Joining the Dots with big-wave surfer Andrew Cotton

Recorded in Don Letts’ creative bunker at the bottom of his West London garden, Joining the Dots traces the way artists, athletes, activists, and subcultures have interacted across decades and continents without even realising.

Across the course of this first season, Don sat down to talk with guests as diverse as photographer Guy Martin, skater and artist Ed Templeton, writer and journalist Hattie Collins, and emerging musician Georgia.

The world of big-wave surfing is populated by an elite coterie of high-profile athletes from all over the planet. Andrew Cotton, who sits down with Don Letts for this episode of Joining the Dots, is a humble young surfer from North Devon – an unlikely member of this rarified subculture.

‘Cotty’ shot to surf world fame in 2016 when, in front of a battery of lenses at Nazaré in Portugal, he rode one of the biggest, most spectacular waves ever documented.

When he sat down in the Letts bunker, Cotty was strapped up and healing from a broken vertebra suffered whilst plying his madcap trade and hoping to recover for the coming big-wave season. Stories were shared. Motivations were explored. Two worlds collide in a leafy backyard in West London.

Joining the Dots was produced in association with Size?. Listen to Joining the Dots on acast, Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts and be sure to subscribe to get each new episode delivered straight to your feed.