There’s a new book that makes the case for something a lot of us already feel in our soul: being around water is good for us. Do Blue: Water, Waves, and Wellbeing — co-authored by Nick Hounsfield, the founder of inland surfing lake The Wave in Bristol, UK, and Abby Richardson, who runs The Wave’s outreach Impact Program — is out now.
It explores the growing science of “blue health” through surfing, swimming, fishing, and cold-water immersion, and the communities forming around them. For Hounsfield, the subject is personal: shortly after opening The Wave, he suffered a stroke at the age of 46, and much of his recovery happened in the water.
Tom Griffiths & Matt Porteous
I got the chance to speak with Nick ahead of the book’s release and, to be perfectly honest, I was a bit skeptical to do the interview. Nothing personal by any means, it’s just that I don’t care much for wave pools. For the most part, I find them to be a novelty that doesn’t compare to the real thing. Furthermore, I think the whole trend is more about money and real estate deals than it is about surfing and increasing opportunities for those who otherwise would have none.
This is where I really connected with Nick — instead of being focused on profits and wealth, he’s doing it out of his love for the water and a desire to bring the healing power of Blue, to those who may not otherwise have access.
Look, I couldn’t care less about creating playgrounds for wealthy white guys…”
The Wave
At one point he said, “Look, I couldn’t care less about creating playgrounds for wealthy white guys, that’s not the point.” I was hooked. Given my own background with surf therapy and overall love for the ocean, he was speaking my language. For those curious about healing in new ways and offering therapy to those they love, Do Blue could be a powerful road map to well-being you won’t find in any doctor’s office.
On the origins of the The Wave, Nick said, “I love waves…It’s always been that way. Long before I understood whyI needed it, water was where I felt most alive. Most ‘me’. As a kid, I chased waves in Cornwall with my dad. He was the first to teach me that health isn’t just something you fix in a clinic—it’s something you feel in wild places. In saltwater. And that stuck with me.”
Nick Polzeath
As for Abby, she had a much different background, “Waves scare me…In fact, for a long time when I was young, the water didn’t feel like a safe space, or even a place for fun and relaxation.My mum recalls the ordeal of washing my hair when I was a young child and the panic if even the smallest amount of water got in my eyes or up my nose. Swimming lessons were deeply dreaded, and I can still remember the utter fear I felt the night before the annual school swimming gala.The horror of being out of my depth. The uncontrollable conviction that I may drown. If someone had told eight-year-old me that one day swimming and water would be my happy place and my reset button, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
To read more about water-based healing, The Wave, and Nick and Abby’s journey, you can click the link to order Do Blue: Water, Waves, and Wellbeing.
Related: World-Class Waves On Tap. Nearly Two Decades Booked Solid. Pitstop Hill Is Calling.