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IN THIS ISSUE:
– Tony John, Porthcawl photographer and award winning fish and chip shop manager.
– Pembrokshire ripper Luke Cromwell tells us about life as an Indo charter boat captain.
– Jamies Brisick on the birth of the Endless Summer, and it’s effect on our surfing lives.
– Wilem Banks on why he comes from California to the UK to get his slab fix.
– Meet Arthur Picard, when he’s not body surfing huge waves, he’s shooting them.
– All the contenders for the Carve 2023 photo of the year.
– Winter escapes -A few sparks to fire up your imagination.
– How to travel with a surfboard -Keeping your sled safe and airline charges.
– Lowestoft -East coast surf hub for over 60 years.
See below all the details below from the Save Whipsiderry crew.
We are delighted to announce that A BLAZE OF FEATHER join the Save Whipsy Fest lineup for a special stripped back performance on the beach at Lusty Glaze. 🙌🏻
Having played to a huge crowd at Glastonbury this summer, we can’t wait to welcome them back to Cornwall for the beach party of the year! 🏖️
A Blaze Of Feather are renowned for their cinematic alt-folk sound; songwriter Mickey Smiths’ music carries the unmistakable influence of his homeland in West Cornwall.
Join your community for a wonderful day & evening of live music, comedy, family activities and much more! 🪩
Save Whipsy Fest is a celebration of our beautiful coastline for everybody that loves this little corner of Cornwall 💚
Taking place at Lusty Glaze Beach, we will be entertained by: Cornish Comedian KERNOW KING Cornwalls own WILLE AND THE BANDITS South-West 6-piece LAND OF THE GIANTS A BLAZE OF FEATHER with more special guests to be announced. 🙌🏼
Early bird tickets end this Saturday… you know what to do!
Newquays Ocean Magic surfboards celebrate their 50th anniversary today!
It was was set up in 1973 by Aussie Pete Mooney McAllum. Current owner surf shaper Nigel Semmens went to work for him in at 18, became a partner and then took one the factory.
“I wanted to live, eat and sleep surfing “said Nigel in The Surfing Tribe’ I realised doing contest and shaping surfboards were the best ways I could make living for surfing, so that’s what I focused on”
Nigel was British Champion title in 1979, European Champion in 1981 and in 1982 placed 7th at the World Amateur Championships, and became English Masters Champion in 1993. He was also one of the UK’s first professional surfers.
Nigel shapes his own NS surfboards but also produces boards for Pyzel and JJF.
In all the years the factory has had a core crew of fun loving craftsmen, and we congratulate Nigel and all the crew on an outstanding record.
History was made on the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of September 2023 with Scotland’s first ever Para Surfing National Championships and training weekend taking place at Dunnet Beach near Thurso.
Three surfers from Aberdeenshire and one from East Lothian made the journey to the Scottish Surfing Federation event with water support and safety from SurfABLE Scotland and the Wave Project Scotland. An international SSF judging panel consisting of a South African, an Indonesian and Scot as well as an Australian contest director helped make this event a tremendous success as well as all other SSF volunteers on hand.
On Saturday morning, competitors and support gathered at the North Shore Surf Club hut in Thurso for workshops including categorisation, judging criteria, the use of priority and an introduction to competitive surfing. A round robin surfing competition at Dunnet beach followed with Jade Edward, who made history last year, in becoming Scotland’s first ever representing surfer at the Para World Championships, taking the win in 2 out of the 3 heats contested. However, the event wasn’t without drama as in the final heat Jade got a priority interference and points deducted after dropping into a wave where Lillie Noble (13) had priority. Lillie’s good use of the priority rule secured 1st place in that final heat. Overall, Jade Edward took 1st place with the highest wave scores on the day.
Jade Edward took 1st place.
Sunday started with a surf training session in strong waves which tested the surfers and support crew alike. Putting together the coaching and briefing from Saturday’s experience, the support teams all worked to assist the surfers into the best waves where the surfers took over and put skills into practice giving the crowd of supporters an inspiring show on Scotland’s North coast.
The event rounded to a close at the Pentland Hotel, Thurso, firstly looking back at the surfing action where the surfers could see themselves in quality video playback with coaching on the scoring potential of the waves and the areas to show speed power and control in their turns. The coaching session was led by the SSF’s Head Scotland Coach Chris Clarke. Discussion turned to the biggest forthcoming event of the para surfing calendar in November this year for the 2023 World Para Surf championships, where this event highlighted the talent and passion for Scotland to do well among a growing adaptive sport that has its eyes fixed on Paralympic hopes.
A special thanks to all the volunteers and organisations that organised and ran the competition with further thanks to our primary sponsor Ross-Shire Engineering for their support at the first ever event of its kind in Scotland and shaping a pathway for future Scottish Para Surfing opportunity.
It’s easy to think that she just gets it from her father. After all, Roger Erickson is a legend in his own right on the North Shore, and she rides his boards – long, single-fin guns. But when Emi is out there, charging, riding 15 to 20-foot faces, and getting rag-dolled at Jaws, she deserves for you to know that yeah, maybe it’s in her blood, but no one’s on that board but her.
A Bimarian Films Production Directed by: Keith Malloy and Jeff Johnson Producer: Brett Williams Director of Photography and Editor: Andrew Schoneberger Location Sound: Prahlad Strickland Original Score and Sound Mix: Todd Hannigan featuring “Maybe Not” by Cat Power Additional Cinematography: Dave Homcy and Ben Ono Color: Arlington Peak
After a month of epic free-surfing action around Bali and a historic Warm-Up Session at Padang Padang, the window for the 2023 Rip Curl Cup Invitational has drawn to a close without the magic swell required to run the hallowed event. Despite a month-long waiting period during prime swell season (Aug 1st – Aug 31st), the waves at Padang Padang never reached the world-class caliber required to run the 20-Year Anniversary of the Ultimate Tuberiding Contest.
The official closing of the event window was announced by contest directors in front of a large audience at the Rip Curl Cup Wrap Party at Ulu Cliffhouse on Friday, Sep 1st. This year’s invitees, past event champions and the Bali surfing community all gathered at Ulu Cliffhouse to celebrate the event’s 20-year anniversary with a special “20 Years of Tubes” video screening, musical performances, and to look ahead to what will hopefully be a truly epic day of waves at the Rip Curl Cup Padang Padang in 2024.
For now, The Cup will remain in Bali and reigning Rip Curl Cup Champion Clay Marzo (HAW) will have to wait until next year to defend his title. Meanwhile, this year’s all-star cast of international invitees, which included such heavy hitters as Taj Burrow (AUS), Kolohe Andino (USA), Mason Ho (HAW) and Koa Smith (HAW), will be eager to steal away The Cup in 2024. The surfing world also eagerly awaits next year for the inaugural Women’s Rip Curl Cup at Padang Padang.
Only one borderline swell hit Padang Padang during the 2023 event window, but the narrow tide window and less-than-XXL swell heights meant that conditions were never spectacular or consistent enough to greenlight what has become the most anticipated barrel shootout of the year.
“Our standard is to guarantee that 24 of the world’s best tube riders – 16 men and 8 women – are competing in all-time barreling conditions at Padang Padang,” said Event Director James Hendy. “Anything less would mean compromising the integrity of the event.”
Hendy added that holding the contest at an alternate site, such as Bingin or Uluwatu, was also out of the question. The Rip Curl Cup will only be held at Bali’s premier barreling wave, Padang Padang.
During the opening week of the event window, a healthy dose of Indian Ocean swell saw the mythical wave at Padang Padang roar to life for the Rip Curl Cup Warm-Up presented by Samudera Indonesia, a three-hour surfing exhibition featuring 18 of the 24 invited surfers in this year’s Ultimate Tuberiding Contest at Padang Padang. In a historic performance, several of the women invitees seized the opportunity in the first-ever women’s exhibition heat at Padang Padang held in legitimate top-to-bottom spitting barrels. The women’s impressive barrel-riding performances put the surfing world on notice for next year.
“There were actually some really good waves during the Warm-Up, and I thought they might at least run the women’s event,” said 16-year-old Erin Brooks (CAN), a finalist in the men’s open division in 2023 and an invitee to this year’s Women’s Rip Curl Cup. “But that’s the really cool thing about this contest – it only runs if it’s perfect Padang.”
The large crowd gathered on the beach and cliffs at Padang Padang for the Warm-Up Session, as well as fans watching around the world via the Rip Curl x Island Brewing Livestream on YouTube, were treated to a barrel riding Master Class – and several brutal wipeouts – at the world-famous lefthander.
“I saw some girls charging and getting the best waves of their lives,” said Brooks. “I bet next year there will be so many women surfers who want to compete in this contest. Hopefully some legends come out, like Bethany Hamilton. She’s been in the men’s contest before, but it would really be cool if she joined us in the women’s contest next year.”
“Even though we didn’t get a green-light swell this year, the waves were still pumping here in Bali,” added Brooks. “That’s what this event is about, it’s about competing in the absolute best conditions at Padang Padang. We didn’t get it this year, but hopefully we get it next year and it’s bigger and better than ever!”
