The Wave’s Nick Hounsfield interview: How I built my surfing dream

Should you had been requested to call a world-class place to surf, a discipline close to Bristol isn’t the primary location that might spring to thoughts.

However this slice of the English countryside is residence to The Wave, a synthetic browsing lake that’s considered one of only a handful on the earth to make use of leading edge know-how and was the primary of its variety.

The Wave is the fruit of the ambitions of Nick Hounsfield, a pioneering British entrepreneur who needed to construct a singular enterprise that had a optimistic social impression, with enhancing well being and wellbeing for surfers and non-surfers alike baked in.

The countryside simply outdoors Bristol is residence to The Wave – a pioneering synthetic surf lake – and Simon Lambert went to satisfy founder Nick Hounsfield

For this particular bonus interview episode of the That is Cash podcast, Simon Lambert visited The Wave to satisfy Nick, be proven round and listen to the story of his greater than decade-long journey to get waves breaking and other people driving them. 

It’s a captivating story, not least as a result of Nick didn’t come from a background in property or enterprise, however was an osteopath, who began with £500 in his checking account and managed to lift £27million to construct his dream.

He tells Simon in regards to the problem of doing that when potential traders thought it was an ideal concept however had been reluctant to take the danger on it, with a theme of ‘we’ll again the second, however not the primary one’ coming by means of.

Ultimately Nick and his enterprise companions acquired traction in elevating the funds to get the Wave off the bottom, however he says it was necessary to search out the appropriate folks to again it: those that purchased into the social impression factor in addition to earning money.

‘We discuss earnings with goal’, says Nick. ‘However usually, I feel throughout the finance business, it appears that evidently individuals are understanding how necessary it’s to be future going through – from a revenue perspective but in addition taking care of folks and the planet on the similar time and the way necessary that’s in constructing a model and constructing a enterprise.’

He provides: ‘Proper at first we very a lot set out our stall that we had been going to be environmentally acutely aware and socially acutely aware, but in addition be revenue making.’

The Wave can produce prime quality knowledgeable waves for surfers like Lukas Skinner, pictured, however Nick defined that it additionally wanted to be accessible for these new to browsing or enhancing

However Nick’s rollercoaster trip hasn’t simply been about getting a massively bold enterprise off the bottom, he additionally confronted a double whammy of surprising occasions because it lastly opened its doorways.

The Wave began welcoming surfers in late 2019 however shortly afterwards Covid and lockdowns struck throwing plans into disarray.

But Nick was already going through his personal private problem, as he had suffered a stroke in February 2020, which left him in hospital for weeks after which needing six to 9 months of rehabilitation at residence by means of the disconcerting instances of the primary Covid lockdown.

Nick tells the story of how he discovered himself working alone within the water at The Wave, whereas it was shut throughout lockdown, and benefitting himself from the impression of ‘blue well being’: the concept spending time in or close to water is nice for folks, which is a cornerstone of his enterprise dream.

The Wave has flourished because it was allowed to open once more in the course of the Covid lockdowns and there at the moment are plans for extra amenities within the UK, together with one in north London’s Lee Valley, near the Olympic water sports activities amenities.

Nick shares extra particulars on these plans, explains extra about how The Wave works and what visiting surfers can anticipate and must know – and on the finish of the podcast Simon – a self-described painfully common on-and-off surfer – explains what it was wish to trip the waves.

A newbie studying throughout a lesson within the simple waves on the entrance of the bay at The Wave