Waves of Love! 
We love a good surfing love story, so we couldn’t get enough of this real life match up, between long time Women and Waves guest Emily Davies and her husband-to-be, Toby.
One of the best things about our coaching weekends is the post surf chats. Everyone gets to know each other and it’s always a highlight to hear each individual story about how they find themselves on a surfing weekend with us. Emily, age 35 from The Gower, Wales, has joined us for previous trips to Secret Morocco and Portugal and was now back in Newquay with us to sharpen her surf skills. After she mentioned that she met her partner in the line up, we had to know more. We poured a well earned cup of post surf tea, had a sit down and asked her all about it.
How did you meet your partner and what part did surfing play in it?
My favourite spot to surf is Llangennith on the Gower peninsula. I know that you guys love that beach as you hold your coaching weekend there every year, it’s my absolute favourite place! Dawn sessions are the best as the sun comes up over the sand dunes and it’s so amazing being in the water as the whole of the coast lights up. That morning, as dawn broke, I decided to walk through the sand dunes and walk down the beach to the left side, there was only one other surfer in the water. I paddled out and caught some really fun waves. As the session progressed, the lone surfer paddled nearer to me, to join me on the fun peak that I was surfing. I heard “Hi, I’m Toby, how’s it going” and that’s where it all began!
I now know that this is really out of character for him to chat to somebody like this, he can be quite shy, so I’m glad that he did. After a few more waves and a bit more chat, we finished the surf session and went our separate ways.
How did he find you after your first meeting? Did you swap numbers?
No! He tracked me down! I had mentioned that I was friends with one of his mates’ girlfriends. He contacted her, looked at her Instagram friends and dropped me a message. I just scrolled all the way back through my messages to see what he wrote that first time. He sent this line “You had a couple of nice ones this morning!”. I guess the surf compliment worked! Ha Ha.
Did surfing help when you were dating?
Yes! We went for a coffee on our first official date, but after that we just met up for surf dates. Which made it really fun and laid back. We made loads of mutual friends as we each had surf mates that were in the same circles and the same interests. Sharing the same love of surfing gave us a mutual understanding of each other. Before I knew it, we booked a holiday to Sri Lanka and 4 months after that morning surf, we were on a plane going on our first surf trip!
What are the benefits and negatives of having a surfing fiance?
Well, we take turns rinsing wetsuits out after sessions, so that means I rinse my wetsuit out 50% less than I used to! Ha ha. Previous to our meeting I was a real ‘planner’ and wanted to know what was happening when, what time and all the details to be nailed down. Now we have an understanding that things will change if the forecast looks good for waves, if the wind turns or if the swell picks up. I think it has been good for me to find that flexibility that I previously didn’t have. We have had lots of amazing surf trips together which has been amazing. We have surfed in Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan and Portugal. And we are always looking at places to go and surf which is really fun. I guess a negative is that I have spent quite a lot of time waiting on the beach for him or in the car. If I get out of the surf and am ready to leave, he sometimes wants to surf for longer. But I can handle that, it’s not that tough spending time at the beach!
How did he propose?
We went for a walk on Llangennith beach and the tide was out. We walked to the spot on the beach where we were surfing, where we first met and he dropped down on his knee and asked me to marry him. It was so sweet. He didn’t actually have a ring though, he had a shell which he’d found ha ha!
Now we’re getting married next week. All my friends are coming along, we had a surfing hen night and I even have Emma and Kate coming along who I met on the Secret Morocco trip with Women and Waves a couple of years ago! We’ve stayed in touch and they are really good friends with me and my sister Caddy. The wedding is in the Gower, here in Wales, I can’t wait!
All the best for an amazing day, such a cool story, thanks Emily!
We’ve seen it time and time again — the friendships that start on our surf trips are something really special!
If you’re craving some time for yourself, want to meet likeminded women, and have a whole lot of fun in the water, come join us!
Book a coaching weekend, and check out our international surf trips — who knows where it’ll take you?
