Andy Tyrrell in action 

Photos: Paul Blackley unless otherwise mentioned.

The Dave Gray Memorial Surfing Competition took place on Sunday 13th November at Compton Bay in highly contestable 2-3ft clean surf. The contest marks the remembrance of Dave Gray one of the Island’s most influential surfers who sadly passed away in 2017. The club also marked Remembrance Day by gathering on the clifftop for two minutes silence at 11am with passers by joining the surfers to pay their respects.

Casper Hornsby 

The sun was shining all day with temperatures climbing to the high teens, it felt more late summer than mid-November. This year’s event was well attended; divisions included the Open, Womens, Junior Under 18 and Junior Under 14 all drawing talented local surfers to the line-up. 

Dougie Newell 

An early stand out was Toby Payne (11) who caught the eye of the judges with some fantastic surfing both before and during the event. Toby is the definition of enthusiasm in and out of the water and a well-deserved winner of the U14 category.  Hot on his heels in second was Casper Hornsby (11) who showed that there’s more than one competitive surfer in the Hornsby household! Beaux Harwood (11) was both graceful and dynamic in her approach to take third and rounding out the final was Lilah Ranson (8). Lilah got some of the biggest cheers of the event showing that small can be cute but, in her case, small is also MIGHTY!

Fynn Truman 

Izzy Spence 

Jago Tasker (14)  fresh off a highly successful season competing all-around the UK showed why he is now considered one of the best up and coming surfers in England. Jago took the win the Under 18 category. Fynn Truman (16) has something every surfer wants and that’s style which he used it to good effect placing second. Third place went to relative newcomer to the Surf Club, Kallum Orchard (18) who surfed really well to get himself on the podium. Rounding out the Junior U18 Final was Isaac Boswell (14). Isaac who spends part of his year in Morocco really knows how to turn a surfboard, he will definitely be one to watch in the next event providing he can be convinced to don an even thicker wetsuit and embrace the British winter. 

Jago Tasker 

Jago (above)  continued his winning streak by securing 1st in the Open division against a field of tough opponents.  Jago’s surfing just keeps getting better month on month, year on year. I think we all knew he was going to start beating the men in competition; although some of us hoped he might give the old guard a few more years before sending us out to pasture. They’ll be a few experienced surfers working on their A game for the next event, one of which is Andrew Tyrrell who is always a standout in the island’s surf. Andrew couldn’t find the waves in the final to really get going but still made some critical turns to place second. Dougie Newell can ride anything from foils to skateboards and everything in between. Dougie took third on a board he made himself! Taking fourth in the Open Final was Harry Matthews who caught more waves than the rest of the competitors put together! He shall now be known as ‘The Energizer Bunny’ or just ‘bunny’ for short- which I’m sure he’ll enjoy.

Madi Dew Photo: Sienna Anderson

The Isle of Wight Surf Club has a strong female membership and the Women’s division was a competitive affair. Madi Dew and Cordelia Dewey went back and forth for the win but with a couple of critical turns Madi gave the point of difference to take first place with Cordelia second.  Frida Hornsby (15) the only junior to make the Women’s final, surfed well to take 3rd place with Sarah Archer 4th overall.

Sarah Archer, Jagos mother.

The next event is The Isle of Wight Open in memory of Lee Sheaff. The waiting period is February – March 2023; the contest will be called on only with head high plus surf! 

Thank you to all the supporters of the event: Rapanui, Earth Wind Water, Honeybourne Jewellery, Stance Europe and Glory Art Glass.

Toby Payne 

Results:

Women
1st Madi Dew
2nd Cordelia
3rd Frida Hornsby
4th Sarah Archer

Open
1sr Jago Tasker
2nd Andy Tyrrell
3rd Doug Newell
4th Harry Matthews

The last time I spoke to Ben Gulliver he’d just touched down in Canada after leaving pumping surf in Scotland, chased home by a travel window that slammed shut as the world slipped into the first Covid Lockdown. He’d been on the north shore with Balaram Stack, shooting for his highly anticipated new film ‘Hail Mary’ – which is having it European Premiere at London Surf / Film Festival on Friday 2nd December. Get your ticket HERE!

Catching up with Ben at home in Canada, and Balaram who is over on the west coast in Santa Cruz, I mention how much has happened in the world since we last spoke. “Yes, imagine, we could have stayed in Scotland and it would have been insane!” say Balaram. “For this film we wanted to get all the places in the Bal loves to surf,” explains Ben. “We wanted to do some Teahupoo, some Pipe, but also Scotland, and sure enough, like within two days of being there, there was a travel ban announced. And we’re like, I guess we should go home and watch the world end… but that was sort of the beginning.”

As the imposed hiatus of the global pandemic eased, the wheels started turning on the project again. “I was imagining like a visual storytelling of home as a Grom in New York to Hawaii and Pipe today,” explains Balaram. “And that was my first idea of a storyline. But then kind of as time went on, it was it was like, well, my mom can tell the story a lot better than I can. And she was there for all of it. And she was the support of all of us. So, I guess that storyline kind of took over at that point.”

Balaram’s career is not that of a typical pro surfer. Born in Florida, his mother Mary scooped up a young Balaram and his brothers and moved to New York, where a young Bal quickly became standout of the local scene, attracting sponsors and rising to the top of the regional contest scene. He soon matured into a rounded, stylish surfer and away from the WQS slog, he became a Volcom standout, his cat-like ability and hard charging meaning this mellow east coast native soon ascended to the apex of the ultra cut-throat Pipeline pecking order. All through this journey, his mother Mary has been there to support.

“Balaram and I both agreed,” says Ben, “we were like, man, there’s so many fluff pieces about professional surfers. In my mind after spending time with his family and spending time with his mom, I was like the best thing we can do is try to make your mom sort of like the best supporting character possible. It’s really like trying to find this balance where we can show our love and appreciation for our moms. Bal’s moms specifically. We wanted it to be an authentic story and not just a fluff piece. I really had to put the time in to gain the respect of his family and gain trust in order to put them on film and tell their story. And that took years to be honest with you. Like I went to family reunions, I went to family Easters. And for a while she didn’t want to be on camera. And I had to earn that. And it worked out.”

With over 20 hours of interviews to play with, Ben is surprisingly subtle with how he lays out what is a fascinating story – not spoon-feeding the viewer, but leading them through Mary’s unconventional life and Balaram’s unconventional surfing journey. From ashrams to hurricane swells – this is not your average surf pic. There are those jaw dropping barrels all captured through Gulliver’s standout cinematography, but the music also plays a huge part of the film, with Ben scoring the whole soundtrack with original compositions. “That was more exciting for me than the editing and the directing side of it,” Ben confesses. “Like I was more excited about the music. I used to say that it was because we couldn’t afford copyright for real music. And that was sort of like just hedging my bets in case people hated it. But this time around, I was like, now I want to do this, and this is something I’m going to do and I really enjoy it.”

Despite the film featuring some epic Pipeline and Teahupoo caverns, Ben soon slips back to his love for Scotland and the waves of the north shore. “Luckily over my many trips I’ve developed a really good relationships with all the local guys from northern Scotland,” he explains. “I feel like it’s kind of like a cold water thing or something? My grandma’s very Scottish. And I’m half Scottish.” I point out that technically he qualifies to play football for Scotland then. “Well, you’d have to have coordination for that, so…” he says laughing.

11th Edition London Surf / Film Festival is hosted 25 November – 2 December, across the capital, bringing to the UK the very best surf cinema from across the globe – premieres, award winning features, independent films, Q+A’s, icons and more.