Surfers will train at Lost Shore (pic: DB Media Services)
The water sports facility near Edinburgh will play a key role in developing surfing in Britain and Europe
GB Surfing has selected Lost Shore Surf Resort in Edinburgh as one of its National Performance Centres and one of its Olympic training facilities, strengthening its growing role in the development of elite surfing in Britain and across Europe.
The partnership will give GB Surfing’s athletes access to Lost Shore’s wave pool and wider high-performance environment, providing a consistent, year-round training facility as the national programme builds towards qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and its longer-term ambition of competing for medals at Brisbane 2032.
The partnership is also designed to create greater opportunities for Scottish surfers. Lost Shore has been the National Performance Centre for Scottish Surfing since 2025, under an MOU with Scottish Surfing.
By strengthening its relationship with GB Surfing, which receives the majority of UK high-performance funding for the sport, Lost Shore aims to help connect Scotland’s growing pool of surfing talent with greater access to performance expertise, resources and funding opportunities.
Scottish surfing continues to make significant progress internationally, with the national junior team achieving its best-ever result at the recent European Junior Surfing Championships in Bundoran, finishing seventh in the overall team rankings.
GB Surfing is responsible for selecting, preparing and managing British surfers for international and Olympic competition and has been building a performance pathway designed to develop world-class British surfing talent. The programme has secured £1.525 million in UK Sport funding across the LA Olympic cycle, including an additional £150,000 awarded this year in recognition of the progress being made and the programme’s future medal potential.
Its current Olympic squad includes some of Britain’s leading young surfers, including Lukas Skinner, a three-time ISA World Junior medallist and WSL Qualifying Series winner, and Charlotte Mulley, who reached the final of the 2025 EuroSurf Championships.
The agreement builds on Lost Shore’s existing role as the National Performance Centre for Scottish Surfing, alongside partnerships with Irish Surfing and Norwegian Surfing, which have selected Lost Shore as a National Performance Centre and Olympic Training Facility.
Together, the partnerships represent a major step in Lost Shore’s ambition to create a high-performance surfing ecosystem in Edinburgh, bringing national teams, athletes, coaches, sports science and research together to help advance surfing performance in Britain and across Europe. Crucially, that ecosystem is intended to strengthen the pathway for Scottish surfers too, creating more opportunities for Scotland’s athletes to benefit from the expertise, investment and high-performance infrastructure being developed at Lost Shore.
Lost Shore’s wave pool allows athletes and coaches to train repeatedly on a wide variety of wave types and work intensively on specific areas of performance. Unlike ocean training, where the number and type of waves available are dictated by conditions, the controlled environment allows surfers to maximise the number of quality waves they ride during a session.
Mick Cain, head of performance at GB Surfing, said: “We’re very excited to be partnering with Lost Shore. The fact that the team are all surfers is a huge asset, and they’ve created a facility that provides an incredible in-water training environment, with a wide variety of wave types to challenge and develop our athletes.
Lost Shore was built in a former quarry
“Combined with the recovery facilities, food and accommodation, Lost Shore provides an exceptional foundation for helping GB Surfing move forward, giving us access to a consistent, first-class training environment as we look to build for the future.”
Charlotte Mulley, GB Surfer and 2025 European Championships finalist, said: “Wave pools have been a game-changer for my training. Being able to surf so many quality waves in a single session makes a huge difference. It’s something you just can’t replicate in the ocean.
“Partnering with a facility like Lost Shore is a great opportunity. It’s a fantastic place to train, and having that level of access is going to be a massive help as I continue progressing through the WSL and work towards the Olympics.”
GB Surfing will also be able to benefit from Lost Shore’s wider high-performance ecosystem, including Surf Lab, created in partnership with Edinburgh Napier University. The facility uses the controllable environment of the wave pool to support applied research across areas including high-performance surfing, bringing research, sports science and athlete development together in one location.
Lost Shore’s location minutes from Edinburgh Airport, together with its on-site accommodation, recovery facilities and food and drink, also allows athletes and coaching teams to train, stay and recover at the resort.
Andy Hadden, founder of Lost Shore Surf Resort, said: “To have GB Surfing choose Lost Shore as one of its National Performance Centres and Olympic Training Facilities is a hugely significant moment for us and a tremendous endorsement of the environment we have created here in Edinburgh.
“When we created Lost Shore, our ambition was never simply to build a great place to surf. We wanted to create an environment that could make a genuine contribution to the development of the sport, from giving athletes access to consistent, world-class waves through to coaching, sports science, research and recovery.
“GB Surfing has some incredibly exciting talent coming through and an ambitious performance programme focused not only on reaching the Olympics, but ultimately competing for medals. The opportunity for Lost Shore to play a part in that journey, and to see British athletes preparing for the world stage here in Scotland, is something we are immensely proud of.
“This partnership is also very much about creating opportunities for Scottish surfers. Scotland has an increasingly strong pipeline of young talent, and by bringing GB Surfing’s performance programme closer to that talent we want to help open up greater access to expertise, resources and ultimately funding.
“Scotland’s best-ever seventh-place finish at the recent European Junior Championships shows the progress already being made and the potential that exists here.”
“Having GB Surfing join Irish, Scottish and Norwegian Surfing also demonstrates the wider role Lost Shore can play. We are proactively building an ecosystem that gives national programmes and their athletes the environment they need to develop, compete internationally and pursue their Olympic ambitions.
“We want Lost Shore to help raise the standard of high-performance surfing both in Britain and across Europe, and partnerships like this are an important part of making that happen.”
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