Celebrating 45 Years of CS

At 16 years old, Roy Harley thought that surfing was the best thing that ever happened to him. A year later he come to discover that Jesus was actually the best thing that ever happened to him. Combining these two loves - surfing & Jesus made perfect sense to Roy.

1995 Son Surf group - Cape Town.

Roy spent three years in the wilderness, first in ministry with an inland African mission, wondering if he would ever surf again, then in national military service. In 1989 Roy was aksed to speak at a Christian Surf contest in Gonubie by a guy called Andrew Pitt. It was there that Roy met some other fired up Christian surfers like Craig Cuff.

A young Roy Harley, on the send at Cave Rock, Durban.

“It was electrifying meeting these other Christian surfer guys.” recalls Roy. “At the end we each went our separate ways; I returned to Durban, Craig to Port Elizabeth and Andrew remained in Gonubie but we all agreed: ‘“Let’s go to our respective homes - start doing things and see where God takes this thing.”’ That was it. No plans. No strategies. No Structure. Just a radical faith that God would turn up and save surfers.” 

Dean Payne - who later went on to stand up on his wave riding craft. (not that there’s anything wrong with lying down)

I link with CS Australia was cemented when Andy Pitt attended the CS Australia national conference in 1992 and gained a solid picture of what a national movement could look like. They organised the first Son Surf national conference in Jeffreys Bay in 1993 with the open-hearted view of ‘come one, come all.’ Roy, Demitri and Dean Payne took the crazy step of going full-time with Son Surf! With Roy’s innovation, they attempted all manner of new format surf events, music festivals and outreach events - all while faithfully preaching the gospel. Roy went on to become the regional coordinator for CS Africa and currently heads the movement as the international director.