Our frozen heroes

“It’s always offshore in Holland!” snapped my German surf guide Jens as we made our way for a surf in the North Sea. Although one of the shallowest and coldest bodies of ocean (2 degrees Celsius when I was there) in the world, the North Sea services five of Europe’s most populous nations with surf. The waves are generated by intense localised storms meaning the periods are short and it’s very difficult to score clean conditions, although evidently Holland seems to get a better rub of the green. That there is even a surf community in Holland is no doubt a surprise to some but in fact much of Northern Europe has fully fledged surf communities. Denmark, Germany, the UK and Norway all have their own spins on surf culture with some desperadoes even shredding the Baltic Sea, a landlocked body of ocean subject to three or four second wind slop on its best days of the year. One of the best to come out of the North Sea, Holland to be exact, is this man, Yannick de Jager. “The North Sea is a fickle bitch but that makes it a special and rewarding playground,” he says. Yannick grew up in the Hague and, as you’ll see in this clip, surfs at a more than passable level. But he’s not content with owning the North Sea. Yannick wants to test himself on some of the world’s premiere high performance waves, in the competitive arena and more than anything “see how far out I can carry the Orange flag…the Orange colour is in my blood.” – Jed Smith