Matt Capel - Circle One Team Rider

Born in Devon and now living in Newquay, Matt's home break is Fistral. His winter months are spent training hard in Oz, North Narrabeen, where he says the beachbreaks are some of the best and he can get practise moves and barrels pretty much everyday. He returns to the UK in March fully cranked up for the new competitive season. Constantly pushing his surfing and focussed on raising his game against big name surfers, it's got to be said that Matt is dead exciting to watch.

Click here to view video footage of him in action on You Tube, courtesy of Headworx. To watch him live, check out Matt's 2008 planned contest schedule below.

Matt's loving the travel and media work that comes with being one of the UK's top pro surfers. Here's what he's been up to so far this year...

Latest News (September '08)

This month, Matt's travels have taken him to the shores of Ireland for a Carve photo shoot then down to France for more action photography and filming.

Matt's made a great start to the '08 UK Pro Surf Tour and ranks second after the fourth event.

So far he's noched up 2nd at the opening event at Croyde in April, following up with a solid performance and fourth at the Nite Surf in Newquay at the end of June. Croyde was not without controversy after some disputed judging calls in the final round which affected the top placements, all adding to the contest's excitement. The third event at Watergate Bay in late July saw Matt come third and take up third place in the overall rankings, whilst the fourth event at Porthmeor Beach, St Ives, held the last weekend of August saw him drop into fourth where he currently sits. Scroll down to see the remaining UKPST tour schedule.

Earlier in the year, Matt spent most of May catching amazing waves in Bali. He filmed the new 'MPVII' DVD (Most Valuable Players II), covermounted on August's issue of Wavelength mag. Back in April he was testing out Circle One suits and filming around the snow covered coastline around Thurso, Scotland.

Matt on Hawaii

Matt spent last New Year and most of January '08 in Hawaii and it's fair to say he was pretty impressed.. Here's his own words about the trip:

"I got to Hawaii on the 29th of December and stayed till the 20th of January. After a few nights at the Backpackers I shacked up at some luxury apartments overlooking the beach for the remainder of my stay. The first week was fun 3 to 4 foot and clean then the next two weeks there were three back to back massive swells. I scored Perfect Pipe and Backdoor at solid 8 to 10 foot, Log Cabins, Off the Wall, Sunset, Rocky Point and Halieva. The day I surfed Halieva I paddled out and it was 6 foot then picked up to perfect 8 to 10 foot barrels and was pumping!!! The waves have so much more power than anywhere I've been, even heavier than Tahiti.."

"Amazing...best place I've been yet....I'll be going back there next year for sure, just can't wait..."

Background

Back in 2005, Matt hit the senior UK circuit after several years wowing the Junior scene where he won pretty much every contest. 2006 saw him claim the BPSA Junior (U21) and was then awarded maximum respect by his peers 2 years on the trot when he was voted ‘The Riders Choice - the Surfers’ Most Outstanding Surfer' at the UK Surf Awards in a poll of Britain’s top pros. Other competitive achievements include 4th place on the BPSA UK Pro Tour in 2006.

He certainly got a head start at surfing as he grew up in the water and learned to ride a board at the age of nine. The surf style he's developed is awesome - you can never guess what moves are coming next, although going vertical is a surefire favourite. Full of steely attitude, oozing natural talent and with heaps of energy and enthusiasm, Matt is now one of Britain's top pro surfers, as well as an all round good guy.