The Surf Atlas co-founder and main content lead
Joe “Rich” Francis has been surfing for the best part of 15 years. He’s nowhere near as good as he should be at the end of all that, but hey ho. Born and bred in Swansea, South Wales (the current base of The Surf Atlas), Joe is a seasoned adventure travel writer with completed publications in the surf-travel and adventure-travel sphere for major publications like Lonely Planet and The Culture Trip.
His surfing experience began on the unruly waves of the Gower Peninsula, a place that’s pretty much evenly spread between sloppy mush and nice groundswell days, though there’s loads to explore – both surfing and hiking – on the north and west sides of the peninsular. He’s been working as a freelance writer for the last decade or so and spends most of his time either in his base of South Wales or traveling and working on the go.
Recent surf outings have taken him to the sweeping bays of the eastern Canary Islands, the Bahia de Banderas in Mexico, and the remoter parts of North Island, New Zealand. On his bucket list are south Lombok (hopefully a 2023 project) and Peru (for those long lefts).
Desert Island surf destination: Cornwall. Rugged coast. Cold water. Can’t be beaten.
Stance: Goofy
Boards: 6″0 fat thing // 5″11 FireWire performance
More surf writing from Joe: