Richard Friar

Richard Friar, known as Ric, is an English-Australian big wave surfer, artist, peace activist, film-maker and horticulturist. He is considered a pioneer of 1960s big wave surfing: in 1966 he was among the first to surf the Cribbar off Towan Head in the United Kingdom, alongside Peter Russell, John McIlroy and the American Jack Lydgate, during that year's Great September Swell. In 2013 he contacted locals in Newquay with plans to reunite the 1966 Cribbar surfers for a monument and a celebration of British surfing in 2016, and with his partner Wendy Harper he has announced an International Surfing Pilgrim's Trail and a global sustainability project called 1GiantWave. Away from the water he is known as a pioneer of commercial hemp cultivation in Australia, and he and Harper make short films and artworks together.