The Red Bulletin UK 08/22

UK EDITION AUG/SEP 2022, £3.50 SUBSCRIBE: getredbulletin.com

BEYOND THE ORDINARY

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BREAKING BOUNDARIES How rising star SOPHIA DUNKLEY is rewriting the rules of cricket

LANDLOCKED The Swiss surfers who don’t need the sea FLESH FESTIVAL Forging freedom in a Hertfordshire field RIDE IN STYLE Cool commuter kit for summer cycling

Editor’s letter

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE

SHARAN DHALIWAL

The journalist, author, and founder of South Asian lifestyle magazine Burnt Roti writes about culture, queerness and womanhood, and for this issue she covered the first-ever Flesh Festival.

“It was a beautiful moment in my journey. Speaking to festivalgoers further grew my devotion to the community,” she says. “Shared safety breeds intimate love.” Page 48

OPHELIA WYNNE (COVER), OPHELIA WYNNE

DOM DAHER

“There’s no sand or salty water, so you don’t destroy your equipment, but there are more snakes,” says the French freelance sports photographer of the pros and cons of shooting river surfing in landlocked Switzerland.

“The action itself is different, with some more skateboard tricks. [Shooting] it opened my eyes to the potential of this sport.” Page 40

DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY “You can’t be what you can’t see,” as the saying goes. Except, it seems, if you’re a star of this month’s issue of The Red Bulletin.

A lack of relevant role models didn’t stop a seven-year-old Sophia Dunkley (page 30) picking up a cricket bat. At 23, our cover star is one of cricket’s brightest hopes, having become the first Black woman to play Test cricket for England, and is part of a movement to modernise the format of this centuries-old sport.

Flesh Festival (page 48), the UK’s first queer camping music festival, came about precisely because there were no events of that kind. For two days in Hertfordshire in May this year, elaborately dressed ticket-holders partied to the sounds of a line-up that was 100 per cent comprised of underrepresented music acts, increasing visibility for the performers and creating a safe space for the wider queer community to let loose.

And then there are the Swiss surfers (page 40), who refuse to let a small issue like a lack of any coastline deter them from their love of jumping on a board. From flooded rivers to windswept lakes, they’re finding ways to get their surfing fix without setting foot in the sea.

Enjoy the issue.

Stumping ground: England cricket sensation Sophia Dunkley at London’s iconic Oval, photographed by Ophelia Wynne Page 30 THE RED BULLETIN

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CONTENTS Aug/Sep 2022

8 Gallery: highlights from global

photography competition Red Bull Illume, including the dizzy heights of downhill biking in Bogotá, skating with shadows in La Palma, ice-cool climbing in frozen Siberia, and a big-wave bonanza in Nazaré 15 Perfect Flo: Alabama-born

rapper Flo Milli picks four tracks that have most inspired her 16 Seeds of hope: the Brazilian

skydiver bringing new life to the Amazon rainforest 19 Going deep: the last word in

personal submarine luxury 20 Music room: ever wondered what

the inside of a cello looks like?

No? Prepare to be dazzled 22 Elise Wortley: retracing the steps

of pioneering female explorers

24 Bobby Kolade

The Ugandan designer challenging colonialist attitudes to preworn gear

26 Sally McGee

Empowering women to climb onto a board and commune with the sea

28 Marc Rebillet

How the eccentric US musician went from call-centre job to web TV show

30 Sophia Dunkley

The rising star of English cricket on defying expectations and shattering traditions – and windows

40

Making waves: their country may be landlocked, but Switzerland’s surfers aren’t short of options

40 Surfing Switzerland

No coastline? No problem. These board-riders just take it to the river

48 Flesh Festival

Inside the queer camping music festival where you’ll never find an all-male line-up

58 Russ Ellis

The spirit of cycling, as captured by the Nottingham-born photographer

71 All the fun of the Faroes: a sail-

trekking odyssey to the edge of the Arctic Circle 76 Step on: our edit of the best

sandals for your next adventure 78 Back to Earth: reconnect with your

surroundings to save the planet DOM DAHER

80 Formula for success: career tips

from sim-racing influencer F1elly

84 Ride on time: everything you

need to take the strain out of your bike commute 92 Age of ultra: why this endurance

athlete is hitting 40 at top speed 94 Some essential dates for

your calendar 98 Outdoors wisdom from

Semi-Rad

83 Making the switch: Razer’s new

gaming mouse for left-handers THE RED BULLETIN

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Billed as the world’s longest urban downhill race, the Red Bull Monserrate Cerro Abajo is an exhilarating ride/plunge down the 3,152m-high Monserrate mountain in Columbia’s capital, Bogatá. This involves negotiating more than 1,000 steps. Not that the 2020 champion, MTB pro Tomáš Slavik – shot en route to victory by local photographer Kevin Molano – was counting them, obviously. Looks like the Czech rider enjoyed it so much, he did it 10 times. (Or the shot – a Red Bull Illume semi-finalist – is a clever composite. Could be either, really.) Instagram: @kevinmolanoph

KEVIN MOLANO/RED BULL ILLUME

City heights

DAVYDD CHONG

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA

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LA PALMA, SPAIN

Show of support Here at The Red Bulletin, we like big buttresses (and we cannot lie). The flying buttresses – or structural supports – of the imposing concrete breakwater at Puerto de Tazacorte on the island of La Palma are the only thing that’s halfarched (or anything sounding remotely like that) about this image. The visually arresting interplay of skate and shade, starring local boarder Abraham Cedrés, earned Tenerife-born photographer Jairo Díaz Dévora a semi-final spot in Red Bull Illume. redbullillume.com

DAVYDD CHONG JAIRO DÍAZ DÉVORA/RED BULL ILLUME, THOMAS MONSORNO/RED BULL ILLUME

LAKE BAIKAL, SIBERIA

Frozen delights It may look like a Jackson Pollock, but even the great abstract artist never painted this big. The truth is even more impressive: Swiss alpinist Dani Arnold nailing new climbs above the world’s deepest lake. Italian Thomas Monsorno braved the -35°C cold to shoot it – and won Red Bull Illume’s ‘Innovation by EyeEm’ category.

Pollock? Pah. thomasmonsorno.com THE RED BULLETIN

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NAZARÉ, PORTUGAL

Big break Hawaiian Kai Lenny is a legend among big-wave surfers, so it’s no surprise that he’s (camera) clickbait for photographers.

But for Christian Stadler, who took this dramatic shot, providence still played a part. “It was my first time at the Nazaré big-wave event,” says the German, “[but] I didn’t have a special plan to get photos.

Then, on training day, I could see Lenny getting lots of airtime – impressive in those conditions. So, on event day, when I saw him going out of a huge wave at full speed, I kept my focus on him…” A semifinal place in Red Bull Illume was Stadler’s reward. Instagram: @stadlerphoto

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CHRISTIAN STADLER/RED BULL ILLUME

DAVYDD CHONG

The ENVE house favorite and industry’s original high-volume aero road wheel has been re-engineered to reduce weight and further expand its capabilities across every terrain and surface condition. Designed for the cobbles and crosswinds of Paris-Roubaix to provide an aero benefit with high-volume tires, the SES 4.5 was the first-of-its-kind and now delivers more speed in a lighter weight package.

R E A L-W O R L D FA ST(ER )

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EN VE.CO M

FLO MILLI

Pretty influential The US rapper shares her playlist of inspiring and empowering songs by trailblazing female artists Flo Milli is a force to be reckoned with. The 22-year-old from Alabama – real name Tamia Monique Carter – has been making a lot of noise since arriving on the scene in 2018 with the viral hit Beef FloMix. Its 2019 follow-up, In The Party, has had more than 125 million plays on Spotify, and 2020 saw the release of her critically acclaimed mixtape Ho, Why Is You Here?. Latest single PBC (Pretty Black Cute) celebrates Black women and highlights the microaggressions they face day to day.

“I think it’s extremely important for young girls to have strong women to look up to for inspiration,” she says. Here, Flo Milli turns the spotlight on four female musical trailblazers whose songs most inspired her.

Flo Milli’s single PBC is out now; flomilli.com

SCRILL DAVIS

WILL LAVIN

Scan this QR code to hear our Playlist podcast with Flo Milli on Spotify

Keri Hilson

Missy Elliott

Shakira feat Wyclef Jean

Fergie

Pretty Girl Rock (2010)

Work It (2002)

Hips Don’t Lie (2006)

London Bridge (2006)

“Pretty Girl Rock was such a strong and necessary anthem at the time it came out.

Everything that [Hilson] was saying was very empowering to me. When I was a little girl, I needed to hear those words – they added to my confidence as a young female. This song taught me not to be afraid of being confident about myself, or to feel like I have to dim my light around others because they feel uncomfortable.”

“Every time this song plays, it brings back memories from before I was famous, from when I was a little girl, and how I wanted to be a star. My favourite part is when Missy reverses her words – I thought that was so creative. Missy impacted me a lot growing up.

She, of course, is a darkskinned female, and I really admired that she was a badass woman. Everything she wrote was just so creative.”

“I must have been about six years old when I first heard this, and it’s one of the first pop songs I really fell in love with.

I remember sitting in front of the TV, watching the video, and doing the little hip thing Shakira used to do. It opened up my tastes in music, rather than just solely loving rap. Shakira had her own lane; she was so different from everybody else.

I loved her accent, her energy and her videos.”

“Fergie definitely brought something different to the game, from her beats to her demeanour and attitude. When I was in daycare, I’d take a radio and my own CDs, and this song [from Fergie’s solo debut album, The Dutchess] was on one of them. I made a whole [dance] routine for it and showed it to the girls in my class, and we did it at a talent show. I feel like that’s what sparked my love of performing.”

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The skydiving legend has set new heights of green activism: planting 100 million trees at once

The germinator: Luigi Cani skydives to release 100 million seeds above the Amazon rainforest (pictured top)

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THE RED BULLETIN

NINA ZIETMAN

Jump for the trees

Despite holding the world record for a skydive with the smallest parachute, and being the first person to wingsuitjump into the Grand Canyon on a motorcycle, Luigi Cani’s most nerve-racking stunt was his most recent.

“It was the only jump in my life that I held my breath the entire time,” says the Brazilian, who has set 11 skydiving world records and completed around 14,000 jumps. “My heart was beating really fast.

I felt like I was going to have a heart attack.”

In January this year, Cani leapt from a plane flying over a deforested area of the Amazon rainforest; jettisoned with him was a box from which he released 100 million seeds from 27 native trees.

Deforestation has ravaged the world’s largest tropical rainforest for decades, and in 2021 the damage reached a 15-year-high, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research. There was no better time for Cani to make

JOE JENNINGS

LUIGI CANI

a difference on the 100sq-km patch of land, situated 130km from Novo Aripuanã in the north of the country.

Five years of careful planning led to this project. Enormous effort was required to secure permits from Brazilian aviation authorities, build a biodegradable box that would distribute the seeds correctly, and transport 3.5 tonnes of equipment – plus a film crew – into the Amazon. Each seed was collected by hand from nearby rainforest two months before the jump to ensure an optimal chance of growing.

Of the numerous things that could go wrong, many did.

Three test boxes each failed just days before the final drop.

“We were running out of time,” says Cani. “We stayed up all night trying to find a way to seal a leak in the box.” On the day of the jump, he was under intense pressure to get it right.

“I struggled to hold the box.

I nearly broke my wrist and fingers. I managed to stabilise myself at about 6,000ft [1,800m] and the seeds were released precisely where we wanted them to be. It was complete ecstasy.”

Once the seeds hit the dirt, the degree of germination is more than 95 per cent, and the resulting trees will grow as high as 50m tall. “We can watch the site by satellite. It will take around two years to really see the difference.”

But Cani’s environmental efforts are far from over.

Planning for his next stunt – weaving together skydiving with cleaning up plastic from the ocean – is already underway.

“I’ve been jumping for 25 years and I’ve always pushed the limits with risky jumps,” he says. “Now, I’m 51 years old and I don’t have that drive for danger any more. I want to do something to help. Like the seed drop, this next project will have real meaning behind it.” luigicani.tv; Instagram: @luigicani

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NINA ZIETMAN NEXUS

When Dutchman Cornelis Drebbel navigated the world’s first submarine in the River Thames in 1620, he couldn’t have imagined the deep-sea adventure his grease-covered wooden ‘diving boat’ would inspire. Four centuries later, in 2005, fellow countryman Bert Houtman founded U-Boat Worx, a Netherlands-based personalsubmarine manufacturer pushing the boundaries of high-tech underwater tourism.

And this year it announced the Nexus, the most luxurious multipassenger submarine yet.

The state-of-the-art submersible is built to explore the oceans at depths of 200m for up to 18 hours, navigating currents with its eight thrusters.

Inside, up to eight passengers – the pilot takes the capacity to its maximum of nine people – can luxuriate in its leather seats while admiring their subaquatic surroundings through a 360° elliptical glass bubble. “You’re completely submerged in a whole different world,” explains Roy Heijdra, marketing manager for U-Boat Worx. “Once you go deeper THE RED BULLETIN

than 5ft [1.5m], the reflection of the dome disappears. You can’t see where it ends and the ocean begins. It’s an experience of total freedom.”

With a pilot in control, and champagne chilled by optional built-in wine coolers, there’s no more relaxing way to watch marine life up close. “At least 79 per cent of the oceans are unexplored, and there are still creatures yet to be discovered,” Heijdra says. “By venturing in one of these vessels, you get to go somewhere most people have never been before.”

Curaçao, a Caribbean island off the coast of Venezuela, is Heijdra’s favourite submarine diving destination. “It’s one of the most amazing places,” he says. “Just 100m off the coast, there are drop-offs down to 300m, filled with shipwrecks, beautiful coral and crystalclear waters.” It’s also where U-Boat Worx runs a pilot training camp for cruise staff and private owners.

Although owning a Nexus – prices from around $5.5million (£4.5m) – is a pipe dream for the average ocean enthusiast,

U-BOAT WORX NEXUS

Sublime experience This luxury multi-passenger submarine takes the concept of ‘ocean view’ to new depths

Blue-sea thinking: the Nexus lets you access a whole different world

there’s a more affordable alternative: booking a trip via operators such as Seabourn and Crystal Cruises as part of an expedition cruise of the Indian Ocean and the Antarctic, among other destinations.

And while the Nexus is still in the conceptual design phase, in May U-Boat Worx launched the UWEP (Underwater Entertainment Platform), a 120-person submarine with 150sq-m of deck space that can be used as a restaurant, casino or even a wedding venue. “Our goal,” says Heijdra, “has always been to make the underwater world accessible for everybody.” uboatworx.com 19

A space to play Photographs shot inside musical instruments turn hidden cavities and mechanisms into striking, unfamiliar environments

A first glance suggests a cavernous indoor skatepark in need of love: walls scarred with age; the floor patched with mismatched scraps of timber.

Only then do the skylights, shaped like the ‘F-holes’ that add acoustic resonance in a stringed instrument, suggest the image isn’t what it seems.

This is a view inside a cello, shot

by New Zealand photographer Charles Brooks for his Architecture of Music series.

“There’s so much going on inside a cello, it’s fascinating,” says Brooks. “When you’re presented with something tiny but the image is sharp from front to back, your brain thinks 20

Accomplished orchestral cellist Charles Brooks first picked up a camera at the age of 15. Within weeks, he was teaching a class in photography at school

you’re viewing something huge.

I think that’s why the photos feel like you can walk through them.”

Brooks knows a thing or two about music: for the past 20 years, he’s been New Zealand’s most successful orchestral cellist. Although music and photography – a passion since his teens – have equal place in Brooks’ heart, it’s his celloplaying career that’s demanded the most dedication. “Classical music is insanely competitive,” he says. “It’s similar to highperformance sport: you must dedicate yourself completely.”

Brooks always packs his camera when jetting off to play with orchestras around the globe, most recently the São Paulo Symphony. But following the murders of photographers in the Brazilian city, he wisely decided to only train his lens on his fellow musicians. Then, when COVID isolated us all, he focused on the instruments.

“Their insides are often a mystery,” he says. “Before I started this project, I’d only seen the inside of a cello twice.”

Spotlights, special probe lenses and Panasonic Lumix cameras are Brooks’ tools of choice, but these create an image only partially in focus.

To give every element sharper focus, he takes as many as 200 photos in a single position with different focal points, then combines them using software.

“But you have to be careful – it takes a long time and the lights can get hot. It’s important not to damage the instruments. I don’t want a 300-year-old cello to end its life for a photograph!”

Brooks is now exploring all the possibilities opened up by his creative urge. “I shot a didgeridoo and it blew my mind when I realised it wasn’t carved out by hand but by termites,” he says. “You’re presented with this crazy, alien tunnel with an organic structure inside.” Next, he’s speaking to neurosurgeons with a view to adapting medical imaging devices to photograph harder-to-reach places and smaller instruments: “We’re seeing where we can push this.” charlesbrooks.info THE RED BULLETIN

CHARLES BROOKS

ARCHITECTURE OF MUSIC

TOM WARD

Bass invader: Brooks’ photograph of the cavernous interior of a cello – his own instrument of excellence – has a haunting beauty

Key details: (above) the slightly menacing interior of a Steinway piano; (below) the sci-fi movie scene inside a Fazioli grand piano

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Meet the British adventurer who’s on a quest to recreate the golden age of exploration, equipped with limited resources to match Elise Wortley lives in London but comes alive in the remotest and most rarely trodden corners of our planet. From India to the Shetland Isles to Iran, Wortley walks in the footsteps of pioneering female explorers, recreating their adventures from long ago. There’s just one important constraint: she can only employ the methods and equipment used by those who went before her.

This means no GPS maps, no high-tech fabrics or high22

Time trekker: Elise Wortley; (top) crossing India’s Chopta Valley in 2017

THE RED BULLETIN

PAUL WILSON

In the footsteps of giants

calorie snacks. Every possible original detail is reproduced, from vintage clothing to paper maps, and if the previous journey was made by mule, with no tent, that’s how Wortley must make her own way.

In May this year, with a mule and no tent, Wortley recreated the British-Italian explorer Freya Stark’s journey through the semi-mountainous region of western Iran, which Stark wrote about in her 1934 book The Valleys of the Assassins.

The hand-drawn maps and photographs her predecessor made and included in that classic travelogue were essential to Wortley’s trip.

“No paper map exists of this place, and without Google Maps we relied on Freya’s [maps] – which were amazing – and the local people to tell us the way,” says Wortley, who led an all-female group that included a local fixer (obtained via Intrepid Travel) and two

EMILY ALMOND BARR

ELISE WORTLEY

documentary filmmakers.

“It’s very rare that you can have this sort of unconnected experience now in the world.

But it’s peaceful being in nature like that, with no phone.

It’s important for me to feel it, important for lots of people – maybe for all of us.”

On the two-week trip, the group – just like Freya Stark – used the mule to carry supplies, and they ate and stayed in private homes. “We slept on the roofs of houses, as the locals often do,” says Wortley.

“There were 20 of us sleeping up there sometimes. It can get very hot and very cold – there’s desert and mountains.” On cold nights, Wortley would be under a 1930s blanket, which – like a Burberry coat identical to Stark’s, and a ’30s rucksack and boots – was sourced from vintage shops and eBay. (Her companions had modern kit.)

Nine hours a day spent tackling steep mountain terrain in 100-year-old boots was just part of the challenge for Wortley, 31, an illustrator by trade, who also works as a consultant to the travel industry. Planning and sourcing the equipment are significant obstacles, as is funding (the film crew’s presence was made possible by support from The North Face). Travelling in Iran wasn’t difficult, she says, thanks to “the welcome of the friendliest people you could possibly meet”.

One thing Wortley doesn’t lack is inspiration; she says she has around 150 possible trips in mind for the future. She took her first in 2017: an expedition to India, inspired by French explorer Alexandra DavidNéel’s 1927 book My Journey to Lhasa, which she’d read in her teens. “I was struck by the thought of how she actually did those incredible things at the time, and I wanted to see if I could do what she did.” It was a lifelong dream realised, and then some, with more to come. womanwithaltitude.com

Bobby Kolade

Redressing the balance This 32-year-old Ugandan designer is turning the world’s exploitative secondhand clothing industry on its head, one beautiful garment at a time Words EMINE SANER

Photography IAN NNYANZI

As a teenager growing up in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, Bobby Kolade would buy secondhand clothes and get a tailor to remake them to his own designs – belts sewn onto shirts, trousers reassembled with patches. Almost 20 years later, and now a professional designer, Kolade is doing it himself, except his modern-day creations are as much a political statement as a fashion one.

Uganda, like many countries in Africa, has a huge secondhand clothing industry that is fuelled by the overconsumption of disposable ‘fast fashion’ in high-income countries. Clothes – often those donated to charity – are shipped to African countries, where they’re resold or, worse, dumped in landfill.

Kolade turns this around. Born in Sudan and raised in Kampala by his Nigerian mother and German father, the designer studied fashion in Berlin and spent more than a decade working for fashion houses in Europe, including Balenciaga and Maison Margiela. In 2018, he came back to Kampala, where he launched his clothing brand Buzigahill three years later. Its first project, Return to Sender, sees Kolade and his team transform clothes discarded by consumers in the Global North into high-end pieces to be sold back to them. Sweat stains not included.   : When did you become interested in fashion?  : When I was 14, I’d cut up clothes and get them sewn back together. Then my interest developed in Berlin. I was studying graphic design, but I was always

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with the fashion crowd, so I changed courses. The idea of working with different materials, colours, textures, and playing with shape and form is what attracted me. I wanted to start a brand that used Ugandan cotton to create sustainable clothes, from a studio in Berlin. That’s embarrassing, because it shows I had the mindset of the Global North: extractive – the high-level jobs would be in Europe, and we’d just have people in Uganda producing things. After doing more research, towards the end of 2017 I decided to relocate permanently [to Uganda]. It was liberating.

When did you become aware of issues with secondhand clothing?

Around 2015. As a teenager, I’d go to Owino Market in Kampala and rummage through the piles to find cool clothes. Then, in Berlin, I was donating clothes to charity bins. So I was a participant, unaware what was going on. I was disappointed in myself, and furious with the system.

Around 80 per cent of all textile and clothing purchases in [Uganda] are secondhand, so it’s hard to compete as a designer and producer. Uganda produces world-class cotton, but 95 per cent is exported as a raw material.

What’s the psychological impact of wearing these cast-offs?

There’s a lot of choice and it’s affordable, but culturally it’s a problem. Is there anything left that’s Ugandan? [The country has] been overtaken by Western styles. I open a bale of clothes and all the armpits on the white shirts are stained with sweat. Many people in the Global North assume there are poor Africans running around naked and

in need of these clothes. That idea has to change. This is a huge business, and there are people making a lot of money. In an ideal world, the CEOs of [fashion retail] companies would seek therapy and ask themselves, “Is what we’re doing beneficial only to the Global North?” Then we’d be talking about colonialist consumption patterns – that people in wealthier countries can only buy cheap clothing because they’re exploiting people at the production and disposal ends.

How does it feel turning discarded clothing into a beautiful garment?

There are mixed feelings. It’s very satisfying to send parcels [back to customers in wealthy countries].

But, at present, the environment isn’t as professional as it could be, and secondhand clothes are unpredictable – we buy big bales and we don’t know what we’ll get. The label will say ‘T-shirts’, but we don’t know what type or if they have holes or stains. It’s very hard to set up design and production processes. I call it reactionary design.

It means things are never boring.

How has your time in high fashion translated to what you do now?

I’ve had to forget almost everything I learned. There’s a certain level of rawness we’ve had to integrate into our designs. We don’t even have mood boards any more. We don’t come up with collection themes. The contents of the bale dictate everything.

What are your plans for Buzigahill?

We’re looking for studio space – the six of us are working from my living room right now. There’s huge potential for us to work in upcycling, generating new fibres using waste, and also integrating Ugandan cotton into the collection – my initial dream.

I’d like to introduce local craft, set up small factories, and develop national pride through clothing. All these issues are political, environmental, and we’re in the middle of a clothing catastrophe. But the atmosphere in the studio is great – we’re all learning, we laugh a lot, and we’re making a positive story out of this situation. buzigahill.com

THE RED BULLETIN

“Wearing cast-offs is affordable, but culturally it’s a problem”

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Sally McGee

Northern soul surfer The Bradford-born surf-brand owner has already empowered hundreds of women to take to the waves with a board. And she’s not done yet Words RUTH McLEOD

Photography TOM BING

When Bradford-born Sally McGee relocated to Tynemouth, North Tyneside, in 2012, she was one of only a few women seriously surfing the north-east coast. As a seasoned surfer who’s travelled 26,000km by motorbike (with board attached) in search of waves everywhere from Chile to California, and who pulled on her wetsuit (despite the December snow) just 10 days after giving birth and having surgery, she wasn’t fazed by this. But she did want to change it.

In 2018, McGee and her husband Tom founded Yonder, an independent, female-focused surf school, coaching company and surf brand for women of all skill levels. Having worked for the Refugee Council, the British Red Cross and as a mentor in schools, McGee has a uniquely holistic, caring approach to surf teaching that neatly combines her nurturing qualities with her passion for being in the sea.

McGee, 39, says she has always wanted to be a positive force within her community, and now she’s a big part of a small but thriving women’s surf scene in and around Tynemouth. To those women who now devote all their time to surfing, McGee gives a bumper sticker that reads, ‘YONDER RUINED MY LIFE.’ Except, she says, it’s quite the opposite: “Surfing is such a positive thing. It takes you places, benefits your mental health, your wellbeing.

It’s a complete form of mindfulness.”   : How did you get into surfing?  : I’m from Bradford, so I didn’t grow up around the sea, but

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at 18 I tried surfing in Australia. When I got back, I realised I could surf in Scarborough, an hour from me. I was hooked. We have endless possibilities in the UK – in summer, sometimes you can surf till 11 at night. California is so crowded; here, you can surf alone if you’re willing to search for it. It’s just more of a mission, an adventure.

Home is my favourite place to surf.

What are your aims with Yonder?

Most of our surf culture is still ‘imported’ from elsewhere, especially with regards to women. There’s a disconnect between the surfers in bikinis in tropical locations and our reality – we’re often freezing cold, weeing in wetsuits, with wind-burnt faces. But it’s equally, if not more, exhilarating. I’m a mother in her late thirties, and seeing someone like me doing it makes others think they can, too. Through Yonder, we support surfers like Emma Tweddle – a gay woman and die-hard shortboarder from Saltburn – and Elle Sutherland, a doctor, mother of two, and a great longboarder. These women don’t get exposure from the industry, but they put in more work than anyone I know.

What was the scene like when you moved to Tynemouth?

Not as busy as now. And there were almost no women. Surfing is quite protectionist in many ways; surfers aren’t always laid-back. If you’re sat out back [beyond the whitewater] with 20 people, you’re competing, and many women find it intimidating.

I would turn up and feel like all eyes were on me because I was different.

If you messed up and didn’t catch that wave, it was like you’d be written off. I felt I had to prove myself.

How did you want to change things?

Many women had wanted to surf, but never felt like they could. It takes more to be the first person like yourself to do something. I wasn’t gonna let that stop me, maybe because I had two brothers, or supportive people to go out with. But I don’t think [activities like surfing] are necessarily something that society encourages women to do.

You really have to shove aside those expectations. It takes confidence.

I used to work for other surf schools, and often [the pressure] was to get them in the water as fast as possible, stood up on a board. With me, the first lesson would be, “We’re gonna get to know each other, go on a journey. I’m gonna talk to you about the sea.” I want people to have a lasting relationship with surfing, to build confidence and an understanding of everything surfing entails, to have a love for it. [Yonder] is about creating a space for that.

Have you noticed a shift in the gender balance?

There are so many more girls now – sometimes the line-up is all girls. It’s an amazing community. I’m conscious of not taking big groups out back – my way of doing things would just be lost. I talk [students] through it and get them sitting and watching, so the locals can see we’re trying to do this with respect. It’s been really welcoming – now we’ll have people calling [students] into waves.

What’s next?

I’m progressing the Yonder Surf Academy, the community interest side of the business. We’ve already supported hundreds of marginalised women and girls. Now, I’ve secured funding to offer free surf lessons to people who aren’t well represented in the surf community. We’ll be working with the Queer Surf Club and reaching out to BME groups, because there are hardly any Black surfers or anyone from a minority ethnic group in the sea here. And the refugee community, too. Surfing is inaccessible and quite elitist in the sense that you need equipment and so on. I’m so excited about helping to open it up. surfyonder.com

THE RED BULLETIN

“Seeing someone like me surfing makes others think they can, too”

THE RED BULLETIN

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Marc Rebillet

Being made redundant was the start of the improvisational musician’s career – and now millions of fans have fallen for his genre-hopping brand of electronic uniqueness Words WILL LAVIN

Photography SHANE McCORMICK

Becoming famous was never part of Marc Rebillet’s plans. Or rather, he didn’t think it possible. Yet the improvisational producer and YouTube star, also known as Loop Daddy, is now one of the internet’s most dynamic musicians, beloved by millions for his quirky, frenetic livestream performances – usually while dressed in nothing more than a silky dressing gown and boxers.

No subject is off-limits, no lyric too taboo, but Rebillet’s output is more than throwaway comedy – his songs often have roots in serious sentiment and display genuine musical talent; he had classical music training up until the age of 15.

Despite his natural ability to perform, Rebillet – who was born in Dallas, Texas, to a French father and an American mother – sidelined his urge to make music for more than a decade, working regular office jobs instead. It was only when he lost his job in customer support at a Dallas call centre that he dared to really try. “I probably would never have pursued music professionally had I not lost that job,” he says.

In 2016, armed with a MIDI keyboard and his trademark Boss RC-505 Loop Station, Rebillet began filming livestream performances from his New York apartment – and people liked it. His rapidly growing online following earned him local gigs where he prided himself on winning over sceptical lunchtime diners. He has now released three albums and two EPs, performed for audiences of thousands around the world, and collaborated with some

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of his musical heroes – from Flying Lotus to Erykah Badu – which he’s described as “just insane”.

Rebillet’s late father Gilbert was a huge supporter right up until his death from Alzheimer’s in 2018, always telling his son he belonged on the stage. Now, at 33, with a new Amazon Music web series (We’ve Got Company) and a European tour underway, Rebillet can finally agree.   : What did you tell yourself when your dreams of a music career seemed doomed?  : I had the same conversation with myself over and over again: “Who are you kidding?

You’re getting older, you’ve never made a cent doing music, and you obviously don’t have the work ethic to get it done. Why keep holding on to this ridiculous, insane notion?”

Then one day, when our whole [call centre] department was let go, I was given two months of severance, so I looked at it as free time to get things together. I went to see this dude who I’d waited tables for, and he hired me to play a beer festival at his restaurant. It was the first time I ever got paid to make music, in any capacity. Within a month, I had three weekly residencies and some one-off gigs. At first I thought it was a fluke. But then, as the year went on, I started filling out these rooms.

Humour is a big part of what you do. As a trained musician, does that ever cause inner conflict?

I don’t want to be considered a comedy musician, because to me – aside from Weird Al [Yankovic] and Tenacious D, who are untouchable icons – that genre is not legitimately

So the music is the main thing?

The music is the main concern. It needs to sound good in order for me to be able to do anything remotely funny over it. I think over the years my stuff has become less shock-value shit. It’s less like goofy comedy and more refined, I hope. There are a lot of serious messages in there now, and I hope the music sounds a little better than it did a few years ago.

Did your father’s belief in your musical aspirations spur you on?

He was unbelievably charismatic, as French as you can possibly imagine, and he loved me more than anything else in the world. Because of that, he had ceaseless advice. As a kid, I just wanted to make beats, but he was like, “No, you need to perform. You need to do this, you need to do that.”

He was such an aggressive enjoyer of life and would always say things like, “Oh man, what a great dinner we’re having,” and “Oh my God, look at the sky. Take in a deep breath.”

Is that the source of the positive affirmations in your music?

Absolutely! I’m lucky, I was given a lot of love as a kid. Even when I’m dealing with stress and anxiety, my baseline setting is pretty happy. So that comes out. And now I know it resonates with people, I’m tempted to do it as much as I can. What better thing can you do with this feeling than to evangelise it?

We’ve Got Company airs every Wednesday; twitch.tv/amazonmusic.

The next UK date on Marc Rebillet’s European tour is the O2 Academy Glasgow on August 8; marcrebillet.com

THE RED BULLETIN

SHANE MCCORMICK/TEAM MARC REBILLET

Keeping us in the loop

musical. It’s basically a parody of music. You exploit music to make jokes. I hate music comedy. Hate it, hate it, hate it. So I don’t want to be part of that club. I hope that what I’m doing is banger enough to stand as good music, and then I’m just doing stupid shit over it. That’s my conflict: trying to be a musician first and then the other stuff is kinda silly.

“My baseline setting is pretty happy.

So that comes out” THE RED BULLETIN

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BAT TO THE FUTURE As one of the rising stars of English cricket, SOPHIA DUNKLEY plays by the rules of a game first laid down in 1744.

But every time she walks onto the pitch, bringing new fans with her, she’s reshaping the sport for modern times Words RICHARD EDWARDS

Photography OPHELIA WYNNE

Swing star: Sophia Dunkley, photographed for The Red Bulletin at the Oval in south London in June this year

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Sophia Dunkley

“Being called up to play for your country… it’s still hard to describe that feeling”

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SWEATSHIRT AND LEGGINGS BY GYM + COFFEE

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t’s the summer of 2006, and in a north London cul-de-sac a seven-year-old Sophia Dunkley is at a loose end. The football has been kicked relentlessly against the wall, the netball is flat, and then her next-door neighbour Zak Carr appears, carrying a cricket bat and a tennis ball…

It’s far too simplistic to trot out the phrase “and the rest is history”, but this childhood friendship charged an imagination and put a trailblazer on a course that’s changing the face of women’s cricket for the better. Dunkley turns 24 this July, just over two weeks before the start of the second season of The Hundred, a faster reinvention of a stuffy old bat-and-ball game that was first played in southeast England in the 16th century. It has brought in a younger, more diverse audience and propelled women’s cricket into a previously unimaginable stratosphere. As Dunkley’s face beams down from billboards around the country, the all-rounder is at the forefront of this very modern revolution.

She’s also the first Black woman to play Test cricket for England – the historic moment occurred in June last year, against India in Bristol – and Dunkley’s emergence as a cricket tour de force is a starting gun for young Black female cricketers up and down the country to take up the sport. But when they follow her onto the game’s biggest stage, she hopes it won’t be a big deal at all. “Hopefully that will be normal, that we won’t be in a situation where we’ll have people saying, ‘She’s the second Black person to play Test cricket for England,’” says Dunkley. “I think it won’t be too long until that’s achieved.”

Dunkley is speaking from her hotel room in Pune, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, where

Born to run: Dunkley has become one of the hottest young talents in English cricket THE RED BULLETIN

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Sophia Dunkley

“I think The Hundred is the perfect showcase for the women’s game”

Crease lightning: Dunkley is proud to be an inspiration to a new generation of cricketers, both boys and girls THE RED BULLETIN

she’s competing in the Indian Premier League as a member of the Trailblazers in the Women’s T20 Challenge. It’s the final stop of a breathless winter that has seen Dunkley and her England teammates attempt to wrestle back the Ashes in Australia in January and February, before heading straight to New Zealand in March for the World Cup. Both quests ultimately ended in disappointment, despite Dunkley’s impressive run-scoring contributing to England reaching the World Cup final after losing their opening three matches of the tournament.

She can look back on a series of performances that haven’t just cemented her place in this England side but also confirm her as a standout performer in the global game.

Currently, there are only three teams in the women’s Indian Premier League – by comparison, the men’s IPL this year featured 10 – but next season there’s talk of a full women’s league with eight teams. And a player auction, which will see the likes of Dunkley go under the hammer alongside

some of the greats of the men’s game, including England’s new Test captain Ben Stokes, and players who routinely command seven-figure sums in the world’s most lucrative league.

“Watching that auction would be as nerveracking as any game I’ve ever played,” says Dunkley.

“But to have a full women’s IPL would showcase just how good the women’s game is and how far it can go. Hopefully 2023 will be the year.”

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he Lambeth-born all-rounder has clearly come a long way since she first picked up a cricket bat and ball, but her feet are still planted firmly on the ground. “At primary school [in north London], football was probably the main sport I was into,” Dunkley recalls. “Then I started playing cricket with my next-door neighbour Zak. We’d constantly be outside, playing either on the road or in the garden.

“I couldn’t tell you how many balls we ended up losing, but there was the odd smashed window.

We’d leg it, but you didn’t need to be a detective to work out where the ball had come from.”

Carr brought Dunkley to cricket training with him at Finchley, where she began her fledgling career in the club’s boys’ teams. At the time, Dunkley was unaware that other girls even played the sport. “It was through boy’s cricket that I found girl’s cricket,” she says. “Someone suggested that 35

I go to the Middlesex [girls’] under-11 trials. I remember walking into the sports hall and thinking, ‘Wow.’ I didn’t watch women’s cricket on TV, and I’d never been to a women’s game, so to see so many girls playing was an eye-opener for me.”

Dunkley’s rapid progression singled her out as a rare talent. In 2009, she won a scholarship to Mill Hill School, where she joined the boys’ cricket first XI and was the only girl in the school team for almost her entire time there.

“I was the first girl who’d played in the boys’ team at school. It was daunting, but a very good standard of cricket,” she says. “The reaction to me playing was pretty calm, but if I hit a few boundaries there’d be more aggression to me on the pitch. I came home upset from one game, saying I was never going to play boys’ cricket again, but I soon got over it.

Coming out the other side of that, and enjoying it and playing well, really helped my mindset.”

By the age of 14, Dunkley had made her full debut for Middlesex, and her performances were beginning to catch the eye of those involved in the upper echelons of English cricket.

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“We picked Sophia for the Club Cricket Conference XI when she was only 15 years old,” says Simon Prodger, managing director of the National Cricket Conference. “She turned up for matches against Combined Services [the British Armed Forces team] and the MCC [Marylebone Cricket Club] and scored hundreds against both.

It was one of those moments that still makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. Here was this 15-year-old playing against all these experienced female cricketers and dominating them. It was extraordinary to see.

“But the main thing I took away from those two games was just what a great young person she was – always smiling, willing to listen, and clearly an incredibly talented cricketer.”

In 2015, Dunkley was picked for the Club Cricket Conference XI at Lord’s to celebrate the organisation’s centenary – her first appearance at the legendary London venue, the world’s most fabled cricket ground. It was, however, a trip back there two years later that had the most profound impact on her career.

THE RED BULLETIN

Sophia Dunkley

“I was the first girl who’d played in the boys’ team at school.

It was daunting”

SWEATSHIRT AND LEGGINGS BY GYM + COFFEE

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Eye-opener: Dunkley admits that when she went to her first girls’ under-11 trials, she hadn’t even seen a women’s game – in real life or on TV THE RED BULLETIN

ngland hosting the 2017 Women’s World Cup was a watershed moment for the sport. The competition was unrecognisable from the inaugural event hosted on English soil back in 1973 when, to swell the number of teams involved, an International XI (made up of leftover players) and a Young England team were included. Its modern equivalent included a $2million prize pot and the eight finest teams on the planet. What’s more, England were the favourites. A nation expected.

After topping the Super Eight stage of the competition – a round-robin group that saw the top four sides qualify for the semi-finals – Heather Knight’s England side beat South Africa in a gripping semi and sealed their place at Lord’s in a sold-out final against India, the team that had beaten them in the opening match at Derby.

“I net-bowled on the Nursery Ground [behind Lord’s iconic Media Centre] the day before the final and you could sense the whole thing building and building,” says Dunkley. “The next day was unreal.

The queues outside the ground first thing in the morning were amazing – we’d never seen anything like it for a women’s match.”

To cap it off, England scraped home in a thrilling finale, beating India by nine runs, mainly thanks to Anya Shrubsole, who took six for 46 – the bestever bowling figures in a World Cup final. What happened after the final ball was bowled has stuck in Dunkley’s mind.

“I was sitting in the stand at the end of the game,” she says. “After the trophy was presented, they announced the next World Cup was going to be in New Zealand in 2021 [it was eventually postponed to this year]. I took a moment and thought, ‘That’s a good target for me. Something I can really work towards.’”

If you had told anyone leaving Lord’s on that warm 2017 midsummer evening – including Dunkley herself – what she’d achieve between that final and the next World Cup, they would have considered you hyperbolic. But just a year later, in the summer of 2018, her breakthrough season arrived with standout performances for regional team Surrey Stars in the Kia Super League, beating Loughborough Lightning in a final at Hove in front of a bumper crowd of more than 3,500 spectators and thrusting her into the sights of England’s recruiters.

“Jonathan Finch is the man who phones to tell you that you’ve been selected,” says Dunkley,

referring to the Director of England Women’s Cricket at the England Cricket Board. “[In autumn 2018] I’d been called up to play a couple of training games with the first team a couple of weeks before they headed off to the [ICC Women’s World T20] in the West Indies. It didn’t click in my mind that these games could have an impact on team selection. At the final training session, when they said they’d call those selected, I just thought, ‘Oh well, I’m not going to be involved in that.’ Then, at three in the afternoon, Jonathan’s name flashed up on my phone.

“The first thing he said to me was, ‘I hope you’ve got your passport ready.’ I have absolutely no idea what else was said during that call. I was in complete shock. You never get that feeling again – of being called up to play for your country for the very first time. It’s still hard to describe exactly how that feels.”

It wasn’t just a special moment for Dunkley, but for her mother Caroline, too. Dunkley is an only child, and as a single parent Caroline worked extra hard to help her daughter pursue her sporting dream, despite knowing little about cricket herself. “My family wasn’t particularly sporty,” says Dunkley. “She’d be driving me up and down the country to different venues, paying for coaching, shelling out for my equipment – she had to make a lot of sacrifices.”

In fact, it was belters on the dancefloor, rather than in front of the stumps, that occupied Caroline’s mind. “She’s a music artist manager and booking agent,” says Dunkley of her mum’s profession, confessing to not necessarily sharing the same music tastes. However, Caroline’s music connections did once grant Dunkley a rare opportunity to sit in a chair owned by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason.

“I didn’t think it was a big deal, but Mum tells me otherwise,” she says, laughing. “To be fair, it was a great chair.”

Given the unseen hours she would put in, there was no way Caroline was going to miss the fanfare surrounding her daughter’s England debut, in the second game of the tournament against Bangladesh in St Lucia in November 2018. “She was there so early,” recalls Dunkley. “She didn’t want to miss any of it: the national anthem, the handing of my cap. It meant so much to me, seeing her in the crowd.”

Dunkley played every game in the tournament, scoring 35 runs off 30 balls in her debut T20 innings against the West Indies four days later – the top England scorer for that match. And in June 2021, when Dunkley stepped up for her Test match debut against India, she may have made history as England’s first Black female Test cricketer but she’s also remembered for scoring 74 unbeaten runs. As the ‘almanac of cricket’, Wisden, tweeted afterwards, “It’s the highest score by an England women’s Test debut for nearly 35 years.” It was now a statistical fact: Dunkley rocked.

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Sophia Dunkley

In Sophia Dunkley, English cricket has the best role model it could wish for

STYLING: SARAH MURRAY. HAIR AND MAKE-UP: CELINE NONON USING DERMALOGICA SKINCARE AND KERASTASE HAIRCARE. STYLING ASSISTANT: CHANEL CAMPBELL. THANKS TO HEN

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Golden bat: Dunkley was thirdhighest scorer in last year’s The Hundred tournament and helped her team Southern Brave to the final THE RED BULLETIN

his year, with a huge summer of cricket underway, Dunkley stands at the epicentre of another transformative moment for the women’s game. At the end of July, fresh from a full series against a touring South Africa, she’ll join her England teammates at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham – the first time women’s cricket has featured at the sporting event – facing a formidable international roster that includes Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Barbados. And it isn’t even the main event of the cricketing summer. That would be The Hundred.

Launched last year, The Hundred was devised as a way to make cricket more accessible to a younger and more diverse audience. Whereas traditional women’s Test matches take four days to play, complete with lunch and tea breaks, attempts to make the sport more digestible have emerged throughout modern times. One-day internationals (currently consisting of 50 overs, or 300 balls, per side) debuted in 1971; in 2003, Twenty20 or T20 cricket upped the pace with 20 overs, or 120 balls, per side, reducing play to four hours. The Hundred has slashed that game time further still – 100 balls per innings, two and half hours per match.

But it’s the way the series is staged that sets it apart: eight clubs, each with equally billed men’s and women’s teams, competing in city grounds rather than country venues, with each day featuring a double-header of both a men’s and women’s game.

With little break between them and only five hours of play, spectators last year stuck around for both matches. The format worked. The total number of spectators for the women’s games was around 267,000 – the highest ever attendance of a women’s cricket event (the previous record, at the 2020 T20 World Cup, was around 136,000). And openingnight viewing drew a peak audience of 1.95 million – the most watched women’s cricket match in history. More interestingly, 39 per cent of viewers and 21 per cent of spectators were women, with 59 per cent of tickets purchased by people under the age of 45.

Unsurprisingly, this new flavour of cricket has soured some palates. After last year’s opening games, Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar wrote, “The only word that comes to mind is insipid”; and writer Sam Morshead of The Cricketer concluded it was for “teenage mums and their stupid offspring… who have the attention spans of concussed goldfish”. Former England and Yorkshire Test cricketer Geoffrey Boycott enjoyed it, however.

“It cannot be a bad thing if people enjoy watching cricket, whatever the format,” he wrote. “The Hundred is a concept for today’s society.” Dunkley shares the sentiment. “It makes it a lot easier for young girls to watch and get into,” she says. “You can only aspire to what you see. I think it’s the perfect showcase for the women’s game.”

Last year, Dunkley was drafted into The Hundred

by Southampton-based team Southern Brave. After helping them to the finals at Lord’s as the third highest scorer of the tournament, she returns to the team this year as one of the stars of the competition, mixing with some of the biggest names in world cricket, not least the Australian World Cup-winning triumvirate of Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy. “I want to see how they go about things,” she notes. “It’s about learning and improving. I need to keep moving forward.”

Dunkley’s emergence onto the world stage couldn’t be more vital. Since former West Indies pace bowler Michael Holding and Ebony RainfordBrent – the first Black woman to play cricket for England – detailed their experiences of racism to the Sky Sports cameras in the summer of 2020, it has become a topic of much discussion. “In our sport, people say there aren’t inequalities,” said Rainford-Brent in an emotional speech, “but you start to look around, at people in a position of power – there are almost zero Black people in our governing bodies. What does that say? Then you look at the grassroots level of a lot of sports – I mean cricket, rugby, golf, tennis, you name it – [and] there are no opportunities coming through.

There are structural problems.”

It was, Dunkley says, “A hugely powerful piece of television.”

Especially so for a sport badly in need of a wakeup call. English cricket has witnessed a dramatic decline in the number of Black professional cricket players – as much as 75 per cent in the last 25 years according to the charitable African-Caribbean Engagement programme, started by Rainford-Brent and Surrey County Cricket Club in January 2020 to invest in and support young Black players.

“That has really started a positive change,” says Dunkley. “I hope we’re on the cusp of something.

The more that people get involved, see it and are educated by it, then that’s the start of something really special.”

And in Sophia Dunkley, English cricket has the best role model it could wish for, irrespective of the men’s or women’s game. “From a personal point of view, you don’t really think about the kind of impact you can have on the game – you play because you enjoy it,” says the woman who understood her own potential five years ago, 10 years ago, in 2006 when her neighbour Zak handed her that first cricket bat.

“But to know you’re inspiring the next generation, and that even just a couple of boys or girls might take up the game because they enjoyed watching you play, that’s a very special feeling.”

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Surfing Switzerland No sea for miles, no coastline, no crashing waves...

Yet this landlocked country offers surfing thrills – for those willing to seek them out Words ALEXANDER NEUMANN-DELBARRE

Photography DOM DAHER

Wakesurfing, Swiss-style: Ueli Kestenholz, a bronze medal winner in snowboarding at the 1998 Winter Olympics, rides the bow wave of a pleasure boat on Lake Thun

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Surfing Switzerland

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ack in the summer of 1982, in the heart of the old Swiss city of Geneva, newspaper headlines criticised the disruption to local businesses caused by crowds gathering daily on the Pont de la Machine.

The bridge was full of people looking down, their eyes fixed on the water in disbelief as a group of young surfers stood on boards, the tumultuous waters of Lake Geneva gushing into the Rhône beneath their feet. Gaël Vuillemin was one of them, then just 14 years old.

“Before our first attempt there, I had spent four weeks surfing in France,” says Vuillemin, now 54. “When I got home, I saw the bridge and thought maybe we could surf there, too.”

So they gave it a shot. They tied a water-ski rope to the bridge and used the handle at the other end to hoist themselves onto their boards. When they let go, they found themselves standing on a wave for a few seconds, like their idols in California. They were surfing.

In landlocked Switzerland. “We were driven by our passion and just wanted to give it a go,” Vuillemin says. “We didn’t feel like pioneers.”

But they were. In a country without a single inch of coastline, they were some of the first surfers to not be defeated by that small detail. They sought out surf in a land of mountains. “I knew that surfing could become popular here,” Vuillemin says, “because many of the friends I’d introduced to the sport had got hooked.”

But even he couldn’t predict the recent rapid growth in Swiss surfing.

Today, there are approximately 45,000 active surfers in Switzerland, according to estimates by the Swiss Surfing Association (SSA). Which is a surprising figure for a nation that’s a full day’s travel from the nearest coastline with decent waves. In fact, the number of surfers per capita in Switzerland is as 42

high as in France, a country known for its legendary surf spots along the Atlantic.

Now, many Swiss surfers are realising they don’t even have to go elsewhere to indulge their passion, thanks to their homeland’s 165,000km of rivers and more than 1,500 lakes. Like Vuillemin and his crew in their day, surfers are finding unlikely surf spots in Switzerland.

“Surfing in Switzerland is multi-faceted and there’s a lot of fun to be had,” says photographer Dom Daher who, alongside surfers Esteban Caballero and Valentin Milius and journalist Patricia Oudit, has spent the last two years criss-crossing the country in search of its best surf spots, for the web series Landlocked – Swiss Surfing. They’ve met dedicated surfers on never-ending river waves, seen intrepid board-riders on the icy waters of Lake Neuchâtel, and visited a giant wave pool in Valais that could radically transform surfing in Switzerland.

There’s no shortage of potential.

In recent decades, Swiss surfers have discovered several new river waves, like those in Bern, Basel and Thun. But being at the right place at the right time to surf can take dedication. Matthias Niederer runs a video production company in the canton of Thurgau, in the northeast of the country, and has been surfing with a crew of friends on the river Thur for almost 18 years. River waves are dependent on rainfall or snow melt to sufficiently raise the water levels so surfing is possible, and the Thur needs to reach flood levels to ensure a great wave. Even then, conditions are only optimal for a few hours; once rain or snow starts falling, Niederer must watch water levels on local farming websites for several hours and

factor in detailed seasonal information, such as snow melt or soil saturation, to calculate the level with a high degree of accuracy. Then he knows when to jump in the van and go. “It helps that I’m selfemployed now,” Niederer says. “But me and my whole surf crew, we always tried to make sure we had some flexibility [so we could surf]. Most of the time, we had easy-going bosses who said, ‘We know you’re a bit crazy. When it rains, we’ll allow you to follow your passion.’”

The Thur spot he heads to may only be surfable two to three times per year but, for Niederer, even clean, reliable, artificial waves like those at the Wavegarden facility in Valais don’t compare. “You can’t really plan river surfing,” he says. “You just have to wait.

So there’s also always this element of adventure. It never gets boring, because you can’t get enough – there are so few opportunities to go in and surf. There can be a lot of driftwood once you get to flood levels, so the risk is a bit higher than some other places, and you need to be safe.

But the surf is much more rewarding [than at other river-surfing spots]; the wave is at head height, which is huge for a river wave. It’s just you and your friends, no one else. It’s indescribable.”

One of the more reliable spots in the country is the river wave at Bremgarten, around 15km west of Zurich.

“After surfing the Atlantic, I said to myself, ‘Why not Geneva, too?’”

Gaël Vuillemin, surfer THE RED BULLETIN

Riding the crest of success: Vincent Schneider, men‘s winner of the 2021 Swiss Wavepool Championship, surfs the river in Bremgarten

The art of watercraft: board-shaper and surfer Valentin Milius from Choëx, western Switzerland, built his first board before he’d learned to surf

Surfing Switzerland

The conditions are usually perfect in the spring and early summer when melting snow raises the level of the river Reuss, creating a much more consistent endless wave. By the early 1970s, surfers had started testing their skills on this wave, and today Bremgarten is one of the bestknown and most popular surfing spots in Switzerland. Surfers dive into the dark green water from the small island in the middle of the Reuss, hoist themselves onto their boards, and surf for as long as they can manage. It doesn’t matter whether they’re young or old, beginners or experts, river-wave specialists or ocean veterans.

“The most impressive thing there is you really feel like you’re surfing,” says Caballero who, in Landlocked, regularly gets out his board to test his country’s waves. “We park the car, put on a wetsuit, get on the board and we’re off. It’s like a little surfing trip. We forget the stress of the week, and for a while we have the sensation of being upright on our boards.

Then we go back to the campsite, have a barbecue and chill out with friends.”

Then there’s the less sociable option of hunting down waves on one of Switzerland’s many lakes – and it’s not for the faint-hearted. Greg Williams, a Lausanne surfer and co-founder of the Association Romande de Surf – a group for French speakers – and board makers Ho! Surfcrafts, was inspired to surf by his father’s experiences in Devon and Cornwall in the ’70s. In February 2014, he surfed what may have been the highest waves ever on a Swiss lake,

“The range of options here is amazing” Dom Daher, photographer

at Villette on Lake Geneva. On what has become known simply as Big Thursday, with the wind blowing at speeds of up to 150kph as Cyclone Tini approached Switzerland, Williams took to the lake on a board he’d made himself from Swiss fir.

“The waves must have been one and a half metres in height, and you could only surf for a few seconds,” says Williams in Landlocked, “but my God, what a unique feeling to surf on the lake!” Waves as high as that don’t appear every day – maybe as few as 10 days per year are even surfable. But for those willing to wait, it is possible to surf spots like Lake Geneva and Lake Neuchâtel without the aid of a cyclone. Caballero surfed Lake Neuchâtel during shooting for Landlocked: “It was incredibly cold and the waves were tiny, but we could still surf!”

So, what inspires this passion for a pastime that shouldn’t be possible? “On the one hand, Switzerland is a nation of sliding sports,” says Benedek Sarkany, 42,

“Surfing the river wave in Bremgarten is like a little surfing trip” Esteban Caballero, surfer

Game changer: the surf pool in Alaïa Bay is the first in continental Europe THE RED BULLETIN

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Urban legend: Esteban Caballero does loops of Lake Neuchâtel during shooting for Landlocked

Surfing Switzerland

Natural talent: surfing instructor Fabienne Sutter poses with her board for The Red Bulletin. In the background is the Dents du Midi mountain range. And a cow named Caipirinha (don‘t ask)

president of the SSA and coach of the National Talents and Elite Teams. “From an early age, we’re put on skis or a snowboard and taught how to go downhill. It’s only a short step from skiing and snowboarding to surfing. Plus, we like to travel. There are many who learn to surf abroad and want to continue when they come home.

This is how they come across Bremgarten and all the other options.”

Sarkany spends a lot of his time in his caravan at Bremgarten and has seen something on the banks of the Reuss in recent years that’s backed up by figures from the SSA: the number of Swiss surfers is growing fast. In the past eight years, the association estimates, the surfing population of Switzerland has increased by around 20,000. This is perhaps, in part, down to the first pools with artificial static waves, such as the Urbansurf outdoor centre in the heart of Zurich or the Oana Citywave indoor complex in the town of Ebikon.

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“The miniwave, designed for children, is a revolution” Benedek Sarkany, surf coach

And if you head a little further south, you’ll find the Wavegarden facility in Alaïa Bay, nestled at the foot of the Swiss Alps in Sion, Valais. Here, at the first surf pool in continental Europe, it’s possible to ride a sea-style running wave 500m above sea level, in an open-air area the size of a football pitch. The facility, which can provide 1,000 waves every hour, comes with the latest Wavegarden tech, including a movable air section.

Swiss surfers see this as a game changer.

“Ever since this resort opened, I’ve felt that we really can surf in Switzerland,” says Fabienne Sutter, 31, a member of the National Talents Team who comes from the canton of Schwyz. Sutter has become something of a benchmark in Swiss surfing, having skied from childhood, before moving onto skateboarding and then surfing at the age of 18 on the Atlantic coast.

Today, she spends most of the year in Ferrol, a coastal village in northern Spain, working as a surfing instructor.

Sutter has tried her hand at river waves and wave hunting on Swiss lakes, but it’s Alaïa Bay that has really piqued her interest. She visited shortly after the facility opened in 2019. “You can spend so much time on the wave that you genuinely improve. It’s certainly not the same as surfing out at sea, which is the only place you can feel the true surfing spirit. But it’s perfect if you want to work on specific things, because of all that time you can spend on the wave. And because our coach can take us out, give us advice and get us straight back out there to practise.”

Coach Sarkany believes Alaïa Bay could spark a ‘mini-revolution’. “Now, you can surf in Switzerland from the age of eight, in a safe environment, with waves perfectly adapted to everyone’s abilities,” he says. “This will raise the overall level of surfing in Switzerland.”

And maybe one day it will even give the nation its first surfing star. That’s how Daher sees it. The photographer believes that, in the not-too-distant future, Olympic surfing competitions might no longer be held at sea, but in pools like Alaïa Bay. “Roger Federer became who he is thanks to our fantastic tennis courts,” says Daher, “so why shouldn’t we have the next Kelly Slater thanks to our fantastic surfing facilities?”

All the episodes of Landlocked – Swiss Surfing are available to watch on YouTube; youtube.com 47

Fields of freedom

With 100 per cent of its bill comprised of underrepresented artists, the FLESH FESTIVAL is pushing back against decades of male-dominated festival line-ups – and hosting a next-level party in the process Words SHARAN DHALIWAL

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Photography ROXY LEE

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Party people: letting loose at the first-ever Flesh Festival

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Flesh Festival

“We’re disrupting the norm and creating a space for the community” Samantha Togni, organiser (left)

B Above: DJ, producer, record label owner and Flesh Festival creator Samantha Togni; opposite: thousands of festivalgoers flocked to Hertfordshire for the inaugural event

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eautiful people catwalk up and down the small platform at Radlett train station on a Saturday morning, waiting to be transported to a venue more worthy of their outfits. This is the weekend of the first-ever Flesh Festival, a two-day queer camping event with a focus on house and techno music, and there’s an excited buzz in the air. As more trains arrive from London and beyond, the group grows, all strutting their stuff before elegantly floating towards the waiting shuttle bus. Names, pronouns and smiles are exchanged, and suddenly everyone’s oversharing. Someone is running late, so the bus is held up to accommodate them – no one is left behind. And as the venue gets closer,

so do the passengers, forming bonds that will be strengthened even further during late-night tent visits to swap playlists and stories.

This new musical gathering, the first of its kind to be held in the UK, is the brainchild of Samantha Togni, the internationally renowned DJ, producer, and director of electronic music label Boudica. Born in Italy and now based in London, Togni creates spaces that give a platform to unrepresented people from all genders, cultures and backgrounds in the music industry. It’s a mission that has taken them across the world from Japan to America, and now brings them – along with a few thousand festival attendees – to a field in the south of England. Or a couple of fields, to be precise, down a country road on the edge of the town centre here in Hertfordshire.

The festival site comprises two large stages, with a handful of activity tents and stalls lining the grounds. The security team – handpicked by the organisers – are all queer, and most are female. They’re respectful with their bag and body searches, making sure to ask politely before doing anything. This is the inaugural event, and while the organisers may feel a slight underlying panic as people start to flood into the venue, festivalgoers’ spirits are high.

Everyone entering the grounds knows this event is for them: queer people of colour, trans people, non-binary people – all those who traditional festivals often fail to accommodate.

Conversations about gender inequality at traditional festivals have been THE RED BULLETIN

Flesh Festival

Everyone entering the grounds knows this event is for them: queer people of colour, trans, non-binary… increasing over the past few years, with people finally demanding more female headliners on bills, instead of the same old male-fronted bands. A 2017 report by the BBC showed that 80 per cent of UK festival headliners were male. This inequality inspired an initiative named Keychange, set up to promote change by supporting underrepresented artists in the music industry.

Shirley Manson, frontwoman of the iconic ’90s rock band Garbage, and an ambassador for the organisation, said she was “utterly outraged” by the BBC’s findings. But when the study was updated earlier this year, it showed just THE RED BULLETIN

minimal change: 74.5 per cent of festival headliners are still male solo acts or allmale bands. Just 13 per cent are female, while 12 per cent are a mix of male and female musicians. Only one headline act identified as non-binary. It would seem that the pandemic allowed for a relapse; any intended changes appear to have been scrapped.

It’s this culture that Flesh Festival was created to counteract. “Straight after the pandemic, we saw the same festivals running the same line-ups with the same big names,” says Togni. “And, as always, the demographic was the same, too. We worked so hard on visibility and diversity,

and this was the outcome? That was a big force behind [creating] Flesh.”

Here, 100 per cent of the line-up is comprised of underrepresented artists, with 90 per cent of that made up of women, trans and non-binary artists from a wide spectrum of ethnicities.

“As festival programmers and promoters, we have a responsibility to our audience, and we wanted everyone to feel represented,” Togni says of the event’s intersectional manifesto. “I think visibility is paramount in inspiring the new generation, so that was number one for us. We’re disrupting the norm and creating a space for the community.”

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popular DJ on London’s queer nightlife scene, and a member of the BIPOC collective Pxssy Palace, allyXpress takes to the decks on the main stage at 1pm, her long plaits falling forward as she moves with the music.

This is the first festival main stage she’s ever opened. “Everyone is so good at what they do, but they’re not booked because they don’t have a huge name or following,” she says later of the line-up.

“It’s necessary to give people a platform, to give them more coverage.”

Relaxing post-show in the VIP area (a picnic bench in a cordoned-off section of the field), allyXpress – who has moved from New Zealand to London via Australia – talks passionately about her craft, despite the many hurdles artists like her still face. “In the creative industries, it’s hard to make money,” she says. “And being a woman, trans, or anything that isn’t a white straight male, the work is triple hard. Things just aren’t given to us. I’m a big brown girl with a huge personality, so anything I do is amplified.

I don’t get given the benefit of the doubt.

I’m guilty until proven innocent.”

It’s these conversations with emerging artists that are missing in the larger festival industry, as are non-binary, trans and gender-fluid acts, women of colour, and queer performers. Billie Eilish drew the biggest crowd at the 2019 Reading Festival – a fact still used to argue for change, as are the examples of Florence + the Machine, Jessie Ware and Dua Lipa.

But, say advocates for wider change, such as Togni, what many of those attempting to improve representation in music seem to miss is the fact it still only accommodates straight whiteness. “In terms of being a festival programmer, you see people rely too much on known names,” says Togni. “If we don’t nurture the headliners of tomorrow, how will they become headliners? We need to create a more sustainable ecosystem to survive.”

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lesh Festival is not only about representing the people on stage; the weekend also provides a safe space for the crowd that’s not readily available on the London nightlife scene. Here, queer bodies that are usually policed become visible. Any initial shyness is helped by seeing others embrace themselves: thongs make a return, nipples are rarely covered, scars are displayed proudly.

“I’m just being myself, no hiding. There’s nothing stopping me, and I’m not scared 54

of it,” says one trans man, covering his scars with sun cream. All done, with a harness now attached to his chest, he grins proudly. Two people begin a passionate kiss. They get lost in each other, ignoring everyone else and knowing they’ll encounter no harm. Someone walks by in chaps and they squeal in excitement when a friend slaps their behind.

“Something I hear is the feeling of being safe,” says author and activist Sabah Choudrey, who has travelled up from London for the festival. “You can see it: relaxed queers in the sun, trans

people with their scars proudly visible, all kinds of genders expressed uniquely, cultural appropriation at a minimum, POC behind decks and stalls… That’s what made me, as a trans person of colour, feel safe and represented.”

The festival shows its young age, with last-minute line-up changes, dropouts, abrupt set endings and closed tents – but most festivalgoers seem to accept this as a learning process, and it doesn’t seem to dampen spirits. As the first day comes to a close, those too cold to sleep alone are welcomed into neighbours’ tents for the THE RED BULLETIN

Rain dance: the Flesh Festival crowd remained undeterred by the presence of dark clouds and the threat of showers on the second day

“It’s necessary to give people a platform, give them coverage” allyXpress, DJ

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night, sharing body heat in return for gossip and stories.

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unday begins with dark clouds and the threat of rain. People are lying on the ground, still recovering from the night before. Others are contemplating cold showers and whether alcohol intake is acceptable before noon – many decide it is. “This weather is homophobic,” a group of people joke on their way to the bar.

London DJ, writer and sex-positive stripper Aisha Mirza lays the foundations for the day’s musical offering with a set

interlaced with Bollywood mash-ups. AR Rahman’s classic Chaiyya Chaiyya – from the iconic film Dil Se – plays across the field, and brown bodies sway robotically to the scratchy voice of [Bollywood singer] Sapna Awasthi as if they’ve been programmed to initiate dance mode.

“The festival has an incredible line-up full of Black and brown baddies,” Mirza says after their set. “Unfortunately, I think the industry’s landscape is too treacherous for queer and trans artists to work safely within it in general. Queer spaces are flawed, too, but they’re 55

Flesh Festival

Queer bodies that are usually policed become visible.

Any shyness is helped by seeing others embrace themselves certainly preferable.” Mirza has spent a lot of their time in queer and trans spaces within the music scene, having started their own event, Misery – a sober QTIBPOC party centring healing and joy. “I create these kinds of spaces for a living, and I learned quickly that I just couldn’t be arsed with speaking to white men,” Mirza says. “But I would say men continue to dominate. Well, that’s what I hear.”

The figures support this observation.

In 2020, a study by industry organisation UK Music found that the proportion of women working in music had risen from 45.3 per cent in 2016 to 49.6 per cent but, despite that rise, there was a steady decline in female representation in senior roles. Compared with other participants in the survey, minority ethnic and women in the industry have a larger representation in lower-income brackets, with 33.6 per cent of minority ethnics earning less than £15,000 and 59.4 per cent being female.

These issues are amplified by the fact that the industry relies heavily on Black artists to sell records and produce music, yet Black people still hold less than a fifth of senior executive roles. When 56

looking at the music industry as a whole, ethnic diversity rose from 17.8 per cent in 2018 to 22.3 per cent in 2020.

Positive spaces created by events such as Flesh Festival allow people to circumvent this reality. One of the biggest acts of the weekend is Afro Pasifika DJ and self-proclaimed “Indigenous Fem Queen” Shakaiah Perez, aka Lady Shaka.

Born in Aotearoa – the Māori name for New Zealand – and famous in London for being both a party-starting DJ and the director of Pulotu Underworld, a global collective celebrating pacific music and culture, Lady Shaka is one of the most anticipated acts of the weekend, and as the crowd congregates for her set, the sun finally reveals itself.

She moves from behind the decks to party with the crowd in between Azealia Banks’ 212 and J-Lo’s Waiting for Tonight. As her energy takes over, transporting the crowd to Lady Shaka’s world, it’s welcomed with twerking and affirming screams. As her set ends, smiles adorn every face. Chakras are aligned, drinks replenished, lipstick smudged, layers removed. Everyone feels centred again.

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everal dance-packed hours later, Flesh Festival’s fields begin to empty as happy but slightly frayed festivalgoers board shuttle buses back to Radlett train station. Despite a few teething problems, the weekend has been a success. And beyond this, founder Togni hopes others will take inspiration from Flesh Festival and continue the push forward. The organisers themselves are already reaching out to the community to find new and different ways to make lasting progress. For example, this year they ran a competition for queer, trans and intersex people of colour, with two scholarships at the DJ and music production school London Sound Academy as prizes, plus a slot playing at Flesh Festival.

“We’re a very small organisation,” says Togni, “and if we can make this change, imagine what larger organisations could do. Don’t be afraid.

If it doesn’t exist, it’s a good thing.

Take new ideas and knock on doors.

If you think [creating a new space] is valuable, there’s someone else out there who thinks it’s valuable, too.” fleshfestival.com THE RED BULLETIN

www.arcadebelts.eu

Je ne sais quoi

Tour de France, 2020 “I saw this wonderful old car on the side of the road and asked the owner if I could take a photo from inside it,” says Russ Ellis. And voilà: a new view of the world’s most famous bike race.

Interview ANDREAS WOLLINGER

Chain reaction

Photographer RUSS ELLIS manages to capture the true spirit of cycling – perhaps because he learned his craft on the road THE RED BULLETIN

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Hard yards

Paris-Roubaix, 2019 This race, held on an April Sunday in northern France since 1896, is Ellis’ “favourite event of the whole season. The brutal route – partly on cobblestones, partly on dirt roads – is always a source of great photos”.

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Russ Ellis

PHOTOGRAPHER

RUSS ELLIS Nottingham-born Ellis has two passions in life: photography and cycling. But it was only in 2015, when a trade magazine asked if he wanted to photograph the famous Paris-Roubaix race, that the 45-year-old discovered he could combine the two as a career. “That was a turning point,” Ellis says. “I realised that I wanted to make a living from it.” He’s been living his dream ever since. Ellis’ earlier experience in street photography comes through in his distinctive style, as does his ability to take a few steps back to capture a mood from a distance. “When I arrive at a race,” Ellis says of his way of working, “I’ll just walk around and soak up the atmosphere first before I even take out my camera.” cyclingimages.co.uk

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Russ Ellis

Muddy faces win races

Cyclocross, Zeven, Germany, 2017 “Cyclocross means small, fast circuits with mud, gravel and tarmac for exciting races with an unpredictable outcome.”

Pictured above: Belgian U23 World Champion Michael Vanthourenhout.

Framing the action

Tour Down Under, Australia, 2020

“The spot near Adelaide where we stopped to take photos kind of looked like anywhere else. So I hunted for an interesting angle and found this old tyre at the side of the road.”

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Russ Ellis

No time to die

Giro d’Italia, 2020 The city of Matera, 200km east of Naples, is known for its cave settlements – the Sassi – which provide an excellent backdrop for the Giro d’Italia. “Also, a certain James Bond had an exciting car chase here in [the actor’s] last film as 007,” says Ellis.

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“When you look at the photos, you need to feel like you’ve been there” Russ Ellis

Thundering through Critérium du Dauphiné, France, 2020

Not all photographers hope for good weather: “A thunderstorm caught the field completely by surprise during the last two kilometres of the second stage. In bad weather, mud, rain and drama galore do half the work for you.”

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Russ Ellis

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Russ Ellis

Come together Giro d’Italia, 2018 “I came across these three fans in almost identical get-up on the 18th stage of the Giro. Walking on the zebra crossing, they reminded me of the famous cover of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album. A great snap.”

“I always try to create artistic images that capture all the emotions” Russ Ellis

Blurred lines Tour de France, 2018 Who says the cyclists are the most important thing in a bike race? For Ellis, the spectators have almost more appeal. The race is reflected in their faces, and their static poses provide a great counterpoint to the furious pace of the cyclists.

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VIKING HIKING Sail-trekking in the Faroe Islands

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VENTURE Travel

“With no landmass north of this point, we’re slammed by a fierce wind that has built up momentum from well beyond the North Pole” Hugh Francis Anderson, adventure journalist

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Air Faroes Travelling to the islands All international flights land on Vágar, and take just 60 minutes from Edinburgh with Atlantic Airways.

Alternatively, there’s a 31-hour ferry trip from Hanstholm, Denmark.

A hire car is the best way to explore, and the islands are well connected by bridges, tunnels and ferries. To protect their fragile ecosystem, the Faroes – unlike most of Scandinavia – don’t have a ‘right to roam’ policy that allows you to travel and camp anywhere on public land, so use designated campsites. Guesthouses can be found at booklocal.fo THE RED BULLETIN

HUGH FRANCIS ANDERSON

stop. With primary data collected, we have three days free to explore the Faroes before a weather window opens to Iceland, 450km to the northwest. Heide suggests we set course for Mykines, the westernmost of the main 18 islands, and hike across it. Unfurling the headsail and travelling at five knots (around 9.5kph), the journey takes a couple of hours.

Scrambling up the steep walls of Mykines, I hear nothing but the sound of the ocean smashing hard rock below. Heide and I run the

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unlight breaks through the dark clouds, illuminating mossy outcrops that cling to the sheer basalt walls of Stóri Drangur, a 70m-tall column of rock rising from the Norwegian Sea. I’m on the bow of the research vessel Barba and, although it’s mid-May, the breeze is filled with the chill of winter. Off to starboard lies the Faroe Island of Vágar and the village of Gásadalur (population: 12).

South of that, pouring into the sea from a crack in the rich emerald grassland and onyx rock face is the waterfall known as Skarðsáfossur. It’s a scene painted from mythology.

As a writer specialising in adventure and environmental issues, I’m drawn to cold, inhospitable places where life miraculously thrives, and at latitude 61° north, just below the Arctic Circle, the mild oceanic climate and fertile volcanic soil of the Faroe Islands makes for such a place. Føroyar (Faroe Islands) was the name given to this archipelago by Viking settlers in the ninth century. Its literal meaning is ‘sheep islands’, and today there are 70 sub-breeds of Faroese sheep on the isles. The nutrient-rich run-off from these animals into the ocean, combined with that of millions of seabird inhabitants, fuels an abundance of marine life.

I flew in from London via Copenhagen to join the captain of the Barba, marine biologist Andreas B Heide [pictured in the red hat on the previous page, alongside the writer], on a research mission to document the effects of plastic pollution on whales in the North Atlantic; as the Faroes lie right in the middle of the ocean, the islands were an essential

VENTURE Travel

Barba approaches Skarðsáfossur waterfall near the sparsely populated village of Gásadalur

Above: research ship Barba passes the Risin and Kellingin sea stacks in the northern Faroes; below: the long bluff of Mykines reaches out towards the Atlantic

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length of the bluff towards the island’s lighthouse, which stands as a sentinel of this austere outpost. Every now and then, a puffin scurries from its burrow and soars into the air. The island is home to thousands of the birds, which are traditionally caught with a fleyingarstong (a long stick with a net on the end) and later stuffed with dough before being baked into a loaf called fyltur lundi (stuffed puffin). As we rise up a dip to the lighthouse, and with no landmass north of this point, we’re slammed by a fierce wind that has built up momentum from well beyond the North Pole. Far below the lighthouse, seals bask in the intermittent sunshine, and between gusts there’s even a hint of warmth.

Back onboard Barba during a night sail to one of the least-populated islands, Hestur, I leave the comfort of the saloon to take watch at the helm.

This close to the Arctic Circle, the islands enjoy long days, the sun sitting on the horizon for hours as if in perpetual sunset. I feel calm as I listen to the muffled laughter drifting from below deck and gaze up at the sheer cliffs where grass and heather dance in the ethereal twilight.

Fishing was once the main industry on Hestur, but in 1919 an accident at sea killed a third of its men; few families remain today on an island with a total area of just 6.1sq-km. Clambering onto the old fishing quay, we walk through the island’s only village, also named Hestur, as a mist descends. It’s eerily silent and there’s no sign of human life.

A traditional turf-roofed house rests between the 19th-century fishing cottages, the cross atop the red spire 73

VENTURE Travel Island life Know-how and no-nos on the Faroes Layer up Thanks to the subarctic climate, the weather can change within minutes. Start with wool base layers, warm mid-layers, hard-wearing trousers and boots, with a windand waterproof shell on top.

Tread carefully There’s one weekend every year when tourists are forbidden unless they’re helping to restore and maintain the Faroes for future generations. At other times, be mindful of the delicate landscape, and check the hiking guide at visitfaroeislands.com.

of a church shifts in and out of focus, and the lone bleat of a sheep sounds in the mountains above.

We trek down a solitary dirt road before heading overland towards the island’s summit and largest lake, Fagradalsvatn.

Photographer Tord Karlsen produces a fishing rod. “Reckon there’s trout here?” he asks. We cast a few lines into the murky pool. Nothing. I’m struck by how totally remote this location feels. As we crouch on a rock to fish in Fagradalsvatn,

this could be the ninth century or the 21st – there’s no visible difference.

Next, Heide casts off for the island of Streymoy, home to the Faroes’ capital, Tórshavn. We haven’t come across many people on our journey, but as we dock we’re greeted by a local diver, Kári Mikkelsen, who offers to show us around town. With a population of almost 14,000, Tórshavn is a veritable hub, where grassroofed log cabins (some more than 400 years old) nestle beside single-

Barba sails past Stóri Drangur and Lítli Drangur, the two sea stacks that lie between the island of Vágar and the islet of Tindhólmur

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origin-coffee shops and contemporary art galleries. Mikkelsen explains the challenge of managing tourism without losing the soul of the islands. “We’re so close to nature and proud of the traditions that have made it possible to survive out here,” he says. “Traditions vary from place to place, but the boat is common to all. And the sheep.”

The weather breaks, and Heide makes the decision to begin our sail to Iceland. As we pass the harbour’s breakwater, two Faroese clinker boats race by, shirtless teenage boys gripping the wooden oars, puffing and grunting as they haul these small wooden vessels that have remained unchanged in design since the 17th century and have been included on UNESCO’s Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

In this moment, I realise that to view the Faroes Islands from sea is the way the Faroese have always seen their home. Later, as we pass the western tip of Mykines and the lighthouse high above, I gaze at the bluff again and see it now as a remarkable landscape where humans and animals have existed in harmony for more than a thousand years. One of the last true wildernesses.

Hugh Francis Anderson is a British adventurer and journalist based in Tromsø, Arctic Norway; hughfrancisanderson.com THE RED BULLETIN

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Anderson (front) and crew sailor Diane Seda descend through the mist on the island of Hestur

Local lore Kári Mikkelsen recommends hiking Eysturoy, from the settlement of Norðragøta to Leirvik between Ritafjall and Knúkur mountains.

“This was the main road when my father lived in the area,” says Mikklesen. “It’s my favourite hike.”

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Top row, from left; THE NORTH FACE Skeena, thenorthface.co.uk; HELLY HANSEN Capilano F2F, hellyhansen.com

Bottom row, from left: QUIKSILVER Monkey Caged, quiksilver.co.uk; TEVA Zymic, teva-eu.com

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Top row, from left: ROXY Cage, roxy-uk.co.uk; LIZARD Super Trek, lizardfootwear.com

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Bottom row, from left: ECCO MX Onshore, gb.ecco.com; KEEN Elle Strappy, keenfootwear.com

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VENTURE How To Reject inevitability

It’s easy to feel fatalistic about the future. But for Loring this is more than just doomsaying; to him, it’s an excuse. “When you see a problem as endemic, you don’t have to figure out its root cause, you just treat the symptoms.” He believes we should go easier on humanity: “Not absolve ourselves, but forgive. Imagine how our modern world would look if we all started understanding that people are cooperative, generous and kind by nature.

It opens up possibilities of how we can do things better.”

Don’t believe in magic

Walk on the grass That’s right, do it – even if you see a sign telling you not to.

Because, as this ecologist explains, to save the world we need to stop being scared of nature and embrace it

Our planet is in existential crisis. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that global temperatures are set to exceed the 1.5ºC threshold by 2040, bringing extreme heatwaves, droughts, record floods, mass population displacement, and the extinction of vulnerable species. The natural world is hurting, and some say we need to leave it alone. But ecological anthropologist Philip A Loring disagrees.

“It’s possible for us to coexist with the natural world, to restore the damage we’ve caused,” he says in his book Finding Our Niche: Toward a Restorative Human Ecology.

“Not through self-quarantine, but by integrating our lives with the species, landscapes and seascapes around us.”

The 45-year-old professor originally forged a career in IT but, having grown up exploring the woods and coastline of Maine – the most rural US state – he turned to studying 78

ecology at 28. “I learned about mutually supportive relationships in nature and thought, ‘Why are [humans] cut off from that?’ Then I spent time with Indigenous mentors in Alaska who taught me that we’re not; we’re just taught to think we are. So I started to look for win-win scenarios where people were thriving with the environment, not keeping it at a distance.”

Loring uncovered countless case studies, from cattle farmers in the Burren region of Ireland using traditional methods to manage livestock, to Indigenous clam gardeners in British Columbia who sustainably balance food gathering with a healthy ecosystem. But he also found that while many of us strive

“Slow down and pick one thing you can contribute to” Philip A Loring

to do better, we become burdened by the need to act.

“When people move from one paradigm to another, they experience what anthropologists call a ‘liminal’, or transitional, stage – they feel inspired but impotent, unsure what to do next.” To reintegrate with our natural world, Loring says, we first need to remember what we’ve forgotten. Here’s how…

Know your place

“Figure out how you’re related to the place you live in,” says Loring of the first step in this journey of self-rediscovery.

“Recognise there’s a story bigger than you.” For him, that meant appreciating the deep relationship Native peoples have with their land. “I realised I needed to learn more about Indigenous history in Maine.

I reevaluated old statues and squares dedicated to settlers.

With a little work, you can see through recent history to the world that was there before.”

Choose your battles

“The world’s environmental problems can seem too big to solve,” says Loring. “They can overwhelm you to the point of inaction or impulsive reaction.

Slow down and pick one thing you can contribute to, whether that’s eating local, seasonal food or joining a bird-watching naturalist movement. Don’t feel bad about not being able to contribute to everything.

Incremental change is slow until, all of a sudden, it’s not. I sense we’re close to the tipping point. We just don’t know it yet.”

Finding Our Niche: Toward a Restorative Human Ecology

by Philip A Loring is out now.

To buy a copy, or to find out more about his work, head to conservationofchange.org THE RED BULLETIN

NINA ZEITMAN

NURTURE

In the 1998 film Armageddon, Bruce Willis saves Earth by strapping a nuclear bomb to an asteroid. Sadly, this kind of Hollywood solution rarely exists in reality. “‘Silver bullets’ are solutions you can implement everywhere, but that’s not how nature works,” says Loring.

“Climate change or global food systems need diverse solutions.

An alternative to large-scale farming, for example, is regenerative agriculture, but it doesn’t work at scale, only when it’s specific to a place and people build good relationships with the land. But it shows alternatives are possible.”

HAIBIKE.com

VENTURE Gaming you nail your formula, stick with it. “Be consistent but not repetitive. That’s how you grow.”

Use your influence

“I am female and I do have an audience,” says Elly of a factor that seems to rile up an online vocal minority. “It’s interesting how people can turn little things into gender commentary. I love trolling back, but I don’t know if that’s the healthiest way to combat it.” Instead, she hopes to encourage more women into sim racing. “Not to throw shade, but I have better ideas than F1 Esports’ Women’s Wildcard [where female racers can win a spot in an exhibition race]. I want a more welcoming environment for girls.”

Devise a formula

Cultivate side hustles

SUCCEED

Driving traffic How to join an F1 esports team and influence people – tips from sim racing’s unlikeliest new star

In April 2020, F1elly was playing Among Us, the popular space-themed multiplayer whodunnit game. “It was the peak of COVID, and that’s when I downloaded TikTok,” she recalls. “I made a few TikToks about Among Us and those blew up.” Today, she has close to 230,000 followers on the social-media platform, and she was recently signed up as content creator for Red Bull Racing.

So, what’s her secret to videogame influencer success?

“I wouldn’t consider myself a gamer, or a social-media guru,” says the 24-year-old from the San Francisco Bay Area, who answers to her public persona of Elly but prefers to keep her real name offline. “Before that, I didn’t have an Instagram or Twitter, and I didn’t know what Twitch was.” She did, however, know 80

Formula One. “I’d been passively watching it, then I discovered the [drivers’] radios, where you could hear what they were experiencing in the moment. That interested me.” She switched from Among Us skits to F1 humour videos. TikTok lapped it up. “I definitely was not a motorsports person. I think that’s why people find it interesting – I’m documenting my journey into this world.”

This year, Elly quit her day job and moved to Austin, Texas, home to October’s US Grand Prix. She’s now being tutored in sim racing by Red Bull Racing Esports pro Sebastian Job. “Sim racing was my entry point into Twitch,” she says of her channel, where she also testdrives games like the new F1 22 (pictured). “People ask me how they can be in this

And that formula should be you. “Early on, I realised there were a lot of kids on TikTok wanting to be F1 influencers but not posting their faces.

Brand yourself,” recommends Elly. And keep evolving. “It started with me thinking F1 was funny, but now I’m transitioning more to in-reallife content, learning about Moto GP, endurance racing and Formula Drift.” And when

“I want sim racing to be more welcoming to girls” F1elly

“I’ve been doing cooking streams – today I’m doing one for HelloFresh,” says Elly of her content, which is broadening beyond F1. “It’s fun for my viewers, because they can see me react to different things.

I’ve also been focusing on becoming a better real-life driver, learning manual, and fixing up my car.” But while her cooking streams are popular, there’s some way to go before they catch up with her F1 content: “They’re quite terrible.

I’m not a very good cook.”

Follow F1elly on TikTok, Twitch, YouTube and Instagram: @F1elly.

F1 22 is out now on PlayStation, Xbox and Windows; ea.com THE RED BULLETIN

@F1ELLY

space. Just put yourself out there and see others enjoy what you’re making.”

Here’s Elly’s advice on how to become an F1 influencer…

“I don’t think anyone would say I’m a good player, but I’ve got better,” Elly says of her simracing progress at Red Bull Racing. She’s currently training for a Porsche Esports Supercup (PESC) All-Stars race featuring influencers rather than pro racers. “I didn’t realise how high the competition level of that group is,” she admits.

“These guys are fast.” Her main takeaway, though, is not to take it too seriously. “If you call it a game, people get mad.

It’s a ‘sim’. So I do poke fun at that, because it is a game.”

TOM GUISE

Stay humorous

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VENTURE Equipment PLAY

On the other hand

TIM KENT

How a left-handed gaming pioneer brought the southpaw advantage to the world of esports

August 13 is International Left-handers Day, celebrating the 11 per cent of the population who live in a world built the other way around.

Buttoning up your shirt; writing without smudging; using scissors, a can opener or door handles – these things a right-handed person takes for granted are exercises in creative problem-solving for ‘lefties’. A 2006 study by the journal Neuropsychology found left-handers tend to have faster connections between the left and right hemispheres of their brain, and certainly there have been many lefthanded creative thinkers: Mozart, Michelangelo, Lady Gaga, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie (who trained himself to play guitar right-handed).

There are also sporting advantages. A quarter of Major League Baseball players are lefties – pitchers and batters get better proximity to first and second base. Also, ‘southpaw’ boxing is a strategy.

The same can’t be said for esports. Games controllers, keyboard configurations and mice have always been righthanded affairs. That bothered Robert Krakoff, left-handed co-founder of Razer, so in 2009 the gaming company released the Death Adder Left-Hand

THE RED BULLETIN

Edition – the first mouse built for gaming southpaws.

Krakoff passed away this April, but his leftie legacy lives on in the Razer Naga LeftHanded Edition (pictured above left, of course). “Thank you, Rob, you’ll be missed,” tweeted Razer in tribute. We can all raise a left-handed toast to that. razer.com

Capable of tracking 20,000 dots per inch at 650 inches per second, Razer’s Naga Left-Handed Edition is stupidly precise.

Like the right-handed Naga X (also pictured) it sports 12 programmable thumb buttons

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Isis wears POC Myelin Helmet, pocsports.com; DRAGON ALLIANCE Clover LL Ion Sunglasses, dragonalliance.com; ELLESSE Albany T-shirt, ellesse.com; COTOPAXI Coso 2L Hip Pack, cotopaxi.com; NIXON Siren Watch, uk.nixon.com; DICKIES Victoria Shorts , dickieslife.com; STANCE Icon Crew Socks, stance.eu.com; PALLADIUM Pampa X Smile 1990 Boots, palladiumboots.co.uk

VENTURE Equipment

Summer in the city Getting from A to B is no sweat when your wheels and wardrobe do their work.

Whether you’re bombing to the office or cruising to a yoga class, find the right bike and kit to make any journey a breeze Photography ALEXANDER BEER

Jordan wears GIRO Caden II Helmet, giro.com; DRAGON ALLIANCE Tidal X LL Sunglasses, dragonalliance.com; FJÄLLRÄVEN Abisko Travel Shirt SS, fjallraven.com; STUBBLE & CO The Roll Top Backpack, stubbleandco.com; 686 Anything Cargo Pants, 686.com; STANCE Boyd Crew Socks, stance.eu.com; ETNIES Marana Slip Shoes, eu.etnies.com Left: HAIBIKE Trekking 6 Mid Bike, haibike.com Right: RIBBLE Hybrid AL e Bike, ribblecycles.co.uk

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VENTURE Equipment

SCOTT SPORTS La Mokka Plus Helmet and Sway Sunglasses, scott-sports.com; HELLY HANSEN Ride Cycling Jacket, hellyhansen.com; YOGI BARE Paws Yoga Mat and Carry Strap, yogi-bare.co.uk; ROXY Kelia Workout Leggings, roxy-uk.co.uk; STANCE Icon Crew Socks, stance.eu.com; UNDER ARMOUR Flow Synchronicity Running Shoes, underarmour.co.uk; MARIN Kentfield ST 2 Bike, marinbikes.com

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VENTURE Equipment

POC Omne Air Spin Helmet and Aspire Sunglasses, pocsports.com; SPORTFUL Giara Jersey and Bib Shorts, and TC Gloves, sportful.com; OSPREY Talon 22 Ghost Backpack, ospreyeurope.com; CANNONDALE Synapse Carbon 105 Bike with SmartSense, cannondale.com

VENTURE Equipment

NUTCASE Vio Commute Helmet, nutcasehelmets.com; MESSY WEEKEND Hobbes Sunglasses, messyweekend.com; AFENDS Real Time T-shirt, eu.afends.com

VENTURE Equipment

SPECIALIZED Mode Helmet, specialized.com; DRAGON ALLIANCE Opus LL H20 Sunglasses, dragonalliance.com; 686 Hydra 2.5L All-Weather Jacket, 686.com; ORTLIEB Commuter-Daypack City, ortlieb.com; THE RED BULLETIN

AFENDS Classic Hemp Retro T-shirt, eu.afends.com; 686 Everywhere Pants, 686.com; STANCE Icon 200 Crew Socks, stance.eu.com; ECCO Street 720 M Shoes, gb.ecco.com; MATE X Bike, mate.bike

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VENTURE Equipment NUTCASE Vio Commute Helmet, nutcasehelmets.com; MESSY WEEKEND Hobbes Sunglasses, messyweekend.com; AFENDS Real Time T-shirt and Smoke Organic Crew Socks, eu.afends.com; PICTURE ORGANIC Foday Stretch Romper, picture-organic-clothing.com; NIXON Regulus Expedition Watch, uk.nixon.com; K-SWISS Granada Shoes, kswiss.co.uk; CUBE Cargo Hybrid Bike, cube.eu

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SMITH OPTICS Maze Bike Helmet, smithoptics.com; DRAGON ALLIANCE Opus LL H20 Sunglasses, dragonalliance.com; SANTA CRUZ SKATEBOARDS Japanese Optical Dot T-shirt, santacruzskateboards.eu; CHROME INDUSTRIES Union Shorts 2.0, Barrage Cargo Backpack and Cycling Gloves, chromeindustries.com; HIPLOCK Spin Wearable Chain Lock, hiplock.com; G-SHOCK GA-B2100 Watch, g-shock.co.uk; STANCE Boyd Snow Socks, stance.eu.com; ETNIES Marana Slip Shoes, eu.etnies.com; CANNONDALE X PALACE Mad Boy Bike, cannondale.com Hair and make-up: MIRA PARMAR Models: ISIS NOUR @ W Model Management; JORDAN D @ 777 Casting

VENTURE Fitness amount of rest, do your sessions consistently… then age is just a number.”

Check your mileage

“When you’re young, you can push yourself and ignore what your body’s telling you,” says Bowden. “But some people fizzle out in their thirties, rather than continue into their forties.”

The benefit of age, he says, is recognising the warning signs.

“Something flicks in my brain – it tells me if I’m thirsty, if I need protein or carbs. It’s probably been telling me that for years, but I never picked up on it.”

Growing pains

For many athletes, advancing age means slowing down, but this long-distance runner is living midlife in the fast lane

It’s said that life begins at 40.

For pro endurance athlete Adam Bowden (pictured, in blue), that would be an unfair assessment. The 39-year-old represented Team GB in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2003 European Athletics U23 Championships and the 2006 Commonwealth Games and holds the British speed record for Ironman 70.3. But as he approaches his 40th birthday in August, Bowden is planning something of a rebirth. His aim? To become “faster at 40”.

Bowden made the switch from Ironman 70.3 (the ‘half Ironman’ triathlon distance of 100km, or 70.3 miles) to marathon running last year, and won his first, October’s Newport Wales Marathon, in 2h 20m 06s – a personal best 92

at the time. In April, at the Manchester Marathon, he upped the ante, clocking 2h 17m 18s. Now, as he enters his fifth decade, Bowden has set his target as 2h 10m – a time that would put him in the top 10 of the London Marathon, or top five in New York.

“There’s definitely more in me,” says the man who hadn’t even run a marathon a year ago. But his secret isn’t some fountain of youth or Benjamin Button-esque reverse-ageing process; rather it’s a better understanding of what his

“It’s amazing what your body is capable of” Adam Bowden

Love life

body needs. “I’ve learned from hitting barriers when I was younger – not getting my nutrition right or resting as well as I should. I’ve got knowledge that can help future stars get through those barriers much quicker than me.”

Gather round, younglings…

Perhaps the biggest secret to long-lasting vitality, Bowden says, is pleasure. “In Ironman, I was getting towards the end of my enjoyment. I’ve got a family, and because it’s three different disciplines I couldn’t spare the time. So I thought, ‘Why not just drop back to running?’”

Taking the pressure off helped increase his performance: “I feel more relaxed in races, and I’ve got more in the tank.”

Stay tuned

Pace yourself

Some say the body is a temple; Bowden likens it more to a sports car in need of constant maintenance: “If you had a Ferrari, you’d be tinkering with it, cleaning it and treating it right.” When switching to marathon running, he signed up with sports nutrition specialists Precision Fuel & Hydration to create a personalised plan. “Eat and hydrate well, get the right

A race is a lot like life, says Bowden: live in the moment and take it one step at a time.

“When I was doing triathlons, the first bit I’d think about was my start off the pontoon. Once I’d dived in, I’d think about sighting the first buoy. I’d break it into segments, rather than thinking about biking 90km.

Think about all the little bits in between to achieve your goal.”

Instagram: @adamspeedytri THE RED BULLETIN

HOWARD CALVERT

Roaring forties

IAN WRAY

IMPROVE

Unsurprisingly, pain is a big indicator: “The instant your body feels it, it wants you to slow down.” But Bowden has learned a lot from pushing past the pain. “I’ve gone to some dark places during races, and that’s when you realise what your body is capable of. Focus on something else, like your foot strike. Use positive talk: ‘I’m flying!’ It’s amazing what your body can do.”

n e p p a t s r Max Ve Out now AL ORDER YOU R PERSON SAMPLE TODAY

s e o r e h / m o .c in t e ll u b d getre

VENTURE Calendar

27

23

to 24 July CASTLE HOWARD 2022 For more than 300 years, the House of Howard has held residence at this stately home. In 1952, its gates were opened to the great unwashed, and it has since been used as a location for films and TV series including Bridgerton, Brideshead Revisited, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, and even an episode of Time Team. Now, it’s a venue for the Castle Race Series – a weekend multisport festival comprising running, cycling, swimming, aquathon, duathlon, triathlon and more, plus live music, dining and wellness events. Camp on the grounds, run on the grass, pee in the lake, and maybe even win a medal. North Yorkshire; castleraceseries.com

August RED BULL CLIFF DIVING: MOSTAR In 1993, during the Croat-Bosniak War, the 16th-century hump-backed bridge that spans the river Neretva in the city of Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was destroyed by shelling. After the war, UNESCO drafted in experts to construct a replica, and in 2004 the Mostar Bridge – built using the materials and methods as the Ottomans did more than 400 years ago – was completed. The new bridge, like the original, is 20m high – ideal for cliff diving. So, every year since 2015, it has played host to this event in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. Watch it live on Red Bull TV. redbull.com

23

to 28 August BARBICAN OUTDOOR CINEMA Open-air theatre is timelessly appealing. Take the Amphitheatre of Pompeii, built around 70 BC and massively popular for its gladiatorial fights before being buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Almost two millennia later, Pink Floyd recorded their 1972 Live at Pompeii concert documentary there. Watch that piece of history filmed in a place of history in the open-air splendour of Barbican’s Sculpture Court, launching a series of outdoor screenings celebrating our connection to nature that includes Toho’s 1961 classic Mothra (pictured) and Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke (1997). Barbican, London; barbican.org.uk 94

THE RED BULLETIN

VENTURE Calendar

27

to 28 August SUMMER OF LOVE

ROMINA AMATO/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, COLIN BALDWIN, COLUMBIA PICTURE INDUSTRIES 1989, HANNAH METCALFE, GARRY JONES, ANDREW WHITTON

There have been two documented ‘Summers of Love’ in history: the first in 1967 at the height of the hippy revolution; the second in 1988 at the birth of the UK rave scene, which owes a debt to Manchester and its legendary nightclub The Haçienda.

Now, the spiritual home city of rave is getting a second Second Summer of Love as this two-day EDM festival by local promoters Animal Crossing returns to take over a warehouse district, following a hit 2021 edition.

There are also workshops on music mastering, DJ touring, spoken word and NFTs, plus a vinyl record store.

Dantzic Street, Manchester; summeroflovefestival.uk

25

to 28 August LOST VILLAGE Spending four days in backcountry woods might not sound appealing, but this forest festival is big on creature comforts. Among glades filled with derelict houses and abandoned planes, you’ll stumble across live music from Bonobo, Jamie XX, Jayda G and others; an ‘energy garden’ with yoga, massage and sound therapy; and first-rate cuisine including lakeside banquets by Hawksmoor and Kricket and two-Michelin-starred chef Rafael Cagali cooking over open flames. As in previous years, this event sold out quickly, but resale tickets will be available on its website. Nottinghamshire; lostvillagefestival.com

28 to 31 July WOMAD

Few festivals can claim to have endured as long as WOMAD (the World of Music, Arts and Dance), which is celebrating its 40th year. That said, it was lucky to reach its second anniversary. Founder Peter Gabriel, who’d left prog-rockers Genesis in 1975 for a solo career, was almost bankrupted by the festival’s debut in 1982. To recoup costs, he had to organise a one-off reunion gig with Genesis three months later. But with Macy Gray (pictured) headlining in 2019 (the last bill pre-lockdown) and The Flaming Lips this year, it’s safe to say he was onto a winner. Charlton Park, Wiltshire; womad.co.uk THE RED BULLETIN

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The Red Bulletin is published in six countries. This is the cover of our German edition for August, which features Swedish slopestyle MTB World Champion Emil Johansson.

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Head of The Red Bulletin Andreas Rottenschlager (manager), Sara Car-Varming Editor-in-Chief Andreas Wollinger Creative Directors Erik Turek (manager), Kasimir Reimann Copy Chief David Pesendorfer Art Directors Marion Bernert-Thomann, Miles English, Tara Thompson Designers Martina de Carvalho-Hutter, Kevin Faustmann-Goll, Cornelia Gleichweit Photo Editors Eva Kerschbaum (manager), Marion Batty (deputy), Susie Forman, Tahira Mirza, Rudi Übelhör Digital Editors Christian Eberle-Abasolo (manager), Lou Boyd, Marie-Maxime Dricot, Melissa Gordon, Lisa Hechenberger, Elena Rodriguez Angelina, Julian Vater, Benjamin Wolf Editor-in-Chief Global Content Tom Guise Head of Audio Florian Obkircher Managing Editors Ulrich Corazza, Marion Lukas-Wildmann Publishing Management Ivona Glibusic, Bernhard Schmied, Melissa Stutz Managing Director Stefan Ebner Head of Media Sales & Partnerships Lukas Scharmbacher Head of Co-Publishing Susanne Degn-Pfleger Editorial Director Alexander Müller-Machek Project Management Co-Publishing, B2B Marketing & Communication Katrin Sigl (manager), Katrin Dollenz, Thomas Hammerschmied, Sophia Wahl, Teresa Kronreif (B2B), Eva Pech, Valentina Pierer, Stefan Portenkirchner (communication), Jennifer Silberschneider Creative Services Verena Schörkhuber-Zöhrer (manager), Sara Wonka, Julia Bianca Zmek, Edith Zöchling-Marchart, Tanja Zimmermann Commercial Management Co-Publishing Alexandra Ita Editorial Co-Publishing Raffael Fritz (manager), Gundi Bittermann, Michael Hufnagl, Irene Olorode, Mariella Reithoffer, Wolfgang Wieser Executive Creative Director Markus Kietreiber Senior Manager Creative Elisabeth Kopanz Art Direction Commercial & Co-Publishing Peter Knehtl (manager), Erwin Edtmayer, Simone Fischer, Martina Maier, Andreea Parvu, Carina Schaittenberger, Alexandra Schendl, Julia Schinzel, Florian Solly, Dominik Uhl, Sophie Weidinger, Stephan Zenz Head of Direct to Consumer Business Peter Schiffer Direct to Consumer Business Marija Althajm, Victoria Schwärzler, Yoldaş Yarar Retail & Special Projects Manager Klaus Pleninger Advertising Manuela Brandstätter, Monika Spitaler Production Veronika Felder (manager), Martin Brandhofer, Walter O. Sádaba, Sabine Wessig Repro Clemens Ragotzky (manager), Claudia Heis, Nenad Isailović, Sandra Maiko Krutz, Josef Mühlbacher Finance Mariia Gerutska (manager), Elisabeth Maier MIT Christoph Kocsisek, Michael Thaler IT Service Desk Maximilian Auerbach Operations Alice Gafitanu, Melanie Grasserbauer, Alexander Peham, Thomas Platzer, Raphaela Pucher Assistant to General Management Sandra Artacker Project Management Dominik Debriacher Editor and CEO Andreas Kornhofer Editorial office Am Grünen Prater 3, A-1020 Vienna Phone +43 1 90221-0 Web redbulletin.com Published by Red Bull Media House GmbH, Oberst-Lepperdinger-Straße 11–15, A-5071 Wals bei Salzburg, FN 297115i, Landesgericht Salzburg, ATU63611700 Executive Directors Dkfm. Dietrich Mateschitz, Dietmar Otti, Christopher Reindl, Marcus Weber

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Semi-Rad Adventure philosophy from BRENDAN LEONARD

“In his 2008 book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do and What It Says About Us, [US journalist and author] Tom Vanderbilt tells the story of a Canadian TV news show that examined two driving strategies. During an 80-minute commute on a freeway, they had one driver avoid changing lanes, and instructed the other driver to make as many lane changes as possible. Over the 80-minute drive, the manic lane-changer saved a total of four minutes. Which makes it seem like just sitting back and being patient is probably much less stressful than the futility of frantically switching lanes.

Not unrelated: how effective is it to jump up from your seat in the back of the plane and try to get to the front as soon as it lands?” @semirad

The next issue of THE RED BULLETIN is out on September 13 98

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WIIINGS FOR YOUR SUMMER. WITH THE TASTE OF APRICOT-STRAWBERRY.

omegawatches.com

S P E E D M A S T E R M O O N WAT C H In July 1969, the Speedmaster earned its nickname when it became the first watch worn on the moon, and in 1970, it went above all expectations when it helped guide the crew of the crippled Apollo 13 mission back to safety. Updated today as a Co-Axial Master Chronometer, the iconic Moonwatch is now tested and certified at the highest level by the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS) which guarantees more accuracy, reliability and supreme resistance to magnetism.