Western Morning News (Saturday)
Dog goes viral after surfing Cornish waves
THE owner of a surfboardriding dog who went viral after a video of him on the waves was posted online has said he was not expecting quite the response.
Jeroen Kuling, from Haarlem in the Netherlands, has adored surfing since he was 13 years old.
At that age, his parents took him to Newquay, where he tried the hobby at Fistral Beach for the first time.
“It was my birthday, which is always during the holidays,” he said. “They gave me a bodyboard and it was my first time in the ocean playing with the waves. I then started surfing in the Netherlands. I was planning to go to Spain or Italy, but then I wanted to go back to Cornwall to see how it is now.”
Jeroen, after a brief trip to Cornwall in July, found out that some friends were looking to get rid of a one and a half-year-old dog, Jip (pronounced ‘yip’), because of issues with his behaviour.
“They wanted to put him in a kennel,” he said. “I said no, I’ll take care of him. I took him on holiday in my camper van.
“I was just on my board at Fistral Beach, and Jip was there too. He really likes to swim, which is lucky. He was swimming with me and coming towards me, then he kept sitting on my board.
“He was basically taking over it. I got off to cool down, he leapt on to it, and I waited for a wave to come and gave the board a little push.
“Jip surfed away – he was just sitting there. It was a beautiful day and the beach was busy with Boardmasters. He was just there – he stood up once or twice, surfing the whole time.”
Jeroen said the sight amused many people on the beach over the weekend. But he had no idea how many of them were filming what he admitted must have been a rather bizarre sight.
“It’s really funny to see a dog surfing, but all these people put videos online of it,” he went on.
What happened next was a shock for the tourist, who was blissfully unaware that his dog had gone viral online. Jip, he said, even ended up being shown on the big board at the festival.
He continued: “I call him Jip the surfing dog now, and that’s how he’s being known. People are now recognising us on the beach.
“I’m planning to get him surfing more, maybe just come back again next summer. I’ll continue doing this with him and see what happens.
“Maybe he’ll ride bigger waves. I don’t want to push anything – keep it with him. It’s hard to explain why Jip has become such a star. It’s not the first dog has surfed.
“People must just see this dog comfortably surfing like a pro and they’re like ‘where’s this dog come from?’ Another surfer was paddling out to get a wave, the surfer joined him on this wave and didn’t notice until he went past.”
Weather permitting, Jeroen said he would be in Cornwall for around another week before returning home.