We are so stoked to welcome Alethea Mountford to the Yonder Ambassador family. She’s been family for a long time already, but we asked if she would make it official and she said YES!

Alethea is a skateboarder. Her attitude is awesome, her commitment to skateboarding is unrivalled. She founded the Girl Skate North East community and alongside putting the North East of England on the map as a female skateboard hub she is super clever and puts those brains towards important work as an Environmental Scientist.

Alethea founded Girl Skate North East in the winter of 2018 and the community she and her friends have built is thriving. It’s awesome to see the progress and the diversity on display from these girls and the hard work and dedication that goes into it. We wanted to recognise these achievements and support Alethea with some Yonder clothing and products to skate in and wear; but also to have her input into Yonder as a brand and wider movement.

We can’t wait for Alethea to join us on some trips adding her style and contribution to our little family. We would love to help to grow her community and support her crew and her skating as well as listen to her feedback and hear her voice on our blog and social channels.

Alethea doesn’t surf as much as she should. She has joined us on camps and lessons and she is a true natural. Falling into water is obviously less intimidating when you are usually throwing yourself into concrete so she never holds back and is a total natural. We’re going to work on that…

In the early days of skateboarding, surfers were looking to emulate the feeling of sliding sideways on flat days. Skateboarding was sidewalk surfing in the beginnings, southern Californian kids looking for fun even when the ocean said no. That early style was the best and the people and scene that came out of it put a stamp on a time and place in history that will forever be revered and emulated. Skateboarding gained its own identity and its own industry and had a rapid rise (with accompanying falls) until we arrive in the place where we see it today - separate from surfing in many ways but forever intrinsically linked by the pioneers.

The culture of surfing that Yonder is interested in sits fairly far apart from the ‘industry’ norms; especially when it comes to female surfing. Competition isn’t our priority; the WSL and QS aren’t our main source of inspiration when it comes to surfing. Progression isn’t everything in our eyes. For us it’s about style, individuality, community, expression and exploration.

Surfing is a very individual pursuit - you might meet up with some friends to ‘surf together’, but really we are often surfing alone, finding our peak, sitting where we are comfortable etc. Often we see a friend paddle and disappear towards the beach, we wait to see if their heads pop up a few seconds later as they top turn or take a high line or we wait for their board to pop up in the whitewater.

Skateboarding is so often a ‘session’; its friends on the deck of a mini ramp or close to the thing you’re skating. It’s high fives and tapping your deck on the ground and it’s watching each other struggle and bail but also progress, both individually and as a community. It’s getting a trick for the first time and then working with blood, sweat and tears to get it on lock. Skateboarding, although certainly not perfect, is an industry that has learned to accept pro skateboarders are women and it has given them a platform to be themselves - in fact, it uses their personalities and individual styles to sell products rather than the sex appeal sadly too often relied upon in our industry.

Until recently, skateboarding has been a pain in societies arse. It’s been waxed ledges that people didn’t want waxed, fear of insurance claims, security guard busts, noisy, anti-social punks. It might be viewed differently to some now (post-Sky Brown, post Olympics) but to us; it will always be an inappropriate activity for adults to do. It will always be the embarrassing phone call to your adult job that you just broke your wrist skateboarding, yes, a thirty-something-woman with responsibilities. It’ll always be bruised shins, bloody ankles, destroyed shoes. Skateboarding is RAD.

We are surfers, but we absolutely recognise all that skateboarding is and wish we weren’t so scared of concrete slams meaning time out of the water to dedicate more time to it ourselves. Alethea is a good friend of ours and we have seen over the past few years how much time, energy, passion and bruises she has dedicated to her pursuit. Passion is passion, we love that. So we are glad to have our first non-surfing ambassador out there flying the flag for women to follow their passions; connect with other passionate women and turn up to professional jobs, family meals, friends kids birthday parties etc with one knackered shoe and a few nasty bruises. That is what we are all about at Yonder so welcome aboard Alethea!

Alethea Mountford - Welcome to the Family