Surfing England are excited to announce the 2023 Muscle Food English Para Surfing Open will take place on the Thursday 21st – Friday 22nd of September. The event is in its 7th year, and we’re stoked to bring it to the beach, after 3 years at The Wave.

The highly anticipated competition will take place at the iconic beach break of Croyde, premiering our first official Adaptive Surfing Hub, which is run by Surf South West in partnership with The Wave Project. The action-packed line-up anticipates a full 2-days surf competition, with all 9 ISA Para surfing divisions.

It brings use great pleasure to announce Muscle Food are joining us as the headline sponsor. They specialise in high-quality, healthy, high-protein meal plans that can be delivered straight to your home hassle free. No matter your health goals they have something for everyone.

Surfer Participation ability
Surfers competing as this contest must have either a current ISA classification or seek to obtain classification within the next one year (please note in the 2022 event rules, 2 years were offered to seek classification, so this is now down to 1 year). One of our project areas is training UK classifiers, which we aim to complete in 2024.

For surfers who do not have ISA classification, please register for the Event in the Para Surfing Sport Class (see below) you believe is most applicable to you. If required, we may contact you for additional information to support this. (See event format for more information).

Entry will cost £27 per division, and opens on Monday 7th August at 17:00pm, via LiveHeats. Ahead of entering, please read the event format, which forms the T&C’s of the event.

Volunteering at the Adaptive
We are currently looking for lots of kind hard working volunteers to help with the 2-day Event. The roles are based around the
following:

1:1 Pushers – Ensure the surfers catch their heat waves. Volunteers will be pushing from out back. This is a skilled, experienced role.

Catchers – Mainly for prone assist surfers, as they come into shore, to help them back onto boards if they wipe out, and help the transition to getting out back, locating the surfer’s allocated ‘pusher’. You must be a competent swimmer for this role.

In-water support – Support surfers when they wipe out (if required). Information to general public if they are entering the competition zone to move to the appropriate public lifeguard zones on the beach. Competencies in adaptive surf/lifesaving/surf coaching required.

Land/water support – Assisting with transfers from beach to water and back to beach. Some surfers will be using beach wheelchairs from the changing area in the car park or surf school or spectator area on the beach to get down to the sea for their heats. Beach wheelchairs require pushing up and down the beach for this. Lifting may be required to safely transfer people.

Land support – Informing surfers of their scores (from live heats), helping surfers with heat times, changing (if requested), allocating parking bays, and general support to the athletes/the event.

Volunteer registration is now OPEN! Please read the info within the Event Format and complete the google form to register.

If you have not completed any training in adaptive surfing, we are organising a free course on Wednesday 20th September for people who will then volunteer at the event. Please read the course information and sign up here. A huge thank you in advance.

Event Partners
We would like to thank all our sponsors for making the 2023 Muscle Foods English Para Surfing Open possible: Muscle Food, dryrobe, Caravan and Motorhome Club, the wave, Decathlon UK, korev lager, Clarke Willmott, Vospers, Experience Freedom, Wave Project, Surfability UK CIC, Parkdean Resorts

Contact
For all event enquiries, please contact: [email protected]
For all volunteer enquiries, please contact: [email protected]
For all membership enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Photos: WSL/Sloane

Kai Sallas (HAW) and Soleil Errico (USA) won the inaugural Bioglan Bells Beach Longboard Classic Presented by Rip Curl today in classic Bells Beach conditions. Three-to-four foot swell lines lit up the iconic lineup for an incredible finish to Stop No. 2 on the 2023 World Surf League (WSL) Longboard Tour.

Less than a point separated the winners of both Finals as runners-up Declan Wyton (AUS) and Alice Lemoigne (FRA) were able to keep the pressure on right up until the final hooters sounded.

Tour Veteran Sallas Wins First Event Since 2011
Twelve years since he last claimed victory on the WSL Longboard Tour, 42-year-old Kai Sallas has topped the podium and jumped to equal number two in the rankings alongside his protege and touring partner, Kaniela Stewart(HAW). Despite shaping boards for many of the younger Hawaiians on tour, including Stewart, and seeing himself as more of a mentor, Sallas has stayed competitive as ever.

“Coming to this one I was working hard and training and working on boards and surfing a bunch and really taking it serious you know,” Sallas said. “I’m so stoked. If there was an event that I would want to win, it would be here. This place is amazing, the waves are amazing.”

Claiming the highest heat total of the event in his Quarterfinal win over Tony Silvagni (USA) and backing it up with a clutch performance in the Semifinals against longtime rival Taylor Jensen (USA), Sallas looked unstoppable. The Final itself was a different story however, the deteriorating conditions wreaking havoc as both Sallas and Wyton struggled to find the rhythm of earlier in the day. A 7.00 (out of a possible 10) that Sallas found midway through the heat proved to be the deciding factor, with Wyton unable to quite break out of the high-6 range. The Australian Longboard World Title hopeful was thrilled to make his first WSL Longboard Tour Final regardless.

“It was so special to do it in front of friends and family down here,” Wyton said. “I didn’t feel any pressure out there in the whole Final. I feel as though everything was kind of weight lifted. The wave didn’t come in the end so I didn’t get the score but I was just stoked regardless. Especially going into Malibu with the top 8 format, it’s a massive help.”

Errico Secures Rankings Lead, Qualification in Longboard Championship Top 8
Two-time World Longboard Champion Soleil Errico (USA) claimed her third WSL Longboard Tour victory and gained the rankings lead. In doing so, the Malibu local guaranteed herself a chance to defend her 2022 Longboard World Title in her hometown when the crowning event for the WSL Longboard Tour, the Original Sprout Malibu Longboard Championships Presented by Tractor Beverage Company, takes place in October.

“It definitely takes a bit of weight off my shoulders,” Errico said. “The goal for me was to get to Malibu and I’ve done that, so it’s a really good feeling. I’m just excited that I’ll be competing there again. I’m definitely going to work my butt off to hopefully succeed.”

Today’s Final was the third time Errico and Alice Lemoigne (FRA) had matched up in as many events, with Errico narrowly taking victory each time. As with the previous heats in Huntington Beach and Malibu, Errico garnered the required score in the dying moments, the final tally featuring a difference of less than a point each time.

In her Semifinal match against three-time World Longboard Champion Honolua Blomfield (HAW), Errico was the first surfer of the day to switch from the famous Bells Bowl to the deeper, more classic point set-up of Rincon. The move paid off, handing Errico her first Longboard Tour win over Blomfield and setting the tone for the rest of the day.

Keeping to the same section of the lineup in the Final, a lull left Lemoigne and Errico sitting for 10 minutes before a heat restart. Immediately after the restart horn sounded Errico caught a wave, Lemoigne behind her, Lemoigne’s skill on the nose and strong finishing maneuvers giving her the early edge. Despite multiple falls, Errico kept pace, taking the lead with full use of her rail, along with critical nose-rides. A strong carve on her final wave proved to be enough to turn the Final and hand her the win.

“It was really nerve-wracking just ’cause I kept falling ’cause it was way more bumpy out there than I thought it would be,” Errico said. “We’ve had a lot of close matchups, pretty much every time we surf against each other it’s really close, but yeah, she’s a great competitor and a great person so it was cool to share the lineup with her.”

It was a strong run through the event for Lemoigne, who was able to defeat event standouts Natsumi Taoka (JPN) and Chloe Calmon (BRA) in the Quarterfinals and Semifinals respectively. The Reunion Islander is excited for Stop No. 3 on the WSL Longboard World Tour, the Surf City El Salvador Longboard Classic, after winning the gold medal in the ISA World Longboard Championships in the same location earlier this year.

“I’m a little bit sad to be second, especially with 10 seconds remaining,” Lemoigne said. “I would like to win this contest, but, yes, I’m pretty happy about my surfing all the contest and I’m happy about my spot (in the rankings) before El Salvador, the last one. So yeah, I feel good, I feel great and I want the next one.”

For more of today’s highlights, results and information from the Bioglan Bells Beach Longboard Classic, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.

Bioglan Bells Beach Longboard Classic Presented by Rip Curl Men’s Final Results:
1 – Kai Sallas (HAW) 12.77
2 – Declan Wyton (AUS) 12.34

Bioglan Bells Beach Longboard Classic Presented by Rip Curl Women’s Final Results:
1 – Soleil Errico (HAW) 11.97
2 – Alice Lemoigne (USA) 11.70

Bioglan Bells Beach Longboard Classic Presented by Rip Curl Men’s Semifinal Results:
SF 1: Kai Sallas (HAW) 15.40 vs. Taylor Jensen (USA) 15.17
SF 2: Declan Wyton (AUS) 15.16 vs. Edouard Delpero (FRA) 14.43

Bioglan Bells Beach Longboard Classic Presented by Rip Curl Women’s Semifinal Results:
SF 1: Soleil Errico (USA) 14.00 vs. Honolua Blomfield (HAW) 13.40
SF 2: Alice Lemoigne (FRA) 15.17 vs. Chloe Calmon (USA) 14.44

Bioglan Bells Beach Longboard Classic Presented by Rip Curl Men’s Quarterfinal Results:
HEAT 1: Taylor Jensen (USA) 16.73 DEF. Taka Inoue (AUS) 9.67
HEAT 2: Kai Sallas (HAW) 17.17 DEF. Tony Silvagni (USA) 14.34
HEAT 3: Edouard Delpero (FRA) 14.10 DEF. Landen Smales (AUS) 8.43
HEAT 4: Declan Wyton (AUS) 15.33 DEF. Ben Skinner (GBR) 13.90

Bioglan Bells Beach Longboard Classic Presented by Rip Curl Women’s Quarterfinal Results:
HEAT 1: Honolua Blomfield (HAW) 13.17 DEF. Mason Schremmer (USA) 11.86
HEAT 2: Soleil Errico (USA) 13.17 DEF. Avalon Gall (USA) 7.94
HEAT 3: Alice Lemoigne (FRA) 13.83 DEF. Natsumi Taoka (JPN) 10.00
HEAT 4: Chloe Calmon (BRA) 13.24 DEF. Sophia Culhane (HAW) 8.70