One thing was incredibly calm in this whole experience, and that was Gilly McCarthur: climber, snowboarder, now author, but most importantly, cold water swimming expert. She led the swim, encouraging everyone to slowly dip into the lake, step by step until our shoulders were under, deep breaths all round. I’m a regular cold water swimmer, but this particular swim was so cold it took my breath away.

Gilly’s calmness emanates from her when in conversation. Her soft, lilting scottish accent helps you slow down, and be in the moment, and I can imagine this has put her in good stead in many of the sports she is passionate about, as well as the cold water courses she runs with the NHS. You get the sense that she runs at life at a different pace to the rest of us.

Her route into swimming bears this out. She experienced burn out in a corporate job in America, left her job, and moved to the mountains in Chamonix. Her crossroads moment led her to learning to snowboard in her early 30’s, alongside some of the best snowboarders of the time; and learning to climb.

When she moved back to the UK, she found the climbing industry lacking in female focus and wanted to address this gap, launching ‘Trad Festival’ in the Lake District. The festival had majority female instructors at a time when the industry average was 10%, and embraced women of all ages. Tickets used to sell out within minutes, there was such demand for an environment that showed women that they belonged in this world.

Years later she suffered a series of set backs. Her daughter was still born at 40 weeks. Six months later she had a climbing accident in Utah, breaking her back and several ribs. She had moved to Cumbria to be closer to climbing, but was unable to be part of her beloved sport. Her recovery did however lead her back to wild swimming, something she grew up with as a child.

“It was barely double digits, and I stood there, and I was like, okay, I'll just give this cold water stuff a go again as an adult. And dipped my toe, and it was like, my god, this is just so hard. And there were some women on the shore beside me that sidled up to me, and they were a little bit older, and they were all wearing these really tiny swimming costumes.

And I honestly thought they were going to put goose fat on. They were they were off, and they were swimming, and they were having this amazing time. And afterwards, I went over and I chatted to them, and they explained that in these temperatures they're just going for this connection with the water, and that your body does adapt, and it gets you get used to it.

That night, I googled ‘death by hypothermia’ and ‘do pike bite?’. The next day, buoyed with this new information, I shelved the wetsuit.”

Our conversation on this week’s podcast comes at at timely moment of Gilly’s book launch, ‘The Beauty of Cold’. A photographic guide for anyone that wants to experience the joy of cold water, it is based on the belief that being out in nature and near water more broadly will bring you back to yourself. That we all need a way to block out the noise and feel more human.

Interestingly, the book almost didn’t happen. Despite having contributed to most of the top 10 swimming books for sale in recent years, when Gilly received an email from her publisher enquiring as to her interest in writing a book, she thought it was a prank, or mistake. Lucky for us, they followed up, and now we have this beautiful tome in our midst.

My favourite passage in the book perfectly expresses how I feel about the experience of cold water swimming:

“I’m swimming, surrendering, the edges of myself and the water merge. I’m at one with the water. In this moment life falls away.”

Cold water swimming is clearly a very different experience from surfing, snowboarding or skating, but there are parallels and this paragraph, for me, conveys them perfectly.

The need to simply escape and switch your brain off. The need to not do something for attainment or performance, but simply, to be. I truly believe it is why so many female surfers or skaters I know in their 40’s also seem to have a love of cold water. Feeling the power to overcome your fears is intoxicating.

Our interview covers:

• Gilly’s route into snowboarding, climbing, and cold water swimming

• Why cold water provides the ultimate reset

• The process & story behind her new book, ‘The Beauty of Cold’

• Her climbing accident and the role of cold water in her recovery

• Finding ways to be in the moment (and off screens)

• The shift from corporate America to working in board sports

• Bringing women into extreme sports

Catch it on spotify or apple podcasts, or search Board Women on your favourite podcast platform

I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think.

Caroline x

Board Women Founder

Host: Caroline Keylock

Producer: Selma Chalabi

Hannah Bailey is one of those people, and when I first started this business, her name came up again and again as someone I should interview for the podcast, initially from a mutual contact in the agency world (it turns out we both spent time at this same agency, narrowly missing each other, small world).

“I wanted to be part of working in the industry, because if I could work in that space, I could push it to other people who’d not tried [these sports], and they would get the same benefits that I found. Because I really quickly found this connection to people, to community, to nature, to outdoors, to sport. It was just so fulfilling.”

Hannah has independently carved out a pretty enviable niche in the industry, chasing down female led stories across different mediums and sports, and highlighting the people and issues that rarely get coverage. It’s led her to create films like Thrawn (featuring Lesley Mckenna) for Patagonia, Wandering with Huck, Land of Skate with Skatistan, and more recently showing at Kendal Mountain Festival, ‘A Land for Everyone’ with Lyndsey, of Neighbourhood Skate Club. The latter involved a tour of the highlands in Scotland on boards and with hiking boots.

Outside her pretty illustrious film, writing and photography career, Hannah works with Lesley to provide access to the mountains and make it feel like an accessible space for all, through the guise of ‘Wandering Workshops’.

“People feel like they don’t belong. My job is to tell them I’m a kook too. On the last one I went a bit far - we were going to hike into a glen and we were packing our packs - peopel weren’t sure if they were doing their bag right - so I said “no-one knows how to use their pack properly” and half an hour later my helmet went flying off my pack down the glen”

Hannah clearly loves mountain life in Scotland. Whether it’s trail running, snowboarding, or split boarding, she’s out there, but things have been more challenging since having kids, and like any of us who are mums, it’s a battle between doing the things that make you happy (and arguably a better mum); and feeling guilty about taking time away, from work or from family:

“I’m quite an all over the place creative. I like to dip my toe into lots of different projects all at once, and I love that. But since becoming a mum I’ve learned to compartmentalise a little bit and that’s helped me a lot. Today I need to work on this project in the time I have. Today I need to be mum and I want to have fun with her, not looking at my phone. I try to find that balance where I’m working and can be financially ok, creatively fuelled, and then I’m not working.”

I love this interview for its honesty on what it takes to be a creative in a competitive industry; for the frank discussion on feeling like an imposter, and the general upbeat nature of talking to Hannah as someone who has so much enthusiasm for her work, and life.

We cover:

• Why falling should still be fun as an adult, and we should do more of it

• Giving up a job to work in Cambodia with Tony Hawk (and him not turning up) - and how it all worked out later

• First experiences of a snowboard season in the Alps

• Opening up the industry to others, particularly women

• Documenting the women’s skate scene

• Finding your priorities as a mum (and always getting outside)

This one’s a good one! Let me know what you think & please do share if you enjoyed it.

A few bits of news before we go:

• We have our next Culture Skate event in London on Saturday June 6th - 2 hours in a private skatepark, lunch and then visiting the Southbank 50 exhibition - come join us!

• It’s episode 50 (how did that happen?) We’d love to hear from you about the podcast. Who would you love to hear from in future? What would you love us to discuss? Feel free to DM on here, or on instagram - and remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favourite platforms - Spotify here and Apple here - so you don’t miss an episode

• If you want to join our whatsapp groups for meet us - DM me on instagram. We’ve got lots going on in the south east, but we have tons of people joining from other areas of the UK, and from many different countries - so we are looking at a model with chapter leaders in different markets and locations. DM me if this is something you want to be part of.

See you next time for an interview with Gilly McArthur - cold water swimming coach and expert, snowboarder, and author of soon to be released Beauty of Cold - see you then!

Caroline x

Board Women Founder

That’s all set to change with the launch of the latest Do Lectures book, co-written by Abby and Nick, ‘Do Blue’, an uplifting guide to the power of blue, arguing (as many of us in this community would agree) that being in or near water has tremendously positive effects on our lives in a myriad of ways.

Abby isn’t a surfer, a skater or a snowboarder, and traditionally may not have found her way onto the Board Women podcast. However, she’s been instrumental in bringing women’s communities to the wave, starting the now iconic Sister Sessions, and ensuring that diversity continues to be a focus for the business with their impact strategy.

She’s also, like so many of us, a midlife woman who sought something to keep her sanity during covid, and for her dipping in cold water was the solution. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: cold water swimming is the gateway drug for so many women coming to board sports. It’s an activity that helps you realise you have the control to make your body do hard things. More on this with our interview with Gilly McCarthur in the next couple of weeks.

Abby is incredibly articulate, and just good fun, and this episode is warm, self deprecating and honest.

We cover:

• Her journey of becoming involved in The Wave, and her long-time friendship with Nick Hounsfield, The Wave’s founder

• The fractious closing of The Wave last year and how they bounced back

• Do Water and how the book came to life

• Abby’s journey into wild swimming & how it supports her day to day

• Her own connection with water & how it has helped her through grief

It’s a good one! I hope you enjoy it x

___________

Presenter: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi

I met Zoe at Kendal Mountain Festival, listening to a Yeti hosted panel that she featured on, she spoke about the balance of being someone who has always chased adventure and risk, and then has to find a way to make that work as a parent. Zoe’s take on it? ‘Disaster Style Parenting’ as evidenced by the intriguing documentary series she produced on behalf of Patagonia about her own family and how they are navigating living in the outdoors lifestyle that their base in Chamonix affords them.

I listened to her talk with great interest, not least because some of her experience marries with my own - as someone who has always loved to travel and be outdoors, and then spent 3 years travelling round the world with our first child, we are continually trying to find a way to balance our own needs with those of our kids. It’s not easy.

“I think it was just like a visceral, emotional thing, where this idea of managing risk and controlling fear felt like such an awesome process before I had kids, and then when I had kids, I was just scared all the time. I would get into these situations and be like “wow, I don’t want to be here”. It was not longer enjoyable in the way it was before”

But what really intrigued me was hearing about Zoe’s journey into skateboarding in her mid 40’s, and more recently starting snowboarding. Her comfort zone is the mountains, but it doesn’t make starting something new any easier.

Her new foray into skateboarding started from her kids skateboarding, but now her husband is in on the act, and she’s found a crew locally to share her journey with. It was so refreshing for a world-acclaimed climber and guide like Zoe to echo the same fears I hear regularly from the board women community:

“There were ups and downs for the first couple of years where you’d be able to drop in, and then the next week you couldn’t. There are proper slams in the bowl in front of like teenage boys, where you just gotta suck it up and walk away and pretend you’re totally fine. But I feel like I’ve hit a groove where I”m improving and I come back at a certain level. I don’t take a ton of risk, but I have learned some stuff and feel proud of myself.

We cover:

• Zoe’s journey into living and working in the mountains

• How she became a Patagonia ambassador

• Balancing parenting & adventure

• Women’s community and beginner skateboarding

• Learning to be kind to yourself

• Navigating ageing and feeling good about yourself

Let me know what you think! See you in a couple of weeks when we have Abby Richardson, Head of Impact and Communications for The Wave; and co-author with of the latest in the Do book series, Do Blue, talking about the power of water. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast on your favourite platform so you don’t miss out x

Have a great week all

Caroline x

Board Women Founder

A working life of creativity can feel out of reach for so many of us, the type of thing that the lucky few get to do, whilst the rest of us have ‘normal jobs’. But there is another way too, and that’s to just go out and create, and see if that can somehow become your job over time. Clare Ventham is one of those people.

I went to the premiere of ‘Hotpipe Hillbillies’ in Brighton, UK, the other week - a film about a motley crew of surfers in my local surf spot, The Hotpipes, so named because it’s next to a big industrial pipe in the sea (The Shitpipes are its second most used name). Sounds idyllic? Not so much, but it has an extremely loyal community and people come to love it. Even the conditions are often pretty poor, but the community are so grateful for a good day it somehow makes it even more magical.

The premiere really brought this sentiment to light. Filled with locals I’ve only previously glimpsed in wetsuits, the laughter and warmth in the room was very real, because the film captured these emotions about our local waves so brilliantly.

The film was followed by a panel hosted by Matt Barr, of interviewing the producer, Clare, director Stephanie Hubbard and Director of Photography Alex Boundry. The discussion quickly brought to light that this was infact Clare’s first film experience, and her traditional ‘day job’ is as a SEN teacher. I thought this was incredibly inspiring, and here we are, one podcast interview later.

Clare has clearly had a fire lit inside her since the experience (despite it being a harrowing 2 years that coincided with the team balancing their day jobs, Clare being pregnant for the second time and much more); and is keen to now translate this experience to new films and storytelling (one of which we are partnering on which is incredibly exciting).

We talk about:

• The origination for the film & how it connected her to the surf community when she couldn’t surf (she was pregnant when the plans began)

• The importance of inclusivity in the sea

• The transition from teacher to producer

• Her first surf experience (and why it was a shocker)

• Motherhood & surfing and the supportive mates who make it happen

• Hobbies like sea fishing & why surfing & fishing both provide a reset

• Having a kick ass mum as a role model

It’s a lovely interview, showing that you can pursue any creative goal you choose, as long as you’re willing to work hard at it.

I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think,

Caroline x

Board Women Founder

P.S Listen on Spotify here and Apple here

Events News:

In other news, we are hosting our next Culture Skate event on March 21st in London. We’ve run a few of these now, and they are always epic, think:

• 2 hours private hire of Hop Kingdom (no more than 15 of us)

• Tips from the amazing Sarah at YellowHat Skateboard School

• Lunch at Vinegar Yard (food cost not included)

• Exhibition tickets (we are heading to MOCO to see their contemporary exhibition)

• An amazing crew of women / non binary individuals to cheer you on for the day!

Come join us! Tickets are here, but they will go fast:

Bella epitomises that lifestyle. She is a surf photographer, producer, editor, a multi-lane creative who is now most well known for being the first female editor of Wavelength magazine. Her first issue was in February 2025, putting in six months of hard graft, an uphill learning curve for someone who hadn’t done the role of editor before. She didn’t let her lack of experience deter her from going in hard on the first issue, and she’s continued in the same vein since.

“It needs to have really strong representation of women and nature and issues. I was like, I’m not fussed about just having a magazine about people riding cool waves, that’s not interesting to me. And so I thought I was like, fudge it, I’m just going to go as deep into controversial stuff as I can. And if it doesn’t go well, and I don’t get to do the next magazine, at least I’ve got the creative license of this one.”

Supporting women in the surfing space isn’t new to Bella, she saw the issue of a lack of visibility of women at all levels of surfing early on, and she’s sought to re-address the balance through her photography and beyond (and if you take a listen to the interview, there’s a reveal about a big leap she’s made at the magazine which will become public shortly).

We talk about this inequality and much more in the interview:

• Bella’s journey into surfing & finding her people

• Getting her break into publishing

• Burning out & talking openly about mental health

• Developing boundaries as a freelance creative

• Living an unconventional life and her future plans

Bella is truly inspirational, but one of the things I like most about this interview is that she shows the counter side of the perfection that we so often see on Instagram:

“Every time someone said to me, you’re living the dream, it was like someone punched me in the stomach. Obviously that’s what it looks like on Instagram. When you’re not feeling like that, you’re just like ‘why? why does someone think I’m living the dream?’ And then you feel guilty, because you feel like you should be grateful that everyone’s allowed to be having a great life and a bad one at the same time. And so I said, you know, I’m just going to be really honest on Instagram. And every time I am honest, I get messages from other people saying ‘thanks so much for putting this up, I’m also feeling really shit about myself, and this really helped”

It’s the kind of honesty and transparency that’s pretty rare in this space, so I respect that. She also talks about the financial compromise working in creative roles in this industry involves (aren’t the most aspirational creative roles often this way?).

I hope you enjoy this one!

Caroline x

Board Women Founder

Presenter: Caroline Keylock

Producer: Selma Chalabi

Lindsey is an ex dancer, turned physiotherapist, turned part-time fashion influencer, turned full-time (very successful) fashion influencer. And then everything changed on one retreat, a retreat she’d gone on to get over a relationship ending, and a new love emerged: surfing.

I think we all recognise that feeling when we first fall in love with a board sport. It’s genuinely like meeting someone new, you can’t get enough of them, they take up your every thought, you re-organise your life around that new relationship. And so it was for Lindsey as she began to travel around the world to learn to surf in new destinations, bringing her significant instagram audience on the journey with her.

That new feeling of love with the sport ended up being the essence of her business, Marnie Rays, a surf lifestyle brand that hosts retreats all around the world, bringing women on that same journey into the sport (albeit in fairly luxurious surrounds).

“I think the collective thing that people search for is freedom. It’s like a tap out of normal life into something and into a space where they can be free and be themselves and nobody knows. you, so you can just show up exactly as you are and be accepted exactly as you are in that moment. That’s a really special thing that we don’t often get in normal life”

Everything about Lindsey looks glamorous, effortless, but what I love about this interview is that she is super self deprecating, and actually a closer look her instagram feed quickly shows that she is seeking a more realistic representation of this surfing journey so many of us find ourselves on.

We cover:

• Lindsey’s multi-lane career landing in the world of surfing

• The founding journey of Marnie Rays

• Why surfing is such a release for mid-life women

• Moving to cornwall and hosting global retreats

• The importance of positive self-talk

• Surfing and anxiety and being humbled by the ocean

I hope you enjoy this one! Let me know what you think!

____________

Producer: Selma Chalabi

Presenter: Caroline Keylock

Whilst Inessa’s films on Instagram show the beautiful waters of Hawaii, she’s actually originally from Ukraine, an unlikely surf girl destination. What feels more unlikely is that she spent 8 years in Hawaii before turning to surfing, an event that came about after she was divorced and seeking new freedoms.

Sometimes all it takes is the suggestion by a friend to try something new, and barriers that seemed to be there before disappear. Inessa wasn’t someone who grew up being active, and it was only later in life that she discovered things like hiking and cycling, which were her were the access points to thinking that she could give surfing a go.

She didn’t find it easy, but she stuck with it, describing it as ‘opening up her life’. She started a facebook group with Lisa, as a way to seek out people who were surfers in the same age bracket, and the two were surprised that it grew at pace. The group is closed, if you’re not 50 you’re not coming in, but the Instagram account @sassysilversurfers has acted as a route for surfers who aspire to be surfing in their 50’s, but who aren’t there quite yet, to find a route into the community.

Inessa is now hell bent on demonstrating that women in their 50’s and beyond an do anything they want, through the lens of the inspiring stories of the women in the community.

We cover:

• The story of Sassy Silver Surfers coming to life

• Why prioritising yourself is an essential practice

• Surfing post Divorce

• Why 50+ women are so surfing obsessed

• Belonging in the line-up

I hope you enjoy this one! Let me know what you think in the comments x

Producer: Selma Chalabi

Presenter: Caroline Keylock

The first woman to stand up paddle from coast to coast in the UK, Jo first came on the Board Women podcast two years ago, talking about how this challenge had transformed her life at a time when she needed it most. She described periods of being on the bathroom floor crying, her relationship having ended, and how paddle boarding had brought her joy, challenge and a new found confidence, which she later applied to learning to skateboard in her late 50’s.

Two years later, Jo’s coast to coast challenge has proved instrumental in changing her entire existence. She is now a 3 x author, having released two SUP guides, but more recently launching her book ‘Adventures on The Water: the Power of Paddleboarding to Change Lives’.

It’s a collection of stories from people talking about their relationship with Paddleboarding and the water more generally, and it spans from aspirational adventures like Brendon Prince navigating the entire British coastline, to Caz Dawson’s amazon expedition, to Karthy Marston’s SUP yoga classes.

Jo has also released short films, the latest one having debuted at Kendal Mountain Festival, ‘Skinny’ charting her first experience of skinny dipping outdoors, in her sixties.

Whether planned or not, Jo has become the poster child of embracing joy in later life, and a key theme to our conversation is the need for more positive stories of this chapter. The interview covers:

• The life changing influence of her adventure

• The story behind her new book

• Why taking care of yourself in menopause is essential

• The need for a more positive view of our next chapter

• Why more accessible role models are important

• Skinny Dipping in your 60’s (and being on the big screen naked)

• Finding freedom in the idea that no-one thinks about you

Jo also talks about two amazing women that we’ve been lucky enough to interview before on the show - Gemma Palmer Dighton, and Sam Metcalfe, so make sure to take a listen if you haven’t heard their interviews.

I hope you enjoy this re-visit of one of my favourite board women as much as I did. Listen on your favourite podcast platforms here for Spotify and here for iPlayer. Let me know what you think!

Caroline x

Board Women Founder

However, more recently Eliza has become known for covering her own journey into the world of skateboarding, and translating some of that analysis of gender barriers to this new space. I’ve really enjoyed following her content about visiting new parks for the first time, and highlighting some of the internal narrative we all have that can, at times, get in our way.

What I didn’t know was that there had been a blip in Eliza’s journey. She had been called out by someone who was a well known male figure in the skateboarding scene, who stitched one of her social films, and eviscerated her in the process. The content went viral, but not only did it affect her in the online space, it started to creep into the real world.

It resulted in Eliza beginning to question whether she should create this type of content at all. In some ways it positively reframed her relationship with the sport, and rather than professionalising her journey, running events and creating content, she embraced the pure joy of the journey. However, it’s clear the impact is still relatively raw, and it’s frustrating that anyone has to deal with this kind of harassment online.

We cover this (the first time she’s spoken about it online) and so much more:

• Her journey into skateboarding (and more recently surfing)

• Finding a more mindful relationship with skateboarding

• The journey of building Cheer Up Luv

• Photographic Essays with collective Transkaters London

• Developing positive self talk and your own journey of progression

Eliza is super self deprecating, but I really recommend her skateboarding content when it does appear, it’s doing a great job of breaking down barriers in this space. Her social accounts are below if you want to find out more, as are the links to listening on your platform of choice.

—--------

Host: Caroline Keylock

Producer: Selma Chalabi

Board Women

We are rewriting the narrative of what women in midlife and beyond are capable of, all through the lens of board sports (skate, surf and snow)

https://www.instagram.com/elizahatch/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/cheerupluv/?hl=en

Despite all of that, it’s her role as a vocal ambassador for women in the sport that really stands out for me. She has created events and platforms to accelerate women in snowboarding, but that focus peaked in the last year with the release of her film, ‘Butterfly in a Blizzard’.

Initially created to chart her journey into motherhood as a professional snow athlete, the film resulted in covering five years of Kimmy’s life as she navigates the birth of her first child, the death of her mother, childhood trauma that came to the fore as she embarked on motherhood herself; and later (as if this wasn’t all enough), advanced breast cancer resulting in a double mastectomy.

It’s a film that makes you question just how much one person is capable of overcoming, but what really connected with me was that it is the most honest portrayal of navigating parenting as working parents that I’ve seen on screen. Kimmy is articulate and humble, and I loved talking with her.

In this episode we cover:

• Being at the peak of her career and finding out she was pregnant

• Choosing to stand up to sponsors to ensure they supported her contractually

• Deciding to publicly portray the real story of parenthood + being a professional athlete

• The film evolving to cover more than they ever expected as a family

• Why she chose an all female crew to bring the film to life

• Navigating cancer & family & choosing to come back to snowboarding

And so much more. This one is searingly honest, and it sucker punched me more than once as it chimed with my own experiences of parenthood, I hope you enjoy it.

—--------

Host: Caroline Keylock

Producer: Selma Chalabi

Board Women

We are rewriting the narrative of what women in midlife and beyond are capable of, all through the lens of board sports (skate, surf and snow)

Find more on Kimmy here: https://www.instagram.com/kimmyfasani/

Watch the film here: https://www.butterflyinablizzard.com/

Emylia was then ‘Mimi’, the very cool girlfriend of the best friend of my boyfriend at the time, an effortless snowboarder cruising down the mountain as I struggled to deal with the flat spots on the mountain.

Fast forward to now, and reading an article in The Guardian written by Emylia Hall, author of the best-selling Cornwall based mystery series ‘The Shellhouse Detectives’, talking about the power of taking up skateboarding in your 40’s, and I realise they are one and the same person:

“As a “later skater”, what I’ve come to realise is that everything seems impossible until you try it. Every minuscule achievement, every incremental progression, feels epic, and each experience hard-won. There’s a lesson in that.” - Emylia Hall, The Guardian, June 2024

Emylia is on a strict writing schedule, having been commissioned for 7 books in the series she is writing, and skating provides a much needed escape for her brain. We haven’t written much on Board Women about the connection between skateboarding and creativity, but they are clearly intertwined.

“A lot of writing is about trying stuff and just exploring different avenues, trying different things with characters, trying things with plot, seeing what happens and when it doesn’t work, just rewriting and rewriting. I’m having to find a new way of working, and I’ve got a new routine because of that. But what that means is desk time is really intense, and so I really cherish the time that I get away from the desk, and skateboarding is absolutely my release.”

Board Sports provide that elusive escape for your brain that so many of us crave in mid life. The life jenga that we deal with on a daily basis (Mimi has a son, coaches other writers, and also runs an organisation called The Mother Ship, encouraging mothers to be writers) needs an outlet, and board sports hit the spot in a way that no other sports can.

This interview is a true ode to the wonder of skateboarding, its relationship to the creative process, and what it is to accept the status of being a beginner again in your 40’s. We cover:

• Emylia’s journey into snowboarding, and several seasons on the mountain

• Lockdown and skateboarding and being an ‘unlikely skateboarder’

• The uphill learning curve of being a beginner (and how amazing it is)

• Starting The Mothership and getting mums to believe in themselves

• Her skateboarding future & what success means now

It’s a warm, inviting hug of an interview, I hope you love this one.

Shownotes:

Host: Caroline Keylock

Producer: Selma Chalabi

“A real bucket list is that I’d love to have a cover of one of the skateboarding magazines. It’s something that’s never quite got there for me, for whatever reason. I need to do a banging trick on something cool.” - Lucy Adams

Ask anyone who their favourite figure in female skateboarding is and Lucy Adams will normally get a mention. Not just because of her history of winning competitions, and latterly her role in presenting at global skateboarding events such as the Olympics, but because of the work she has done in giving women access to the sport, and her appreciation of the cultural importance of skateboarding overall.

In her role at skateboard GB, she’s helping to entrench skateboarding as a philosophy, emphasising the connection and playfulness it offers, at a time when the world is focused on the competitive side of the sport. She’s focused on young people appreciating that their journey through the sport can be so much more than competitive achievement, especially at a formative time in their lives, given that many of the top skateboarders average out at age 14.

We’ve tried to make this podcast work for a while now, but what was fantastic about the opportunity to finally chat to local girl (she lives up the road and is originally from Horsham) Lucy, was understanding more about the challenges she’s faced as a mum alongside her love of skateboarding.

It’s challenging full stop for sports people ageing out of competition and finding their route through the sport (we saw the same challenge with Jenny Jones, olympic snowboarder, in our interview here). Add to this parenting two small people and finding the time to still get out; alongside ageing and your body not being quite as responsive as it used to be; and skateboarding (in the way you want to) becomes perennially difficult.

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Lucy is known as much for her own skateboarding prowess as she is for opening up the sport for others. Events like Push the Prom and groups like She Shredders were some of the first in the UK to really bring skateboarding to new audiences, and paved the path for the many micro-communities that exist today to bring people into the sport.

This is a conversation that makes you realise we’re all experiencing the same parenting challenges, and ageing humps, whether we are professional sports people, or not. We cover:

• How Lucy got into skateboarding (and pretending to her parents she was swimming)

• The importance of active parental role models

• Prioritising the things that give you energy as a parent

• Creating a space for women and girls to skate

• The Cultural Capital of Skateboarding

• Finding your own route to progression

Enjoy! And please do share, the more we build the audience for the podcast, the more fantastic guests like Lucy we can get on the show.

Our next episode features Emylia Hall, author of the popular Shell House Detectives series, keen skateboarder and snowboarder, talking about the importance of board sports and her creative process. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss it!

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Check out the podcast on your favourite platform of choice (Spotify, Apple), or listen via the link above.

Caroline

Board Women Founder

—-----------

Shownotes:

Host: Caroline Keylock

Producer: Selma Chalabit

Amy Scott-Pillow and Emily Jones, the founders of @weskatesoton are a living, breathing example of this truth. Since starting this female led, open to all, skateboarding community in 2021, the pair have become inseparable, often mistaken for being a couple.

One of the challenges of opening up board sports to new communities (in this case women and gender minorities), is whether to make them closed off, gated environments for that community, or whether this makes the problem worse. The @weskatesoton crew have managed to bridge this divide perfectly, creating a welcoming space, online and off, for people to embrace the fun of skateboarding, and find their own place in the culture, whatever gender, or background they are (or type of wheels they favour).

The community is now an official CIC, and they have run events like their recent exhibition and film ‘We Skate, We Vibe’, showing that skating isn’t just a sport, it’s a form of play and self-expression.

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This conversation explored so many topics from the very personal (Emily’s journey with breast cancer and going into early menopause) to the contrast between real life experiences of male skaters (always positive) and their online experiences (somewhat abhorrent).

We cover:

• How We Skate Soton came to life

• Making a Skateboarding Documentary

• Dealing with Skateboarding Trolls (positively)

• Skateboarding x Breast Cancer x Menopause

• The Wonders of The Bert Slide

• Stepping away from Instagram

And one final bit of advice from the ladies if you’re just starting out in the world of skateboarding,

“Everyone was a beginner at some point. Everyone will remember that feeling of first stepping on a board and being like, oh my god, what am I doing? I'm stepping on a plank of wood with wheels on. What is this?”

Check out the podcast on your favourite platform of choice (Spotify, Apple), or listen via the link above. And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss any episodes! Appreciative of your support as ever, I hope you enjoy it.

Caroline x

Board Women Founder

Subscribe now

—--------------

Shownotes:

Host: Caroline Keylock

Producer: Selma Chalabit

“Lines, wrinkles and grey hair are just signs of the great journey already lived. The rest is exciting and still to come” - Sam Metcalfe

Sam was actually one of the first people I wanted to interview for the Board Women podcast. I discovered her via her surfing account @surfin.sam. One of her sons had made a beautiful drone shot film of her surfing, on endless waves in the North of England. In all honesty I hadn’t seen many grey haired, female surfers on film, and she was so graceful I wanted to hear her story.

I reached out, got a kind, but definite, “thanks, but not thanks” and I left it there. But, I continued to follow Sam’s progress as she started to skateboard alongside surfing, building up a following on @justolderskate.sam. We continued to celebrate each others mini successes online as we progressed in our sports, and after much nudging, she eventually agreed.

I LOVED this chat. Not just because of Sams stories of growing up with her Dad getting them in the sea in all conditions, and giving her the kind of freedom to explore and challenge herself that I hope to give my own kids. But also because despite her having quite a public journey of learning surfing and skating, there is just so much I didn’t know about her background.

The most surprising? That Sam was the UK windsurfing champion for 8 years in her 30’s. And competed in the world championships - an astonishing fact that came out in our conversation.

These sports have clearly played a significant role (as they do for many) in Sam overcoming significant challenges. Her son going through illness, her mum dying (she names ever board after her).

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The thing that is incredibly infectious about speaking to Sam is her pure gratitude for being able to do these sports later in life. So many of us get caught up with progression, with looking to others and their journey, but you can tell that Sam is grateful for even being able to try. (Although she’s not immune to this behaviour, her favourite phrase currently is ‘comparison is the thief of joy).

Her relationship with her boys is at the heart of this gratitude. She surfs with them, she skates with them, they are each others cheerleaders and it’s a special bond that shines through every piece of content she posts.

You might assume that Sam is just a natural at these sports, but that’s not how Sam explains it at all. She talks about the struggle to learn to pop up, but she was just determined, and her kids spurred her on.

Humble, and yet focused and determined to achieve the goals she sets herself, Sam is one aspirational woman. This is one not to miss, and there’s plenty of Northern humour thrown in. 

We cover:

• Sam’s love of the outdoors and adventure instilled by her dad. 

• Her younger days as a wind surfer, and becoming a champion.

• Taking up surfing and skating in later life, and sharing the passion with her sons. 

• The story of the mini ramp in the garden.

• “Mad woman of Saltburn” - skating round her home town at 5am when she was first learning.

• Finding her “fountain of youth”.

Enjoy! Next up we have our panel ‘Finding the joy’ that we held for Mental Health Awareness Week. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss out x

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This event was recorded on zoom and took place on Thursday 27 March 2025. It included a stellar line up of women to talk all things injury: how it affects you, how to come back from it physically, emotionally and mentally:

Emily from @moceanfit: online training & wellness for women learning board sports in 30's and beyond

Danni Unway aka @surfconfidencecoach: Danni helps people feel more confidence and joy in surfing & come back from trauma

Shannon Dunlap aka @skaterlifeisrad: mum, massage therapist, nurse on a mission to practice and promote safety while learning to skateboard, especially while ageing

Annika Rudolph aka @annikarudolph: team rider for Crown Boards, ambassador for Long Board Girls crew, based Germany

Lizzie Bird aka @lizziebirdmoves: osteopath, author of MOVES, surfer and paddle boarder

Join the Board Women movement:

boardwomen.co

@boardwomen

weareboardwomen.substack.com

Host: Caroline Keylock

Producer: Selma Chalabi

Photography - Clare Keylock

Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli 

Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get full access to Board Women at weareboardwomen.substack.com/subscribe

Elegant, poised, flowing, purposeful in our action. For me that bears no resemblance to the reality of my surfing expertise. I quite literally dream of what it would be like to have Sally’s grace on a board.

You have guests that you just hope will say yes to doing a podcast interview. Sally was one of mine, and I won’t lie, it’s taken us a while to make this work! But, we finally did, and this episode is one of my favourites (and therefore runs a little bit longer than our traditional format, but I’m confident you won’t think it’s an issue).

The time it’s taken to bring this interview to life has given me the opportunity to better understand what Sally has been trying to do with Yonder, the iconic surf community and school she founded with her partner, based in the North East of England. You only have to read Tom’s account on their website of Sally and her drive to understand that everything about this business and their life is a family affair, an organisation forged in deeply held principles and an attitude that they hold dear in everything they do.

What really struck me in the interview is that whilst Sally has a clear goal of getting more women into the lineup, this isn’t just about access. It’s about a fully rounded approach to teaching someone to surf, ensuring that they aren’t just getting up on a board (the approach of many surf schools), they are ingrained in the culture, the knowledge, the etiquette that ensures they have a real place out back and can hold their own once there.

“If I was ever going to go alone and set something up, it would be providing holistic, rounded surfing to really get women and show them a different path into surfing properly. There weren’t any women in the local community. It was about inclusivity, but I hadn’t seen what we do at Yonder anywhere before”

Whether it’s Sally’s background working with The Red Cross and The British Refugee Council, or whether it’s just that she has an incredibly detailed, thoughtful approach to the things she does, this is all about the layers that are preventing access. From the moments where women lose their confidence and connection with themselves and the sea (she’s dug into motherhood as a barrier), or the knowledge and expertise to getting out back, to the more personal connections and community she helps to forge once they are there. She’s systematically peeling away the barriers that women face, a business wrapped in a beautiful, aspirational brand that pulls people in far beyond those she teaches directly.

She shows such respect for the surfing community and how it works, again something far removed from many of the surf schools I’ve encountered around the globe, where it’s a pile them in, get them up, forget them, approach.

“It’s a sensitive, ongoing, existing ecosystem that is already there. If people want to actually develop their surfing, they’re going to have to exist and work in that sensitive ecosystem”

Sally and Tom have become creative collaborators, producing epic short films that not only show the kind of surfing that most of us can only dream of, they also show an ethos they have to family, to travel, to bringing women together.

I remember going to watch Out of Step with my husband at the Finisterre (she’s an ambassador) store in Brighton. We have long been travellers, and took our son round the world for almost 3 years when he was six months old, and did the same when my daughter was a similar age (only to be grounded by Covid, sadly). The film documents Sally and Tom taking Billy out of school for 6 weeks during the winter (now an annual event). Living simply from their car, surfing as they travel the expanse of a country, embracing spontaneity and family time alongside the waves.

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We came out of the shop, grabbed a drink, and plotted to sell our belongings and live in a van for evermore. These films carry emotion and hark back to a simpler time, one that I personally yearn for.

All to say, this is a great episode. We cover Sally’s drive to start Yonder, why motherhood is an overlooked barrier to women in surf, her journey in learning to skateboard and what holds her back, and why we wish kids could have more freedom in the UK.

Give it a listen and let me know what you think x

If you don’t want to miss an episode of Board Women, and you want to catch up on all the archive episodes, remember to subscribe to this substack. And if you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll get access to our monthly virtual events exploring life issues through the lens of board sports. Our last one was on coming back from injury, which you can find here.

Our next event is on the 15th May for Mental Health Awareness week, focused on board sports x mental maintenance. Tickets here, free access for paid subscribers (DM for your code)

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“I don’t think people ever ask themselves where there aren’t women in the lineup….it’s a huge conversation that really doesn’t get talked about.”

Sally works hard to explore and combat the issues that keep women out of the sea, including the drop off during motherhood, and she’s helping to build a strong and inclusive surf community in the North East where she’s based. 

Episode highlights

• The importance of learning how to fall safely.

• Yonder - not just an inclusive surf school. The whole approach is different. “We’ve created a blueprint for that kind of service.”

• Giving women the confidence, skills and knowledge to be an integral part of the surf community. 

• Exploring why women stop surfing after motherhood, and how to combat this trend - including finding time, loss of confidence, and the urge to want to be good straightaway. 

• The differences between the skateboarding and surfing communities.

• Coming back from two major injuries - a snapped arm and a lisfranc injury. 

• Keeping life simple - or trying to!

More about Sally:

@sallymcgeesurf

@surfyonder

surfyonder.com

@tombingphoto

Join the Board Women movement:

boardwomen.co

@boardwomen

weareboardwomen.substack.com

Host: Caroline Keylock

Producer: Selma Chalabi

Photography - Clare Keylock

Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli 

Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get full access to Board Women at weareboardwomen.substack.com/subscribe

War orphan, skater, academic, campaigner for inclusivity in skateboarding and founder of Respect is Rad, Indigo brings so much to the skating space. 

There’s a lot to talk about in this episode, so grab a cuppa and settle in. 

Episode highlights

• Falling in a bowl jam.

• Indigo’s journey in to skate boarding in her 40s - learning with men.

• Dismantling gates and opening up the world of skate boarding.

• Staying punk through skateboarding - “I’d rather carry a skateboard than a briefcase”.

• Bringing the world of skateboarding in to a university setting.

• The inspiration behind Respect is Rad

• Celebrating progress as older women in skateboarding - staying authentic.

More about Indigo:

@goodwillhunting

@respectisrad

People and groups mentioned in this episode:

Esther Sayers

skateistan.org

Festival Connect

Join the Board Women movement:

boardwomen.co

@boardwomen

Host: Caroline Keylock

Producer: Selma Chalabi

Photography - Clare Keylock

Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli 

Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get full access to Board Women at weareboardwomen.substack.com/subscribe

I wanted that. I had started skateboarding that year, had never really heard of longboarding, and most definitely had not heard of longboard dancing. I love dancing, but I wouldn’t describe myself as someone who looks effortless doing it, more lively, smiley (previously, drunk).

In the guise of this new version of myself that I was painting since discovering skateboarding at 45, I booked myself onto one of Valeriya’s weekend courses with The Longboard Camp. It felt firmly out of my comfort zone, but also like somehow I was booking some joy into my life (if that’s a thing you can buy).

A whatsapp group was set up before the camp, and weirdly I recognised the details of a woman who I knew via a friend and lived up the road from me on the group. Gill and I had both independently booked on the weekend, and so it was lovely to see a familiar face. I needn’t have worried about being solo though, it was a lovely group of women & one guy, who turned out to be the group entertainer (for anyone who was on it, I don’t think we will forget Angelo’s speech on situationships for us all).

It was a flurried weekend of brilliant food, an intensive bootcamp of the basics of longboard dancing from Valeriya and Axel Massin (French Longboard Dancing Champion and Videographer). It was fun and silly and challenging. I was not graceful, but joy was absolutely had, in abundance.

These camps are always filled with people in transition. Seeking time out from the day to day to work things out, to find pockets of themselves that have been locked away, undiscovered. Myself included. I loved it so much that I booked on another one of their trips, this time a full week away in a slightly more luxurious location on the beach at Feel Viana, north of Viana do Castelo in Northern Portugal. Mornings longboard dancing, afternoons surfing, and time inbetween wandering between the pine trees that separated the hotel from the beach.

We were there for my friend Gill’s 50th birthday this time, and sadly she had an ankle break while there, but we still found time to appreciate our surroundings and our time out from normal life. Holding space for these moments, for these transitions, and people’e emotions is a tough gig when you’ve set up a camp for people to learn a new skill, but it’s an inevitable part of it.

When I started Board Women I knew I wanted Valeriya to be part of it. She has a calm energy that is enticing when she talks about the world of board sports, an introspection about what life means and leaning into the quiet spaces of our existence. This is a lovely chat, and although my podcasting skills are probably a little bit rough round the edges at this early stage, I still look back on it really fondly as I found my feet, metaphorically and physically in this new world of boardsports.

We talk about:

• Learning that it’s ok to fall

• That you’re never too old to start

• Burning out and finding balance again

• Skating as a way to find flow and self expression

• Welcoming insecurity & lack of confidence

I hope you enjoy it and for those who have joined the podcast in later episodes, that you go back and give this one a listen!

Caroline x

Board Women Founder

____________________________

All of the podcasts are free to listen to, and you can also find them on Spotify, Apple or your favourite podcast provider. You’ll also get a free weekly ‘The Board List’ giving you an update on what to see, read and do each week.

However, if you subscribe, you also get:

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And it’s the cost of a quick lunch in Pret a month, at £7.50, keeping the podcast advert free and building this brilliant global community of women who are changing the narrative of mid life and beyond, through the lens of board sports. We’d love to have you join us x

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