GWM Sydney Surf Pro

Fantastic conditions graced Manly Beach today as the world's best longboard surfers glided into action at the GWM Sydney Surf Pro, opening event of the 2022 WSL Longboard Tour (LT). Surfers opened the GWM Sydney Surf Pro on the same beach where Midget Farrelly and Phyllis O'Donnel won the World Title of Surfing in 1964, surfing the same traditional style of that original era. Hanging Ten along with stylish drop knee cut backs being the ingredients for high scores in the pristine small, peeling waves.

Brazil's Chloe Calmon (BRA, above) was the days standout surfer with excellent wave scores of 9.23 (out of a possible 10) and 8.40 as her back up to accrue a day's highest 17.63 (out of a possible 20) heat total to comprehensively win her opening round heat. The multiple-WSL Champion runner-up, Calmon continues to showcase her experience in beautiful waves with her abilities to match.

"I’m so happy to be back in Australia after two years, having a great time in Manly, I find a lot of similarities with the beach breaks I surf at home in Rio," Calmon said. "It’s also great being here with my coach and Manly local Matt Chojnacki and I learn a lot about the surfing culture here in the Northern Beaches. The conditions this morning were great for longboarding and I hope it stays like that until the end."

Australia's Harrison Roach (AUS, above), 2021 World Title runner-up is the No. 1 seed here in the men's and started his campaign with style taking a strong opening round heat win. Roach's approach to the small, pristine waves on offer went unmatched for the men, earning an impressive 15.13 heat total, and set the tone for what could be another World Title contending season.

"It's great to open the season here in Australia" said Roach. "Especially here at Manly, I'm feeling the history of the sport around Farrelly's World Title win and this really is a special beach - the waves are really small but on these longer boards they are good and there's plenty of high scoring potential out there." 

Other standouts on the opening day included Ben Skinner (GBR, above in action at Malibu last year), Kai Sallas (HAW), Honolua Bloomfield (HAW) and Lindsay Steinriede (USA).

With the Challenger Series potentially ready to start tomorrow, the surfing moves will likely transition from soul arches and Hang 10s to full rotation air reverses and alley-oop aerials as the modern short boarders battle the all important opening rounds of the Challenger Series event.

How The WSL Longboard Tour Works
The first two events of the season at Manly Beach and Huntington Beach will be worth up to 5,000 rankings points each, while the final event in Malibu, the Longboard World Championships, will award 10,000 points to the winners. The World Titles will be awarded to the highest-ranked woman and man based on their best two results out of the three events.

CLICK HERE FOR OPENING DAY RESULTS

Now that the early rounds have been completed, the remaining rounds through to finals will integrate with the Challenger Series event which begins tomorrow, running through to Tuesday May 24.

Challenger Series Set To Begin Tomorrow at Manly Beach

In early 2020, Italian Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) took the win of his career at the Sydney Surf Pro Challenger Series literally days before the world stopped due to the pandemic. Fast forward over two years and the twenty three year old is back in Sydney, and looking for another big result so he can return to the CT in 2023. After an equal 5th place finish last week on the Gold Coast, Fioravanti will be looking to keep his momentum going as he returns to his happy hunting ground of Manly Beach.

“I’ve always enjoyed coming to Manly,” Fioravanti said. “I have been coming here since I was so young and competing in the Pro Junior, the QS and now the CS and I’ve always found good results. It’s a great place and has so many Italians living in Sydney so the support is always incredible. I’m feeling really confident after Snapper and love that we are going back-to-back with events so I can gain some more momentum, especially considering it is a place I have won before.”

Fresh off a second place finish at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast Pro presented by Rip Curl, Central Coast phenom Molly Picklum (AUS) is another competitor excited for the quick turn around between events as she looks to bank another solid result on home soil. After competing for the first half of the season on the Championship Tour, Picklum has had a taste of the top level and is all in on getting herself back there by year’s end.

“I’m really excited to be returning to Manly,” Picklum said. “It’s one of the locations we go that has a lot of history in surfing which is cool. It’s definitely a stop where we end up getting all sorts of conditions throughout the event window so you have to be ready for anything which is a fun challenge. I was stoked to make the Final at Snapper but I want to go one step further at Manly and take the win.”

The 2022 GWM Sydney Surf Pro presented by Rip Curl Challenger Series and World Longboard Tour events will run at Manly Beach from May 16 - 24. For more information head to WorldSurfLeauge.com or check the free WSL App.

This event is proudly supported by GWM, Rip Curl, Destination NSW, Bond University, Harvey Norman, Bonsoy, Boost Mobile, Oakberry, Oakley, Dometic Outdoor, Coopers, Northern Beaches Council, Havaianas, Bailey Ladders, and FCS.

Mason Ho finds exactly what he came for

The final instalment of Masons Medieval Madness!!

After searching high and low through unfamiliar lands, Mason Ho finds exactly what he came for. A lethal yet beautiful wave breaking directly on reef with nobody around! Sit back, enjoy and find out if he makes it out safe.

Seven surfers from St Agnes have been awarded prestigious national bravery and life-saving honours by the Royal Humane Society.

Alfie and Steve England, Joel Henthorn, Chris Ingram, Jos Lawrence and Moss Thomas receive their awards presented by Shaun Sawyer, Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police (left) and Rear Admiral Michale Wood CBE, Deputy Lieutenant for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly – HM the Queen’s representative, (Centre) with Jonathan Davies (third left).

Seven surfers from St Agnes have been awarded prestigious national bravery and life-saving honours by the Royal Humane Society.

Alfie and Steve England, Joel Henthorn, Chris Ingram, Jos Lawrence and Jason Leger have all been awarded Testimonials on Parchment. Moss Thomas received Resuscitation Certificate and Teah Munro a Certificate of Commendation.

The awards were be presented by Shaun Sawyer, Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police and Rear Admiral Michale Wood CBE, Deputy Lieutenant for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in a ceremony April 29th 2022 at the China Fleet Club, Saltash.

Press release

A lone surfer who was spotted face down and unconscious while out on his board off the North Cornish coast owes his life to seven Cornish heroes who formed an impromptu rescue team and dragged him unconscious back to the safety of the beach and then fought a life and death battle to bring him back from the brink of death.

Alfie and Steve sprint towards an unconscious Jonathan

The surfer, Jonathan Davies’ close encounter with death happened on the afternoon of 25 May 2020 at Chapel Porth Beach.

Jonathan was out on the water which was running with a 6 ft swell when he lost consciousness. However, Alfie England who was out surfing with his dad Steve from St Agnes, spotted Jonathan in the water. They fought through a gap in the waves to reach Jonathan and then managed to get his head above water.

They were then joined by Sam Russell from St Agnes and Paul Elcocks from Falmouth, Joel Henthorn of St Agnes, Chris Ingram from Porthtowan,Jos Lawrence of Redruth, Jason Ledger from Camborne. Between them they managed to administer rescue breaths to Jonathan as they pulled him back to shore through the large surf and strong rip currents.

By the time they got him on the shore he was blue, unconscious and had stopped breathing. Moss Thomas, an off-duty RNLI lifeguard then joined them and immediately began administering cardiac pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while Teah Munro from St Agnes who had also rushed to the scene ran two kilometers to alert beach wardens and collect a first aid kit.

The coastguard airlift

An air ambulance helicopter then arrived and paramedics took over, and thanks to the treatment he had already received Jonathan went on to recover from his ordeal after two days in hospital in an induced coma.

Now the seven rescue heroes have all been awarded national bravery and life-saving honours by the Royal Humane Society. Steve and Alfie England, Joel Henthorn, Chris Ingram, Jos Lawrence and Jason Leger were all awarded Testimonials on Parchment.

Moss Thomas received a Resuscitation Certificate and Teah Munro a Certificate of Commendation.

They have all, also won the praise of Andrew Chapman, Secretary of the Royal Humane Society for their “fantastic team work.”

“They all got together and formed a team to save Jonathan,” he said. “It was fantastic team work for people thrown together by an emergency and they did a superb job. Thanks to their swift action he was in the best possible condition when the paramedics arrived to take over and get him to hospital. And the reward was that his life was saved.

“They even had to give him rescue breaths as they pulled him through the heavy waves to get him back to the beach. That was an incredible fete in itself. If ever any group of people deserved the awards, they do. And of course they put themselves in harms way during the pandemic with no thought for their own safety. Their only thought was to save Jonathan. They were all true heroes.”

The roots of the Royal Humane Society stretch back more than two centuries. The Queen is its patron and its president is Princess Alexandra. It is the premier national body for honouring bravery in the saving of human life.

It was founded in 1774 by two of the day’s eminent medical men, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan. Their primary motive was to promote techniques of resuscitation. However, as it emerged that numerous people were prepared to put their own lives at risk to save others, the awards scheme evolved, and today a variety of awards are made depending on the bravery involved.

The Society also awards non health care professionals who perform a successful resuscitation. Since it was set up the Society has considered over 87,000 cases and made over 200,000 awards. The Society is a registered charity which receives no public funding and is dependent on voluntary donations.

“So happy Jonathan is alive today. I still can’t quite believe we got him back,” said Steve

Alfie England, an ex RNLI lifeguard, said “It is amazing to receive an award but it is better to see Jonathan back in the sea! It was full team effort and was well as those nominated I would also like to thank Paul Elcocks and Sam Russell for their actions in the water and Ben Skinner, Dulcie Havers, and Dominque Kent for the help on land.”

Chris Ingram, said “It’s an honour to have received the award but the fact that Jonathon is still with us is award in itself, and a testament to the work and training that many, if not all of us, have done with SLSGB and the RNLI.”

Moss Thomas said, “I would just like to say ‘Thank you’ to everyone who was involved, who worked together on the day of rescue to save a man’s life. It was great that we all got some recognition, with the award. It’s a good thing to live in the community we do.”

“I’m very proud of Alfie.’ said Steve “If he hadn’t spotted Jonathan and immediately acted it would have been a completely different story. Alfie, Jonathan and I got pretty battered by a set, and it was pretty heavy for a while as Jonathan was unresponsive, blue in the face and had pretty much drowned. But we knew the crew were coming to back us up and no one gave up.”

Wales’ junior champions crowned

Wales’ junior champions were crowned this weekend at the Welsh National Junior Surfing Championships 2022 sponsored by PuraVida, MiPost, and Power-2GO.

The contest played out over the 7th and 8th May at Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire, with all competitors putting on great surfing displays for the judges and supporters on the beach.

Saturday brought a small swell and cross-offshore winds, forcing surfers to go all-out to make the most of the challenging conditions. Helped by an incoming tide, the waves built to shoulder-to-head high through Sunday. Entrants had more canvas to work with as the battle for finals places played out.

Among the highlights, Josie Hawke continued a run of fantastic results gained in 2021 to take first in the U12 girls category. Taylor Shelmerdine topped the podium in the U14 girls and placed fourth in the U16 girls – a group eventually won by Katie Davies on the back of consistently high scores.