Mike started surfing in Cornwall on the beaches of Bude and Widemouth Bay in 1975, his Mum introduced him to surfing when he was just 6 years old! Once in to his teenage years he found surfing to be a great way of escaping his sometimes challenging home life, he could immerse himself in the sport and enjoy the euphoric sense of freedom he would feel when practicing this activity.

He went on to enter competitions and to be sponsored, as his ability grew. He entered the Cornish and Open at the age of 14. At 15 he was chosen for the English team and placed 3rd in Europe in the under 18’s category in Jersey. That same year he was picked to join the British team in California and placed 15th in the world!
Highlights of his surfing career are-

European Champion at 17 years (still a junior) in the open, ages 18 and over.
• 3 British titles.
• 3 English titles.
• Picked to surf for Britain 3 times.
• Has won many Pro-Am competitions.
• Captained the Cornish team at Widemouth Bay in the Celtic Watersports Festival, in which the team won.

Mean while Nicky was working in London at the Maria Montessori Training Organisation in Belsize Park Hampstead. She worked full time and trained part time to be a Montessori teacher in the college school, which she loved being part of for 8 years. She met Mike in their home town of Bude in August 2002 and they had a long distance relationship for a year until Nicky left teaching and returned to Bude. In 2003 Nicky now at the age of 28 and Mike 34 they decided to get married. On their four week honeymoon to Sri Lanka Mike showed Nicky how to surf and she took to it quite quickly. In past years Mike had considered opening a surf school and this only proved to them to be a good time to put his ideas in to practice.

In 2003 after being granted a licence by the local council and Mike gaining the necessary qualifications their journey began! With just 6 surfboards and a few wetsuits Mike started offering surf lessons, piling surfboards on top of a small car and cramming wetsuits inside, which later became 2 vans and a trailer with 100 surfboards and 400 or so wetsuits.
Raven Surf School UK ran successfully for 14 seasons and became the number 1 attraction on Trip Advisor in North Cornwall.

During this time Mike gained a Level 4 Master surf coach qualification and a Level 4 Surfing Great Britain certificate and is an SLSGB Trainer Assessor. Mike has run surf instructor and Lifeguard workshops in various locations within Europe.
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Not only offering surfing to those wanting lessons they opened up various groups to cater for young people in the area. First came ‘groms’ club with local children. Grom or gremmie comes from the term Grommet which is a young participant in extreme sports usually a beginner at the sport and the younger within a group. It later went on to be called Rippers which is also a surfing term known in the surf community.

To cater for surfers in the local area with a higher level of ability they now formed an Elite squad which was for more advanced and intermediate level surfers. This over time helped to produce some great champions!

They developed a scheme with a local charity called C.A.T.S (community action through sport) and the local police which they named The Urban Surf Project. Young people in the local area would be referred to the scheme by teachers, social workers and the police if they felt they could benefit from taking part in the 8 week programme. They may be referred because they are experiencing social or emotional issues, causing problems in the community, suffering some form of abuse or being a carer for a family member and need some timeout. The individual would need to commit to one session per week over the 8 weeks otherwise the place would be given to someone who would. Each week, beach and surf safety was discussed by the surf instructors and students before going in to the water and having a practical session. The students would be asked questions that covered information they had in a small booklet devised by ASI (academy of surfing instructors) once they completed both the practical and theory to a good standard they would at the end of the 8 weeks receive level 1 and 2 ASI certificates.
Other charities they provided surf lessons for on a regular basis were The Wave Project and Active8. Both groups with individuals experiencing mental, social and or physical issues in their lives.

In August 2008 during a busy summer surf season baby Taylor Raven arrived! The end of an uncomplicated 9 month pregnancy turned out to be a very traumatic experience as Nicky and Taylor both nearly died due to a rare life-threatening complication, with just a 1 in 15000 chance of it happening!
With amazing medical intervention and care things eventually turned around and both are still here to tell the tale!

In 2014 Mike started to research other possible countries in which to start another surf school in and came across the Algarve in Portugal. One of the biggest attractions for doing so was to live in the sunshine as Mike had always dreamed of doing so. Possibly because he had the fortune of experiencing many countries such as Hawaii, California, Spain, France and Portugal to name but a few, during his time competing.
They came up with the necessary documents and business plan required by the Portuguese Maritime Police and a few months later in May were granted a licence. By June Mike was living in Portugal! During this time he kept himself very busy and made contact with businesses such as hotels, campsites, B n B’s and hostels who could possibly send their customers to his new surf school by paying them a commission from the lesson fee. He also created the website as he had done for the UK surf school and completed the paperwork needed to run the surf school.
The first season was fairly slow but showed great potential and with the 5 star reviews he received on Tripadvisor it went on to grow busier year by year, with them now just completing the 5th season in Portugal!

It’s been a rollercoaster of a journey and at times they have wanted to give up and go back to England but with great determination and teamwork from Mike, Nicky, Taylor and Nell they’ve made it a success. With Taylor now at Portuguese secondary school and speaking fluently with his friends, surfing when he and his Dad can, it’s what makes life living in the sunshine even better!