Photography by Andy Holter

The Surfaced Pro, now into its second year of competition, champions the cause of equality among its competitors with both male and female participants receiving equal prize winnings. Instigated by students at Cornwall College Newquay, who plan and implement the event as part of both the Surf Science & Technology & Marine Sports Science degree programs, welcomes in a new era in professional surfing and further changes the traditional norm by having each surfer’s highest wave score doubled, awarding powerful, impressive wave scores over an accumulation of “safe” rides.

The Surfaced Pro is also the first stop on the new Nerf Clash of The Groms Tour, which covers 4 exciting events on the UK Pro Surf circuit, making stops at Watergate Bay, The UK Schools Surf Championships, The Thurso Surf and The Clash of The Groms finale, giving our new generations of surfing talent an important pathway to hone their competitive skills and promote fresh talent across the UK.

Day: 1 of competition saw large crowds gather enticed by the solar warmth to watch our junior surfers progress through their preliminary rounds with notable surfing talent naturally emerging as our victors, super grom Gabe Llewellyn demonstrated his growing level of skill & energy passing through the first rounds of the Under 12 Open with style. Bude’s Ellie Turner, having returned from the Biarritz ISA World Games & finishing 2nd on the Ripcurl International Grom Search placed her new tour experience to work trumping early rounds in the Under 16 & Under 18 Girls divisions

In a heavy-heated first round of the Men’s Open saw top surfers Alan Stokes & Johnny Fryer matched in their heat, surfing head to head in a charge for an early first place with Johnny taking the heat just 3 points ahead of Stokesy & New Zealand’s Jay Quinn made an impressive entry into our UK competition scoring big in his round: 1 heat.

With a total of 6 heats in this Men’s Open first round, more renowned names ascended the ladder with Gordon Fontaine, Reubyn Ash, Jayce Robinson, Liam Murray-Strout and Joss ash all joining the lists for the title.

The 2nd day launched immediately into the exciting semi-finals of the junior divisions with Seth Morris scoring our first Highest wave achievement of the event with a 9.5 point wave (one judge awarding a 10) in his Under 16 Boys semi-final heat.

Round: 1 of the Women’s category saw Jess Tuckman and Ellie Turner progress through to the next round alongside Emily Williams, Georgina Lewtas, Tehillah McGuinness & Emily Currie. In his Men’s Open Round: 2 heat, Reubyn Ash succeeded in smashing the highest wave score for the entire event, scoring a lofty 9.93 wave.

The sun returned for our climatic finals & the waves peeled in a myriad of greens & blues in front of the crowds, with Nerf darts & Personnel Solutions frisbees decorating the skies as our The Surfaced Pro finalists took to the water.
Early smiles were seen from our Nerf clash of the Groms competitors as our commentator Nick Williams gleefully roused the crowd’s cheers as our winners returned from their aquatic stadium. The tempo rose as our heats climbed in surfing stature through the stylistic performance of our female competitors and grew to a roaring applause as we finished on the ultimate event of the Men’s Open.

Presentations on the beach were the call for the day, basking in the beautiful evening sun and young competitors just as eager for their gifted Nerf guns as the titles themselves clambered around the staging ground. Following a respectable minute’s silence for recent events further afield, UKPSA Director Dave Reed, Matthew Sherratt from Personnel Solutions & Cornwall College’s Brender Wilmott awarded our Contestants their prizes and crowned our Personnel Solutions Surfaced Pro & Nerf Clash of The Groms’ Champions.

We would like to Thank our fantastic event sponsors for their support and we look forward to seeing you all at the Smart Parking Night Surf 2017

Results:

Under 12 Open
1st: Gabe Llewellyn
2nd: Nikita Petrov
3rd: Eli Perrins Davies
4th: Flynn Gillespie

Under 14 Girls
1st: Lauren Sandland
2nd: Asha Sykes
3rd: Tegan Blackford
4th: Alys Barton

Under 14 Boys
1st: Sam Hearn
2nd: Alex Townsend
3rd: Bertie Norman
4th: Jake Arrowsmith

Under 16 Girls
1st: Ellie Turner
2nd: Lily Mandeville
3rd: Tegan Blackford
4th: Ffion Hughes
5th: Alys Barton

Under 16 Boys
1st: Noah Capps
2nd: Barnaby Cox
3rd: Seth Morris
4th: Max Hudson

Under 18 Girls
1st: Ellie Turner
2nd: Mischa Maguire
3rd: Lily Mandeville
4th: Rosie O’Neill

Under 18 Boys
1st: Seth Morris
2nd: Kit Innes
3rd: Noah Anstis
4th: Kam Matthews
5th: Barnaby Cox

Women’s
1st: Ellie Turner
2nd: Emily Currie
3rd: Tehillah McGuinness
4th: Georgina Lewtas

Men’s Open
1st: Jobe Harriss
2nd: Jay Quinn
3rd: Jayce Robinson
4th: Reubyn Ash