Watch: Izzy Henshall Proves You Can Log Sumatra

When we think of surfing the United Kingdom does not come to mind.

And yet we find ourselves calling up a surfer from Cornwell called Izzy Henshall and asking her about her new nine minute length film proving not only are there surfers from the UK, but talented ones at that. Now residing in Australia (who would have guessed it) with a Vans sticker stuck firmly a top one very long, loving board - she just returned from Sumatra where she surprised herself with enough clips to put into a film. Definitely one to watch and an absolutely lovely lady to top it off. Press play on ‘Tea Breaks & Tiger Tales’ by Ed West and read our chat below.

Alright firstly, give me a little introduction for those who might not know you. 

I’m a twenty year old from Cornwell in the UK. I like surfing, photography and filming. I’ve been logging for the past seven years but I’m also trying to surf smaller boards now too. I’ve also been in Australia for the last year and a half. I came out originally on a little holiday and ended up staying. 

Yeap. Heard this one before. 

(Laughs) I’ll stay forever if I can. I don't know what else I can give you. 

I feel like to grow up in Cornwell and be as good of a surfer as you is very impressive by the way. I don’t immediately associate Cornwell with really good surfing if I’m honest. 

There’s actually some really amazing surfers coming out of there right now. If you’re willing to put up with the weather you can surf a lot. 

Do you think you’ve progressed within your surfing since coming out to Australia? 

That’s a really weird one to answer because personally it doesn’t feel like it just because of the standard of surfing out here, but my backhand surfing has definitely improved. I wouldn’t go right back home. 

I mean yeah gotta get pretty good at going right on the East Coast hey. When did you get picked up by Vans? 

Two years ago now. 

Has that shifted your drive at all? 

I mean I still have to work a lot but it’s definitely opened doors. 

I love the Vans team. They’ve got some of my favourite picks of the surfers and skaters. 

Yeah all my favourite surfers are on Vans.

You mentioned you do photography - did you have a vision for this film or just left it up to Ed? 

To be completely honest, I had some travel budget and I just wanted to make something, even if it was two minutes. We were just going out there with the aim of having fun, surfing as much as possible and creating some sort of content. After the first week in Sumatra our plan was to create a short film featuring bits of travel, the place itself with some medium-boarding clips and maybe the odd cross stepping clip on the log if we could find some sort of novelty wave. However we managed to make a nine minute longboard film instead. We actually filmed some content here on the Sunshine Coast too, just in case we got skunked on the trip. With all the b-roll and clips that didn’t make it into the film we probably have enough to make something else if Ed’s up for the editing.

Did you feel your surfing change when you had a camera pointed at you? 

It definitely does with some filmers, but not with Ed. When we found the particular wave in the film, it had been after a couple of days of surfing smaller boards where I was getting pretty frustrated so I was immediately more comfortable. 

Yeah tell us about the waves over in Sumatra? And especially on a log?

The only thing I’d really heard and seen about South Sumatra is that it’s good for slab hunting, heavy beach breaks and long shallow reef breaks. So we were kinda treating it as a trip with the aim of progressing on my twinny. As we got closer to the trip I did a little bit more research into the different airlines to see how easy it would be to take a longboard just in case, it looked like it would be doable so I decided to go for it, even though I was really looking forward to the ease of traveling with just one smaller board.For the first week I was really regretting bringing the log. It was overhead and barrelling most days and often with a pretty dicey looking surgeons table on the inside that would do a good job of grating my log up. I had a few fun sessions on my 6’6 (MV2) twin pin from Thomas but I was feeling pretty eager for a little log session, even if it was a ‘novelty wave’ or something. We’d heard of a wave about a 30-minute scooter ride from where we were staying, a left hander famed for its heavy but perfect barrel, but the rumour was that it would be at least half the size of what we were surfing which sounded tempting.The surf was a lot better than I thought it was too, with there not being anyone out it was hard to gauge the size properly but there were a few chest high ones; it ended up glassing off and lining up across the reef perfectly, creating some of the the best log-friendly lefts I’ve ever seen.