Warriors of Winter
Every year, on the last weekend in October, the clocks go back an hour in the UK and Warriors of Winter begins. This competition has become an institution amongst the hard-charging UK surf community over the last seven years, who have six months until the clocks go forward again at the end of March to get their best wave of the winter documented and submitted to the crew at Down The Line Surf Shop in West Cornwall.
Then, as spring sets in, Down The Line unveil their guest judge for the year (past judges have included the likes of Kelly Slater, Joel Parkinson and Harry Bryant) who picks their favourite from the photos submitted. Surfer and photographer are amply rewarded for their efforts, and this year we’re delighted to be partnering with Down The Line to set the winning surfer and photographer up with a full Nuwave Rewired wetsuit set-up each, as part of their prize package.
As the first of the winter swells have started to hit UK shores over the last few weeks and entries have started to trickle in, we caught up with the team at Down The Line to find out more about the competition, and to try and find out just what it will take to become their 8th Warrior of Winter.
Former WoW winner Woody New, opening photo by Rob Blackett, this image photographed by Ross Duerden
How did the concept of the Warriors of Winter competition come about?
The idea of Warriors of Winter came about almost 15 years ago when Trevor Clayton, the founder of Down the Line Surf Co, and the shop crew were manning our shop during a very dark and wet winter period. With a huge low pressure setting in, we were looking for a way to celebrate the epic swells that we have in the UK during the winter, and a way to motivate our community to keep pushing through the colder months and all come together, share their best waves, and get rewarded for their efforts.
How has it developed from that first idea into what it is now?
Pretty organically, to be honest! It's largely the same as the original concept, and we've made a few tweaks to keep it fresh, exciting, and evolve it into the much-loved competition that it is today. Every year it's getting bigger, with more entries and more surfers pushing the limits.
Lucy Campbell last winter, by Luke Gartside
You’ve pulled in some big name judges over the years. How do you secure such high profile judges and what does it add to Warriors of Winter? Is it something that they’re really stoked to be involved with?
We're really lucky to work with some fantastic brands, who have shared our love for the competition and what it stands for. It's through our long-standing relationships with JS, DHD, Firewire, Lost and Jim Banks that we've been able to get access to some of the most respected surfers on the planet to make the hard calls for our winner-takes-all competition.
Harry Bryant was a little different - he swung by the shop during his Cornwall stint a couple of years ago, as we were wrapping up that year's comp. We asked if he'd be keen to take on the mantle of judge the following year, and he provided us with some of our favourite 'Judge Announcement' and 'Winner Reveal' videos that we've had for the entire competition.
It's almost a necessity to have someone that's a little more removed from the local surf scene - we're too invested in certain stories, waves and seeing some of our favourite customers score epic waves to be true independent judges ourselves. It's great when someone with a wealth of experience in surfing heavy waves or crafting the tools to tackle them with comes in with a completely different set of eyes to ours.
Adam 'Bearman' Griffiths, by Luke Gartside
What’s your criteria for a judge?
There's no set criteria, and we're always keeping our minds open to fresh ideas of someone who'd be a good fit for the future. We've been lucky to already have some of the biggest and best in the business judging for us, but there's still some out there we'd love to get involved...
And what criteria do you ask your judges to use to pick a winner? Or is it completely up to their interpretation?
It’s fully up to them! We pull together everyone's entries to show them, and leave it completely in their hands. It keeps it exciting for us too - some years, we think there's a shot or two that's guaranteed to win and then the judge throws a complete curveball that we've not really noticed before.
Warriors of Winter celebrates and rewards the photographers as much as the surfers who they shoot. What feedback and response have you had from the photographers who submit their work about what that means to them?
Ultimately, Warriors of Winter couldn't happen without the photographers. If the winning surfer caught the winning wave and nobody saw or shot it, then it's not in the comp... It's crazy to think about the amount of insane waves that must be surfed each year that nobody ever sees! It's always a treat to open up Instagram after a solid swell and see some of the incredible submissions that roll in. There's always something special about an interesting and unique composition on a well-known and much-photographed wave that really stands out to us. We recognised pretty early on how important the photography aspect is to the comp, so quickly made sure that we added valuable prizes for the winning photographer too.
There're always a few photographers that are really putting in the work and have shot some of the absolute diamonds each year. Shout-out to every photographer who's entered a shot or two each year - we literally couldn't do it without you!
What does it take to win Warriors of Winter?
That's the million-dollar question! It really could be anything. It's not always the biggest wave or the biggest barrel, sometimes it's just a magic shot that really stands out from the crowd.
Logan Nicol, captured by The Gill
Warriors of Winter entries are submitted to Down The Line on Instagram – please take a look at their blog article to get the full run-down of exactly how to enter your best wave of the season, and be in with a chance of taking the title.
