NIGHT SURF: GROMMETS ON THE RISE IN THE OPENING EVENT OF THE UK PRO SURF TOUR SEASON

NIGHT SURF: GROMMETS ON THE RISE IN THE OPENING EVENT OF THE UK PRO SURF TOUR SEASON

Reubyn Ash, Men’s Open winner. Photo @sharpysurf

UKPST NIGHT SURF PRESENTED BY FISTRAL BEACH SURF SCHOOL

Night Surf events are a rare beast in the surf world. Mainly because they take a lot of effort to put on and all those lights cost money to rent. We’re lucky enough to have one of the only two in the world. This year’s event timing meant it wasn’t that dark for that long, because summer and the weather was apocalyptic the first evening. Those hardy souls that survived the torrential rain and high winds of Friday evening were blessed with a fresh but sunny evening for the Saturday and a wild, woolly yet contestable North Fistral.

Lauren Sandland, winner of EVERYTHING, well U14 and U18 and Open finalist… Photo @sharpysurf

The main takeaway from the event was the charging youth. 13-year old Lauren Sandland, from Newquay, competed in all three female divisions, won the U18s, the U14s and made the final of the Women’s Open, where she placed fourth, probably due to surfing so many times. Impressive work none the less, a name to watch out for in the future.

Lauren on a rail. Photo @sharpysurf

It’s the kids that beat their elders that are a sign of greatness to come. Two other folks that slew their elder peers as groms were Reubyn Ash, winner of the Open, and Russ Winter, back in a rash vest after a few years off and proving there’s still plenty of life in the old rogue; he made the final.

Lukas spinning to win in the U14 final. Photo @sharpysurf

Lukas Skinner has a pedigree, what with dad being Skindog, and the 11-year old fresh from our Maldive’s trip won the U14s and made the final of the U18s, which was won by Stan Norman.

Lukas Skinner finding out he won the U14 title. Photo @sharpysurf

So the groms are charging as are Bude folks with Reubs, Stan and Women’s Open winner Ellie Turner all hailing from the North Cornwall hotspot.

Next up in contest land is Boardmasters where our hometown heroes will take on the up and coming best from the rest of the world. Fingers crossed Mama Nature delivers some perfect conditions.

Ellie Turner, Women’s Open champ. Photo @sharpysurf

MEN’S OPEN
1. Reubyn Ash
2. Jayce Robinson
3. Joss Ash
4. Russell Winter

WOMEN’S OPEN
1. Ellie Turner
2. Peony Knight
3. Emily Currie
4. Lauren Sandland

U18 BOYS
1. Stanley Norman
2. Noah Capps
3. Barnaby Cox
4. Lukas Skinner

U18 GIRLS
1. Lauren Sandland
2. Alys Barton
3. Francesca Sayer
4. Lily Mandeville

U14 BOYS
1. Lukas Skinner
2. Fynn Gillespie
3. Otis Perry
4. Eli Perrin Davies

U14 GIRLS
1. Lauren Sandland
2. Belle Betteridge
3. Tegan Blackford
4. Megan Webb

Stan Norman, U18 winner and his new hair colour… Photo @sharpysurf

Red Bull’s Cape Fear goes down in thumping Shipsterns Bluff…

Red Bull’s Cape Fear goes down in thumping Shipsterns Bluff…


Nate Florence wins Cape Fear on his second ever visit to the Tassie, see the replay of the event HERE… More info to come as we get it.


British Championships

Britain’s best surfers have just gathered at a blustery Fistral Beach in Newquay, Cornwall this weekend to compete at the 2018 British Surfing Championships & British Cup of Surfing. Elite surfers from England, Wales, Scotland and the Channel Islands took to the waves for a day of intense competition, all in the search of individual and team national surfing titles.
The road to being a part of the historic event has been a long one for some surfers, with qualification being made at respective home nation championships earlier on in the year, giving time for the surfers to focus and prepare. A new format for the event was established with England hosting the event in 2018, as it now begins an annual rotation between the home nations.

Contest organisers at Surfing England knew they had a small window of opportunity to run the event and competition was fierce from the word go, with 20 minute heats running back to back from 8:30am to 5pm as surfers progressed from quarterfinals and aimed for the coveted podium positions. Mirroring the format of the World Championships the surfers also earned team points for their home nation as the event saw the return of the British Cup of Surfing trophy.

There was impressive surfing from all, including some of the surfers who had just returned from representing Great Britain at the World Championships in Japan. With a growing swell and rising tide it, the scores continued to drop live to the surfers and the beach and even across the web thanks to an innovative new live scoring system. Surfers would emerge from the water knowing whether their dreams of winning were alive or if it was the end of the road.

The stage was set for some electrifying finals, the tide was high and the waves were powerful as Britain’s best showed what they were made of. Reubyn Ash put on an aerial display of the highest calibre and won the Go Pro move of the event. First of the finals saw Channel Island’s Kitty Brewer win the Roxy Under 18 Girls title, swiftly followed by England’s Seth Morris winning the Quiksilver Under 18 Boys. Next up was the Roxy Women’s division in which England’s Lucy Campbell was victorious, then the Quiksilver Men’s final to finish the event saw Wales’ Jay Quinn become British champion. In the British Cup of Surfing, Team England were victorious on home soil with Wales finishing second, Channel Islands in third and Scotland in fourth.

For the full results please see below and for all wave scores from throughout the competition head to www.liveheats.com/surfingengland

Quiksilver Men’s Division
1 Jay Quinn 2 Luke Dillon 3 Reubyn Ash 4 Miles Lee-Hargreaves

Roxy Women’s Division
1 Lucy Campbell 2 Emily Williams 3 Emily Currie 4 Tassy Swallow

Quiksilver Boys Division
1 Seth Morris 2 Patrick Langdon Dark 3 Finn Collins 4 Kamron Matthews

Roxy Girls Division
1 Kitty Brewer 2 Amy Dyer 3 Lily Pierce 4 Claudia Cosgrove

British Cup of Surfing
1 England 2 Wales 3 Channel Islands 4 Scotland

Surfing England wish to extend a huge thank you to the sponsors of the event, with Korev Lager as headline partner and major supporter, as well as The Caravan and Motorhome Club as supporting sponsor. All event partners: Korev Lager – Caravan and Motorhome Club – Quiksilver – Roxy – The Wave – Surfdome – Jeep – Stance – Hippeas – Pukka Herbs – Go Pro – Jolly Brown – Dryrobe – Pacsafe – O’neill. A big thanks also to our fellow home nation surfing bodies who’ve come together to secure the events future, the Channel Island’s will host the 2019 British Surfing Championship and British Cup of Surfing.

10th JESUS LONGBOARD CLASSIC

7 – 8 OCTOBER, POLZEATH

Organisers at Christian Surfers UK are very excited to confirm the dates and details of the 10th anniversary Jesus Longboard Classic, which will be held over the weekend of October 7-8th at its usual venue of Tubestation and using the beach at Polzeath.

It’s a great contest for both those who have not entered a competition before and those seasoned contest surfers. The Jesus Longboard Classic has a well-deserved reputation for its friendly atmosphere and relaxed vibe, as well as the later rounds being highly competitive.

The event has always attracted some of the top longboard surfers in the UK, with previous winners including Ben Skinner, Ben Howarth, Ben Howey and Emily Currie.

Due to the ongoing popularity of the event entries are limited, so for all those keen to enter we would advise surfers to get their entries in as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. The portal is now open, just follow the link www.christiansurfers.co.uk/register/jlc

REGISTER HERE

All the various elements that go along with this contest, the great vibe, hospitality in the Tubestation and exciting surfing will all be there again, and perhaps a few extra surprises.
With the Jesus Surf Classic growing every year Christian Surfers took the decision 10 years ago to give the Longboard community their own dedicated event. This was done to enlarge the entry numbers and increase the number of categories being contested and also to give the competitive longboard community a more focused stage to highlight the progression of UK longboarding.

The Jesus Longboard Classic has, for the first time in its history, added a Legends category (due to popular demand) for those aged 60 and above, and this will be restricted to a maximum of eight surfers – first-come first-served. In addition, we will also be holding the following categories: Grandmasters 50+, Masters 35+, Men’s Open, Women’s Open and Juniors (U18). Entry includes a free competition T-shirt.

Deadline for entries will be 3rd October, unless there is space available in the surfer’s chosen category.

We are also very pleased that although not forming part of their contest series, the event is being endorsed by the British Longboard Union (BLU).

A big thank you to all our sponsors and supporters who help make this exciting event happen – including Cornwall Council, Tubestation, Finisterre, Christian Surfers, Nineplus, Zeaglass, Bird Sunglasses, George’s Surf School, Era Water Safety and Beagle Media

For further details:
About the contest: [email protected] or phone 07870 830182
Jesus Surf Series CSUK Facebook page CLICK HERE
Christian Surfers UK www.christiansurfers.co.uk
Tubestation: www.tubestation.org

Will Bailey takes the win at Jesus Surf Classic

Conditions for this years 25th Anniversary Jesus Surf Classic from a week away always looked as though they would be challenging, and so it proved, but despite that it was a hugely successful event.

Organisers Christian Surfers UK have been putting on this event at Croyde bay, North Devon, on an annual basis, attracting many of the UK finest surfers. This year was no different, with over 150 places filled to compete in the 8 categories. In an attempt to encourage the reduction of plastic use at the event, every competitor got a commemorative mug, with drinks discounts if they used them for tea, coffee or water refills.

Due to the stormy conditions predicted, especially on Sunday afternoon it was evident that the 63 scheduled heats could not be completed, so contest organiser and head of Christian Surfers UK Phil Williams, made a decision along with his team on Wednesday to omit the U12’s, U14’s Boys/Girls and U18 Girls from this weekend, a wise decision !!

Instead those categories will be held, conditions permitting on 30th September, at the same venue.

Conditions on Saturday morning started off in blustery 3-4ft North Westerly winds, and first heats for the 100+ competitors got underway at 08.30. Double peaks were the order of the day for the first few hours, to ensure the event was completed by midday on the Sunday.

Quality of the competitors was outstanding with many of Britain’s top surfers competing in all categories, and with £300 for the winner in both men’s and women’s there was lots to compete for.

For those not in the water, the big marquee was an ideal shelter from the wind, with refreshments, home made cakes, BBQ, live music and Crepe, and the great community spirit of the contest continued all day until 4pm, with only the 11 heats to run on the Sunday left.

The stacked Open Semi finals, witnessed some amazing surfing in a building swell, losing previous winners Joss Ash, Jobe Harris, as well as Kit Innes & wales Logan Nicol.

DAY 1 ended, with far less rain than predicted and lots of smiles, even from those that were sadly knocked out.

Sunday morning dawned with the storm predicted to kick in just after lunch, wind had switches to South Westerly, surf in the 3ft range but both Surf and swell predicted to increase rapidly.

11 heats later, the final hooter sounded and the rains came down, Gods timing or co-incidence?
In a packed marquee the five categories were announced, as well as a speciality ‘Phil Pechonis’ memorial trophy awarded to Jo Morris.

Christian Surfers member and Ex Aussie Dave Kemeny, now living in West Wales shared about his faith briefly and why he has served this event for so many years, before Phil announced the winners.

It was a North Devon double victory in the Open Divisions, with Peony Knight taking the ladies division, ahead of Emily Currie with two solid scores, and Will Bailey retaining his Men’s title in a tight head against Stu Campbell making a rare return to the UK after spending the last few years in Australia.

In the Junior divisions, competition was equally tight, and in the U18 Men’s, South Coast Noah Capps, just took the title by 0.10 ahead of Kit Innis, and in the U16, normal business was resumed with Stan Norman taking yet another title, in preparation of his trip to Tokyo representing England in the Junior World Surfing Games. In the always hotly contested Masters division (Over 35’s), there was a new name on the trophy with Rob Watson, taking the title, trophy and cheque ahead of Welsh, South African import Ingemar Cressey.

For a full list of the results, and photo gallery head to www.christiansurfers.co.uk or Facebook Page Jesus Surf Series CSUK.

Christian Surfers would like to thank so many people for making this event and previous years, such a huge success, and these include RNLI, Parkdene, Hotdoggers, the huge army of Christian Surfers volunteers from around the country, Si Cotter (Video edit), Andy Holter (Photographer), the cake makers, and local church, Chris Clark (Daily bread surfboards, for some amazing trophies, and a special thanks to the competitors, and spectators, and obviously a big thanks to God for waves and the ocean that we can play in.

One hour later and the storm had really hit, 40+ mph winds and an out of control Croyde …. Phew

Part 2 of the JSC 2017 will be held on 30th Sep, the 10th Jesus Longboard Classic will be at Polzeath on Oct 7th and 8th, and the 26th Jesus Surf Classic is scheduled for Sep 8th and 9th 2018

For more details on the event or the work of Christian Surfers check out www.christiansurfers.co.uk or e-mail [email protected]