REVOLUTION & REFRIGERATORS

In Cuba, most people don’t know what surfing is. More of a problem, it’s not technically legal.

When the Cold War came to an end in the early ‘90s, all economic support for the communist island in the Caribbean evaporated as the Soviet Bloc crumbled. With the US embargo still in full swing, many Cubans were left starving and desperate. A mass exodus began via all forms of watercraft, ranging from car tyres to leaky tin rafts, prompting the government to effectively ban people from using the coastline.

Around the same time, it turns out, a few young Cubans had begun experimenting with their own form of wave riding after seeing snippets of surf films and the odd surf magazine smuggled