Heart of the Nation: Central Coast 2260
Central Coast surfer Sam Boughton tells us what it’s like to catch the perfect wave ... and have it captured by a legendary photographer.
It was Sam Boughton’s moment of surfing glory. All the conditions had aligned at his local break on NSW’s Central Coast: a six-foot swell, perfect winds, bright blue sky overhead. The best wave of the day came through and Boughton paddled excitedly to catch it. “It was a really heavy wave and I didn’t think I’d even make the drop,” he recalls. But he managed to stay on his feet, and as the wave barrelled he found the sweet spot and rode it to the end. Best feeling ever. Renowned surf photographer Tony “Harro” Harrington was even there to record it. The photo appears in his new coffee table book Defining Moments (it had better be a robust coffee table: the book runs to 1,352 pages and weighs 10 kilos) and also features in the Flotsam Surf Film & Photography Festival, which runs on the Gold Coast until May 14. So: Sam Boughton’s moment of surfing glory, captured for eternity. Too bad about one tiny detail. “That ridiculous hat,” Boughton groans, laughing.
The 33-year-old grew up at North Avoca on the Central Coast, surfing with his Dad from the age of ten, and these days works as a physiotherapist in ER at Gosford Hospital, dealing with broken bones and dislocated joints and the like. Boughton stood as Labor candidate for the seat of Terrigal at the 2023 state election, hoping to wrest it from the Liberals (close but no cigar), but any political ambitions are on hold right now for the happiest of reasons: five weeks ago he and his wife Katie welcomed their first child, a daughter named Cora.
The wave was a couple of years ago now but he still remembers it vividly. (He had caught a bit of sun in the few days prior, hence the hat; he’d pushed up the brim in order to get a clear view of where the lip of the wave was breaking.) Boughton has always had a special place in his heart for surfing. “Many of the best moments of my life have been in the ocean,” he says, and this was one of them. “Chasing that feeling ... it’s why we do it.”
Tony Harrington’s Defining Momentshttps://harroart.com/pages/shop
Flotsam Film & Photography Festivalhttps://flotsamfestival.com.au/
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