It’s easy to associate the Von Froth brand with charging sketchy, thick barrels around the globe. Nic von Rupp is adept at heaving himself over the ledge of such waves and his friendly demeanor when sharing the tales attached to all those waves makes him an entertaining character. But sketchy doesn’t have to always be big. Gnarly things come in all shapes and sizes. As a matter of fact. Von Rupp’s latest excursion to Scotland is a prime example.
“When you think about Scotland you think about the good Scottish Scotch Whiskey, the beautiful Scottish highlands, and its freezing-cold temperatures,” Nic tells The Inertia. “But within all the elements there are some crazy good waves.”
One of those waves that is “crazy good” by Nic’s standards and “pretty damn sketchy” by all other standards is a little slab he drove out to ride near Edinburgh. He first surfed the wave on his travels a decade ago and grew an instant infatuation with it — something we can all relate to, no matter our taste.
“I was a kid back then. I had no clue what I was doing,” he says of the first encounter that broke two of his boards.”
As slabs in remote places tend to do, the charts have never lined up for von Rupp to roll the dice on a return visit. Until now. After a crash course in all things Scotch, he finally gets his redemption session at a wave that is very literally breaking over sections of dry reef. It’s not big, relatively speaking. But it’s pretty gnarly.
“Anywhere else in the world it would have been un-surfable, but with all the rubber you can take a few hits to the rocks.”
