Inspirational Islanders: Nigel and Boe Howell

Family connections: Every year at Wightlink we support a number of sporting teams and organisations with discounted travel, amongst which are some sporting families! We caught up with father and daughter, Nigel and Boe Howell, to discover their favourite Island places.

Nigel has competed all over the world in watersports including on the PWA Windsurfing World Tour for many years becoming National Champion, World Cup event champion; and also the Kitesurfing National Champion. For many years he ran the famous White Air Extreme Sports Festival – an amazing event featuring multiple adventure and extreme sports both on and off the water. Nigel can now often be seen at surfing events alongside his daughter Boe who is part of the Surfing England team.

Now 17 years old, Boe has been surfing since she was six and has travelled to some of the world’s top surfing venues to train and compete. She is a member of the Surfing England Team and in December 2023 travelled to Brazil to compete in the World Junior Surfing Championships in Rio. Boe lives on the Isle of Wight but trains wherever the waves are best, training with the England Team in Cornwall, Devon and abroad.

The options that the Isle of Wight offers for water sports, with lots of beaches and harbours within easy reach of each other, make it the ideal place to live. Being an Island, you can find the wind and surf conditions that you want simply by driving a few miles, rather than long-distance drives required on the mainland. There are perhaps fewer work opportunities than in more urban areas, but the lifestyle and outdoor sports access are really why we live here.

Between surfing with my daughter Boe, who competes for England, the various wind-based water sports and other activities we do as a family (my wife Sarah competes in the Premier Pickleball League and has recently been crowned National Champion 2024 in the mixed doubles) we are always involved in something that requires ferry travel! We travel a lot, but wherever you live it will be the same… the difference being that the Isle of Wight is an amazing place to return to after each trip.

Nothing changes and everything seems to stand still… it’s like going back in time!

My favourite beaches are the west side surf beaches as they offer better conditions for wind sports and surfing. Most of my time is spent along the west and south coast between Freshwater Bay and Niton.

If you want to stretch your legs, it’s hard to beat a walk up over Tennyson Down to the monument. It’s got stunning views overlooking the west coast, Freshwater Bay, Yarmouth and The Needles, all the way over to the mainland. A really impressive sight on a clear day.

The Isle of Wight is blessed with lots of beautiful places, but my home town of Yarmouth is my favourite. It’s such a beautiful harbour town, close to the surf beaches, quick access to the mainland, and gets the long evenings with the sunsets.

Sponsorship from Wightlink makes a huge difference to us. It simply wouldn’t be possible to take the sports to other levels without it. All the training, the Surfing England Team events; and all the other events are on the mainland, so I am constantly travelling. Getting to mainland events when you live on an Island and have to get the ferry isn’t easy, but without the sponsorship it simply couldn’t happen.

The Isle of Wight is one of the most unique places in England as it’s an Island, it’s super pretty all year round with really nice beaches on every side of it, and overall just a great place to live.

All the Island’s beaches are really nice, but my favourite is probably Freshwater Bay as it gets great surf and has an insane water colour and really cool cliffs.

I agree with Dad. I’d definitely recommend a walk over the downs because of the incredible views!

As for my favourite places one the Isle of Wight, I like Ventnor and Yarmouth as they’re really pretty towns, but other than that, pretty much just any of the beaches in the West Wight!

Wightlink’s sponsorship makes it possible for me to go to competitions and surf more than I’d ever normally be able to. Being sponsored has seriously changed my life and I couldn’t appreciate it more.

ℹ️ To find out more, visit our Community Sponsorship pages or stay updated on Facebook.