https://swellotter.com/news/ UK surf news with a short summary, the source and the Swell Otter take. en-gb Sun, 08 Nov 2026 15:00:00 GMT https://swellotter.com/news/tom-lowe-only-uk-surfer-invited-to-the-eddie-2026-27 https://swellotter.com/news/tom-lowe-only-uk-surfer-invited-to-the-eddie-2026-27 Sun, 08 Nov 2026 15:00:00 GMT The invite list for the 2026/27 Eddie Aikau contest at Waimea Bay is out: 32 surfers plus 25 reserves, chosen by Rip Curl. Tom Lowe is the one British name on it. Hawaiians and former winners dominate the field, and Keone Downing, the 1990 winner, is the new contest director. Our take: An Eddie invite is about the biggest nod a big-wave surfer can get, and it lands on a Cornishman who grew up learning on the same west-facing beachbreaks most of us paddle out at. Lowe has earned it the hard way, coming back from a brutal Tahiti wipeout to win a big-wave award earlier this year. Carve https://swellotter.com/news/harry-de-roth-back-on-the-gb-surfing-team-for-isa-worlds-in-peru https://swellotter.com/news/harry-de-roth-back-on-the-gb-surfing-team-for-isa-worlds-in-peru Sun, 08 Nov 2026 14:00:00 GMT Harry De Roth, who grew up in St Ives and now lives on Phillip Island in Australia, has been picked for the GB Surfing Team for the first time in over ten years. The team heads to the ISA World Surfing Championships in Peru, which start on 6 November and are the first chance to qualify for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Our take: A call-up after more than ten years away tells you two things: De Roth has kept his surfing sharp on the Victorian coast, and the selectors are picking on current form rather than on reputation. That is good news for every surfer who assumed the door had shut. Carve https://swellotter.com/news/junior-surfing-nationals-crown-new-english-champions-at-the-wave https://swellotter.com/news/junior-surfing-nationals-crown-new-english-champions-at-the-wave Sun, 08 Nov 2026 13:00:00 GMT Surfing England held its under-12 and under-14 national championships at The Wave in Bristol on 29 October, the first time the junior titles have been decided at an inland lake. Surfers qualified through the Junior Surf Series or a wildcard, and the wave settings got harder each round, finishing on the steepest expert setting. Our take: Running junior titles in a pool takes the lottery out of it. Every kid gets the same waves, so the best surfing wins rather than the luckiest heat draw. That is fair, and it makes for a cracking day out for parents who have driven to Croyde or Widemouth for a contest only to watch it go flat. Surfing England https://swellotter.com/news/newquay-surfers-fall-just-short-of-most-people-on-one-wave-record https://swellotter.com/news/newquay-surfers-fall-just-short-of-most-people-on-one-wave-record Sun, 08 Nov 2026 12:00:00 GMT Surfers gathered at Great Western Beach in Newquay to try to set a world record for the most people riding a single wave for at least five seconds. Conditions were close to ideal, but the best try managed 93 riders, below the record of 110 held in South Africa. Our take: Ninety-three people on one wave is chaos with a capital C, and anyone who has surfed Fistral on a sunny August Saturday will tell you Newquay has the practice. Riders drifting into each other is the hard part: a beachbreak wave doesn't peel neatly along a reef, so the line falls apart before the five seconds are up. BBC News https://swellotter.com/news/thurso-surf-club-says-sewage-spills-are-making-surfers-ill https://swellotter.com/news/thurso-surf-club-says-sewage-spills-are-making-surfers-ill Sun, 08 Nov 2026 11:00:00 GMT North Shore Surf Club in Thurso says surfers, children among them, have fallen ill after sewage overflows into Thurso Bay, and it has called off some kids' lessons this year. The town's treatment works struggles after heavy rain, and the club wants better monitoring of Far North beaches and a warning beacon at Thurso East. Our take: Thurso East is one of the best right-hand reefs in Europe, and the people who surf it most are locals and kids, not just travellers chasing a swell. Being told to stay out for a day or two after heavy rain is a tough rule in Caithness, where wet weather and good surf often arrive together on the same low. BBC News