Ebbi Ferguson: Wintering In Wales

Winter. It’s back. The season I have the most challenging relationship with. Already my skin is protesting against the lack of vitamin D by throwing out a savage crop of eczema. The days are shortening and the wind has a bitter edge to it. Over the years I’ve struggled with Seasonal Affective Disorder, each autumn putting into place various habits and practices to keep myself from slipping down that easy path into glumness.

As cliche as it sounds, the method that holds me steady is curating mental lists of gratitude. Armed with a fist full of vitamin gummies, I’ve recently been recalling the many gifts that this season of winter brings. After a rather hectic summer, these next few months hold space and time for reconnection in abundance. The swell is back, wrapping around the Gower Peninsula, offering breaks for all types of surfers. With very few tourists, the lineups are empty and space abounds. But the best gift of all is that Asha is home.

I have four sisters, Asha being one of them, and three brothers; we’re quite the clan. Although we have our separate identities and interests, the one thing that has always united us as siblings is our love for the sea. Since I can remember our holidays centred around various beaches on Gower or Pembrokeshire. Meal times were dictated by swell, tides and when was best to get in the water that day; the roof of the van piled with surf kayaks, SUPs, belly boards and surfboards. Something for everyone.

My older brother now lives in Austria with his wife, but the rest of us still gravitate towards our family home as the nights draw in. We’ve always got in the sea year-round as we’ve always had each other. As the call of wintering settles in, the pace of life slows and our conservatory holds that ever-present musk of damp wetsuits, booties and gloves. Surfing, in its many forms, is firmly embedded into our festive rituals between Christmas presents and leftover turkey sandwiches. That’s a joke, there are never any leftovers in a family of this size.

Since our teenage years, Asha and I have surfed together whenever we’re in the same place at the same time. Although there are two other sisters between us, Asha and I have spent the most time together in the sea. Having taught her to surf when she was 14, I dragged her on a trip to Morocco a few years later and we’ve never looked back. We are quite a recognizable duo in the lineup often wearing matching wetsuits, our longboards shaped mere days apart by a local shaper on the north coast of Gower. Our surfs are a cacophony of sound; cackling laughter, whooping and pitchy shout-sung Taylor Swift lyrics. The volume only increases as more sisters join the chaos. “We’re not loud,” our simple explanation, “we’re just excited!”

When women gather together, we naturally build community. After meeting a few women on Llangennith beach throughout the winter of 2021, Asha and I realised that the sisterhood we’d always taken for granted wasn’t most women’s experience. Surfing, especially in the colder months, can be an incredibly lonely sport.

We talked about creating a space which took these interactions from “I see you” to “I know you”. Gower Women’s Surf Society was born not long after with the aim to cultivate connection. With the phrase all boards, all bodies, all abilities as our manifesto, we sought to build a community that encouraged a sense of fun and playfulness in and around the water. To provide the gift of time, for women to have our moment, to ask questions, to learn and grow, together.

It was never about performance, what you looked like, or how well you surfed. We championed acceptance and encouragement; sisterhood in its truest form. For Asha and I, it was an echo of what we had with our blood sisters.  

Although the shape of the society has changed, women from across our community still meet up regularly to skate, surf or just hang out. Without the clarity that that winter brought, this community, these new friendships would just not exist. Now we know, not just see each other.  

On the edge of a new winter, I’m full of anticipation for the months ahead. To catch those golden rays of first light as they break over Rhossili Down. For the delicious crunch of frost under booties blended with that pre-surf anticipation. Heck, maybe I’ll even dust off my midlength! But most of all, I’m so excited for the time that I’ll get to spend with my sisters in the waves. You see, when you take the time to look, winter is actually a season brimming with gifts.