Dave Kerr was born in Rotherhithe in 1966 and still lives a ten-minute walk from where he grew up. He started surfing at nineteen, ran a small surf club out of a railway arch in the late 1980s, and has been a regular on the Dawn Bus since our first trip. He works as an electrician. We met him at his flat on a Thursday evening.
How did a kid from Rotherhithe end up surfing?
A mate of mine had a cousin in Newquay. We went down one summer in 1985 to stay in a caravan, and he had an old board in the awning. I was terrible at it. I went back the next year on my own and was still terrible, but I’d decided by then that I was going to get good.
What was it like being a surfer in south London then?
Lonely. There was nobody to go with, and there was no internet, so you had no idea if there were waves until you got there. You’d ring a surf shop in Cornwall from a phone box and ask what it was like. Half the time they’d say it was flat just to keep you away.
I started putting cards up in the newsagents asking if anyone wanted to share petrol. That’s how the club started really. By 1988 there were about fifteen of us. We rented a lock-up under the arches on Jamaica Road to keep the boards in, because none of us had room in our flats.
What was the kit like?
Awful. The wetsuits leaked through the seams and the zips went up the back and let the water straight in. In winter you’d last forty minutes. We used to pour a kettle of hot water down the front before getting in, which feels mad now. Boots were basically diving socks.
The boards were heavy and thick. We’d buy them second-hand in Cornwall and drive them home on the roof of an Escort with a roof rack held on with rope.
How many times do you think you've driven down?
I worked it out once. If you count the weekend trips and the holidays, it’s somewhere over nine hundred. I know every services on the A303. I’ve watched Stonehenge go from a lay-by to a visitor centre.
What changed when the internet arrived?
The forecasts got good, so we stopped wasting trips. That was the best thing that ever happened. The downside is that everyone else got the same forecast, so the good days are much busier now. But I don’t really mind. When I started I’d have given anything for more people to surf with.
Why did you start coming on the Dawn Bus?
My knees don’t love five hours of driving any more, and it’s nice not to be the one organising. I sit at the front and tell the young ones which beach the driver should go to. They mostly ignore me.
You're sixty this year. Any plans to stop?
No. I surf a longer board and I don’t paddle out when it’s big, but I still go most weekends between September and May. Summer’s too crowded. The best sessions are November, when the water’s still warm from the summer and the beaches are empty.
Any advice for someone in London who wants to start?
Get lessons the first few times, then just go as often as you can. Don’t buy an expensive board. Find people to share the drive with. That was true in 1986 and it’s still true now.
