Depending on the conditions, it would be either time for another surf or a workout. I did a couple of workouts on the stairs just outside of our apartment whilst I was there, the hot sun really helps you work up a sweat!
4:00pm: Post workout, my favourite thing was to head down to the beach, jump in the sea for a quick dip and then shower off in the beach showers. Some evenings it really did feel like paradise down there; the beach was so quiet, there was a beautiful sunset, and there was soft white sand beneath my toes. Writing this is making me wish I was back there!
The walk down to the beach
5:30pm: At this time, I would usually be helping one of the boys prepare dinner. I like to call myself the sous chef/pot wash as my culinary skills are very limited. My speciality is marmite on toast!
6pm: The four of us would sit down and eat together and discuss what we thought the next day might bring us. You really didn’t know as the waves would change by the hour, so it kept us on our toes!
6:30pm: More chilling! We spent a lot of time just lounging around trying not to tire ourselves out. Often this would consist of a lot of TikTok scrolling and YouTube watching!
9pm: Bedtime. We opted for early nights whilst we were preparing for the contest to ensure we were on our A-game the next day. Well, maybe that didn’t quite work out for me but I don’t think tiredness would have helped!
I loved my time in Israel, spending time with fellow suffers, travelling and competing. Fingers crossed that for the next one I can bring back a better result!
