FALMOUTH’S National Maritime Museum Cornwall (NMMC) will officially open its new exhibition, SURF! on Friday, March 28.

SURF! has been carefully curated by local surf academic Dr. Sam Bleakley and celebrates the culture, craft, art and activism of Cornwall’s surf scene over the last century.

The exhibition features a vast array of artefacts with exciting human stories and hidden histories sourced from private collections around the UK. Many of the objects, including some of the world’s most valuable surfboards, original tools, photographs, videos and artwork, have never before been on public display.

Highlights of SURF! include the world’s biggest surfboard, measuring 37-feet, a recreation of Newquay’s original Bilbo Surf Shop, and an original 1965 VW Transporter campervan brought to life with the sounds and smells of the 60s.

A display of 100 surfboards collectively tells the story of 100 years of Cornish waveriding, from the wooden bellyboards of the 1920s made by local coffin makers, to iconic longboard artworks of the 2000s. Among them will be boards that have played a key role in Cornish surfing history, including those used by global surfing champions, such as Robyn Davies, Pegleg Bennett, Charlotte Banfield and Ben Skinner.

The exhibition showcases the breadth of the wider surfing industry in Cornwall, from board-building to wetsuit production, magazine media to filmmaking and fashion. It also pays tribute to the impact of surfing on culture more broadly, featuring a display of original artboards, including the first-ever public exhibition of Damian Hirst’s stunning butterfly board, on loan from the Maia Norman collection.

Other artboards from renowned artists, such as Polly Morgan, Paul Smith, Julian Schnabel and Nina Blake will also be featured, alongside a beautiful poetry-engraved wooden board from award-winning Cornish boardmaker James Otter.

Cascading into the exhibition space will be a specially commissioned six-metre wave sculpture by artist Abigail Fallis, made of recycled plastic bottles, a homage to Cornish marine conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage and their work fighting to protect the oceans.

Sam Bleakley, surf academic and curator of SURF!, said: “Cornwall has been shaped by the ‘cool’ of surfing for over 100 years. The region has become a breeding ground for blue health, art and activism.

“Cornish surfers were pivotal in founding Surfers Against Sewage in 1990 and in 2010, the NHS piloted the world’s first surf therapy programme in Cornwall, The Wave Project, which helped progress world champion para-surfers like Charlotte Banfield.

“SURF! will not only be an inspiring journey through Cornwall’s surfing heritage, but a sensory feast, celebrating the enormous impact of waveriding in Cornwall.”

Richard Doughty, Director of National Maritime Museum Cornwall, said: “SURF! explores how surfing has shaped Cornwall’s coastal communities and perceptions of Cornwall’s identity, how it is challenging stereotypes of disability and how it is changing public attitudes to water safety and the marine environment.

“At its core, the exhibition extends and deepens our commitment to genuine cultural co-creation, platforming different and diverse stories which celebrate the rich cultural, social, and environmental impact of surfing in Cornwall, as an innovative form of sustainable leisure, tourism, fashion and blue health.”

The exhibition will be accompanied by an ambitious programme of events, including Museum Lates, lectures, film events, and surf art and craft workshops. Those visiting in the Easter holidays will also be treated to performances from The Cornish Caretakers, featuring Ed Rowe, included in their entry fee.

On paying the admission fee, visitors receive an Annual Pass, enabling them to return as many times as they wish for the following 12 months.