East London's least likely surf scene, 1991–1992

Founded by three friends who'd just come back from a summer in Newquay and decided the canal was "basically the same, if you squint." Hackney Surf Club ran one season of dawn paddle-outs on the Regent's Canal before the local council pointed out that surfing was, in fact, banned on the canal, had always been banned on the canal, and would continue to be banned on the canal. The club's single board — hand-painted, never wet past the ankle — now hangs in a pub in Dalston.