Kate Tomlinson: Why surfing is great for mental health

In County Durham, the North Sea is considered an icy, intimidating and somewhat unfriendly neighbour.

The people growing up there aren’t cool like southerners; most of us prefer to stay away from the thundering waves and avoid having our limbs frozen off.

In fact, the sea has always scared me. So, when a friend invited me along to Surfing for Farmers in New Zealand, I surprised myself by getting involved – and loving it.

See also: Emily Lees – how farmers rallied to help us after accident

About the author

Kate Tomlinson

Kate was raised on a family livestock farm in County Durham before attending Harper Adams University. Since moving to New Zealand in 2022, she has worked on academic research projects and in the dairy industry. She recently joined Map of Ag as an Agricultural Sustainability Consultant and farms in her spare time.

Read more articles by Kate Tomlinson

Surfing for Farmers is a mental health initiative to get people off the farm and into the sea. There are 28 spots around New Zealand where farmers can rock up, grab a wetsuit and board, and learn to surf.

The four pillars of good mental health are sleep, food, movement, and social connection. This initiative helps with all those things.

After being battered by the sea for an hour, we headed back to shore for a burger and a beer.

Kiwis love a yarn, and it’s always a disappointment when the barbecue is packed away and we head home to fall into a deep sleep.

But it’s not only that. Farmers are people of the land. We spend our lives rooted in it – nurturing, working, and shaping our livelihoods from its soil.

Yet, swapping the dirt in the cracks of your hands for salty skin clears your mind and energises you unlike anything else.

The peace and focus I found in surfing has followed me back to the farm, and the Surfing for Farmers slogan (take the beach back to the paddocks with you) is ringing true.

One day after surfing, I was struggling to keep up as we injected and weighed 350 replacement heifers. I took a deep breath, like I would while surfing, my mind narrowing.

Soon, the race remained constantly full, the heifers all jabbed, and time slipped away in a steady flow.

Ultimately, there are parallels between life on land and in the wild, unpredictable sea. We all have to navigate forces we can’t control. At least on a surfboard, we look cool doing it.