Scotland surfs up a treat but it's f-r-r-r-eezing

There was just one catch to Jason Burnett's exhilarating surf to shore on 3.5m waves. "I got so cold running to and from the sea," the 31-year-old said after emerging from slate grey waters.

Little wonder. Burnett was braving the North Sea at Dunbar, where air temperatures fell to 2C, in a contest which organisers hope will put Scotland on the surfing map.

"Once I was in it was okay, but it was a good deal warmer in the water than it was standing on the beach," said Burnett, who won the Big Wave Challenge event at Skateraw beach.

The beach, a few miles south of Dunbar, is a strip of sand on the exposed east coast, under the shadow of Torness nuclear power station.

Organiser Sam Christopherson, 32, has a job on his hands to sell it as the next Bondi Beach, Waikiki or Piha.

But he believes the waters provide a tough, and potentially dangerous, challenge for some of the best surfers.

"The waves were about 12ft [3.5m] high and some of the most powerful in the area," he said. "The sea comes in over a rock break, so there is plenty of danger. If a competitor makes a mistake or is unlucky they could get hurt, that's why this was for experts only."

With the correct wind and sea conditions the deep waters of the bay consistently provide strong barrelling waves over the shallow inshore reef.

"My hope is to establish Dunbar as a centre for surfing in Scotland and attract many more people," said Christopherson, who runs his own training school.

"Our dream is to have a regular contest here which will attract surfers from around the world.

Burnett chipped in: "We have some of the best surfing beaches in Europe, if not the world. We were getting rides of up to 15 seconds on the waves as they came in over the reef at the entrance to the bay ... 100m rides at times. We have really good waves here, it's just that not too many people are aware of it yet."

One of the reasons the sport has found favour with a new generation of thrill-seekers is that the standard of wet suits is such that regardless of the temperature or the time of year, the surf is always up.

- INDEPENDENT