South African Surfer Paul "Chow" Sampson is on a Mission

As the waves crash on the shoreline in Muizenberg Bay, Paul "Chow" Sampson inconspicuously walks up beside me. After a hot beverage, a bagel and a brief acquaintance at a nearby café, he's now suited up and ready to show me why he is one of South Africa's premier surfers.

Surfing is a passion you wouldn't immediately associate with Sampson at first glance — a mild-mannered man with a slight frame and wide smile; one could easily mistake him for a 9-to-5 kind of fella. However, he lives life on the edge, but only when in the embrace of the monstrous sea.

A sport with a profound lore in South African history, surfing has long since been a flagbearer of the sporting potential of the continent's southernmost nation.

South Africa boasts a rich surfing heritage from the legendary Gunston 500 (later renamed the Mr. Price Pro and now the O'Neill Ballito Pro) held at Durban's Bay of Plenty since 1969 to surfing's documented presence in Muizenberg as early as 1910. It's rather poetic that it's here he learned to slide on the sea, the birthplace of his hometown's surfing tradition.

Now starring in SuperSport's Real World Champion miniseries — a campaign that looks to platform and celebrate ordinary South Africans doing extraordinary things in sport — Sampson's mentality and background story made him a no-brainer for a campaign of this profundity. But his near obsession with Poseidon's playground baffles in awe-inspiring ways, even those closest to him.

For Sampson, it's simple. "I never get bored of the beach because every time you get into the water, you surf a different wave. What motivates me is that I can go into the seas and surf," he tells OkayAfrica.

This enviable willingness to embrace change has shaped Sampson into a man unafraid of life's challenges — and he's faced many. Growing up on the streets and, for a time, living in a cave off the Muizenberg shoreline, combined with losing his mother (who worked as a car guard) at a young age, Sampson is no stranger to adversity.

His current challenge focuses on finding mental and technical balance in his craft. "It's important to balance it out," he says, as if reciting a daily mantra. "Mentally, I'm trying to get my mind more disciplined. It will be technically better if my mind is right because it's all under one banner."

While surfing is fundamentally an individual sport that might seem solitary, the community has elevated Sampson to the heights he rides today. Despite his competitive spirit, he thrives when sharing the waves with friends. "Sometimes, you have to motivate yourself, but if you have others to motivate you and want you to do well, it's a cherry on top. Many things motivate me, but the majority are the Lord and Mother Nature."

His devotion to spiritual powers and the environment that shaped him has rewarded Sampson with his most precious gift: his daughter. His face brightens whenever he mentions her, radiating pride as he describes teaching her to surf — a developing family tradition. Sampson himself was introduced to surfing by his brother as a birthday gift when he was younger.

"I never used to surf. I was a skater boy," he recalls of his beginnings. "For some reason, I didn't like the waves then. The ocean looked rough, and I wasn't used to swimming."

Ironically, he learned to surf before he learned to swim. His brother slowly integrated him by taking him to the calmer side of the beach to practice. Once he surfed his first wave, the feeling he describes as "attractive" romanced him into serenity with the sea. "I just wanted to surf. It was just in me. It's what I wanted to do from that first wave when my brother pushed me on. Over the years, I just got better and better," he explains. "I had that mindset of, 'I want to do this' and watch myself on TV, so the up-and-coming kids, who never had the opportunities I had, can also do the same thing."

That mindset is what sets Sampson apart. Many peers he grew up surfing with at Palama Metsi Surf School, run by his mentor and now manager Shafiek Khan, haven't achieved the same level of success. Khan bemoans the lack of sustainable structures within the grassroots levels of surfing. He firmly believes that numerous young Black surfers are along Cape Town's coastlines, but a critical issue impedes the country's progress in the sport.

"When it comes to transformation and development — it's not taking place here," Khan explains. "They don't have a program for kids as good as Sampson so they can get good treatment, training, and most importantly, good financial literacy."

Race remains an unavoidable aspect of the sport's landscape. Archival footage rarely, if ever, shows the presence of Black people in surfing's history. This comes as no surprise, as beaches were notoriously segregated during Apartheid, stunting the growth of the sport for Black South Africans and other people of color.

Local and international white surfers famously boycotted the South African circuit in 1985, from Australian world champion Tom Carroll to South Africa's Marin Potter surfing under the flag of the United Kingdom at other tournaments. While these efforts were commendable, according to Khan, the South African surfing community hasn't adequately addressed the more critical issue: structural reform to rectify historical injustices — moving from boycotting to building.

Uncle Shafiek, as Sampson affectionately calls him, and his most accomplished protégé have taken matters into their own hands. They've established a surf club to ensure Sampson isn't the last surfer to compete and win, as he did on Feb. 23, 2025, at the Afro Surf Tour in Ivory Coast.

The pair are determined to change the narrative and encourage more young Black men and women to embrace surfing to transform their lives. "It is really important having people who look like you at competitions because it makes you feel comfortable when you're competing abroad," Sampson notes.

Where Sampson goes from here remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: wherever his journey leads, he'll face it with his body suit, surfboard, and that characteristic wide smile as he surfs into the endless sunset.