For us here, in our little corner of merry old Blighty, winter has come to an end.

Whilst El Nino raged on the other side of the world, the Atlantic too has been quietly delivering a succession of storms and groundswells, lighting up sheltered corners all over our coast line. As ever the winter was wet and wild and despite the constant stream of perfect warm barrels that appeared daily on our screens, many still found the motivation to pull on all that neoprene and venture out amongst the weather to our own unique and varied coastline. And for those that searched hardest and abandoned the most plans they’d promised to keep, there were some truely magical moments to be had. Here is a selection:

All photos by Luke Gartside // @lugarts