Surfer who vowed to quit after ordeal is back on board

BRIAN DONNELLY

again it was true. I believed it.”

He has returned after Surf Snowdonia contacted him with an offer of a trial.

Mr Bryce said: “It was nice. It’s very different than the sea. You do need to turn and stay within the section that keeps the power.

“You can’t just go where you want. You need to stay where you are. But it was nice to do the little turns and kicks and stuff.”

He added: “They [Snowdonia] thought, you know, ‘Come down here, we can get you back in the water, it’s somewhere safe, it’s not in the sea. Come and surf here and we’ll get you back to it.’ So it was a really nice gesture.

“The first wave that I actually caught was nice. I enjoy it too much. I just can’t stop. So this was a good stepping stone to actually going back to the sea. I think I’ll be going back to the sea soon.”

Snowdonia said: “We couldn’t help wondering if our inland waves could help Matthew get back to the sport he loved.

“He came down to stay at Surf Snowdonia with a group of his closest surfer friends who cheered him back on to the waves.”