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27th Jesus surf classic

Saturday 14th of September saw a busy action-packed day with over 60 under 16’s surfers involved in the very popular 27th Jesus Surf Classic (Part 1) taking place at its traditional home of Croyde beach North Devon. Unfortunately, with the swell forecast not looking good for Sunday organisers took the early decision to only run three of the eight divisions on this weekend in order to try to make the best of the waves on offer. This turned out to be the right call with great surf for the groms on Saturday, and as predicted flat conditions on Sunday.

Organisers Christian Surfers UK created a great little contest tented venue, and at 8 am on Saturday morning the car park was full of many of the U.K.'s top under 16 surfers.
The sun shone throughout and with light offshore winds and 2 to 3-foot surf on offer for most of the day the surfing performances were top class, although there was still a really great vibe throughout.
With regards to the results themselves, it was a great weekend for Perranporths Lucas Skinner, winning two categories. He took the U12’s title (For the 2nd year running) in a hotly contested final ahead of Fynn Gillespie and brother Heath, with Nikita Petrov in fourth.

In the under 14’s division Lucas again triumphed in a tight heat , ahead of Fynn Gillespie, who surfed really strongly throughout the event . Newquay’s Gabe Llewellyn took third ahead of Welsh surfer Eli Perrin-Davies (Ogmore)
In a hotly contested under 16's final Brauntons Alex Townsend pipped Jerseys Max Bennett (2nd) and Bertie Norman (3rd), with Jed Wood also surfing well getting into the final. With both of the girls events being postponed until the next date, it was great to have some of the young ladies mixing it up with the boys and performing very well.

The presentation took place in bright sunshine at around 4:30 PM where the champions were crowned, and thanks given out, as well as Christian Surfers member Josh Cole sharing a little about his faith and the importance of it in his life.
The presentation platform was also shared with BBC presenter Geeta Pendse, who along with her team had been capturing the event for an upcoming edition of BBC Sunday live. Contest director Phil Williams turned the tables on Geeta by asking her a few questions, presenting commemorative T-shirts to the BBC team and thanked them for their hard work during the day. Phil Williams (Head of Christian Surfers UK) also thanked all those involved in making this event such a great community day, competitors, spectators, families and friends, the 50+ volunteers from Christian Surfers throughout the UK, and God for providing waves which enabled the competition on Saturday to be completed.

Please make a note of next year's dates September 19 and 20th 2020.

In addition to all those mentioned above the Jesus Surf Classic team would like to thank amongst others Parkdean holidays for the use of the beach and car park, the local RNLI team for water safety, the local churches as well as Nailsea churches for the BBQ, and cakes etc. Big thanks also to media team Andy Holter (Photography) and Si Cotter video(Ruwac Productions)

A fantastic Saturday had by all, and as soon as a new date has been confirmed for the remaining five categories this will be communicated widely to those that have previously entered, and through social media platforms.
The next in the Jesus Surf Series will be the 12th Jesus Longboard Classic, which will be held at Polzeath (North Cornwall) over the weekend of 12th-13th October with great hospitality from the Tubestation.

The registration portal is now open here.

For any further information on the work of Christian Surfers UK log onto christiansurfers.co.uk or contact [email protected]

Photos: Andy Holter

Mason Ho surfing The Wedge.

Mason Ho shot over to California last weekend (September 13-14 2019) for Brand Day with Rip Curl and scored some fun waves at the world famous Wedge. Lots of wipeouts, and sea shells became flying razors. Thanks to the locals for filming.

Sunny Garcia update: speaking a few words, but it’s a marathon not a sprint

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2fvn9JHXM5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Some good news on Sunny Garcia.

Remember mental health problems can affect anyone, even Hawaiian warriors. Look out for each other.

Get well soon Sunny.

The Saunton Longboard Classic 2019

Looking at the opening conditions on the morning of The Re-Re-Scheduled Saunton Longboard Classic 2019, it was definitely a case of third time lucky. Following a couple of aborted starts due to lack of swell earlier in the year, the BLU finally lucked into some ideal longboarding waves at their spiritual North Devon home. Groomed 1-2ft peelers with the occasional bigger set rolled into a sun-filled bay and, apart from the inevitable slowdown at towards low tide, it pretty much stayed that way for the entire event. With the swell forecast to drop for the following day, the decision was made to push on through and race the sun to the horizon.

Every division experienced the highs and lows of the conditions (literally) with heats and semi’s either side of low tide and the last couple of finals towards high tide suffering the most. The scores didn’t seem to be affected though, with some big heat totals posted by Ben Skinner, Sam Bleakley and Jack Unsworth in the Men’s Open and Single Fin, Emily Currie, Claire Smail and Beth Leighfield in the Women’s Open and Adam Zervas (above) in the Grand Masters. Now that Bleakers is eligible and seemingly keen to surf in the Masters it might make thing very interesting for current champion Jason Gray, who was missing in action at Saunton.

It was great to see that with the impending promotion of Jordan ‘Uber Unit’ Zervas from the U18s there still seems to be cause for celebration at the talent in the junior divisions. In the U16 Cadets Arthur Randell went to town, took out a fine win and very narrowly missed out on a huge win in the U18 Juniors. Having surfed in every division open to him (including at one point I swear the Grand Masters, in a fake beard) Arthur also put in a much deserved appearance in the Single Fin final at the expense of several very good and experienced surfers. Finishing third, one to watch.

The U18 Girls saw an excellent back and forth battle between Stella Briggs and Annie Carroll-Young that eventually saw Stella coming out on top. It also saw the contest debut of Lola Bleakley, who at a ridiculously young age already has the makings of a very stylish surfer. She also went toe-to-toe with the boys in the U16s and did herself proud. Great start to what could be a long and illustrious contest career.

Dad Sam took out the Masters division, and surfed about as many heats over the day as Arthur Randell. Not bad considering the almost incalculably massive age gap 😉 With Adam Zervas squeezing every ounce of power out of the swell and taking the win in the Grand Masters final to match son Jordan in the U18 Juniors, it looks like there could be more space needed in the family trophy cabinet before the end of the year.

With the salt washed off, hair combed (or heads polished) and shoes on feet, the presentation was hosted by long-time sponsors and BLU favourites The Thatch, Croyde / Billy Budds. The addition of an excellent Sri Lankan curry more than filled the time before we got proceedings underway, and with bellies full and trophies and prizes awarded the first stop on the 2109 tour was finally put to bed.

Massive thanks to all of our sponsors – The Thatch Croyde, Ocean and Earth, O’Neill Europe, Board Barn, Saunton Break Café and Old Guys Rule – for once again making it possible to keep the BLU moving forward into its 24th year - surely making it one of the longest continuously running longboard events in the cosmos? Your kind patronage of the BLU ensures that we keep getting longboarders, young and old, to meet, compete and eat.

Huge thanks also to the judges and event staff for their tireless efforts, and to the competitors themselves for showing us all just what talent the British longboard scene has to offer.

Roll on The Stable, Fistral Longboard Classic 2019 next weekend!

british-longboard-union.co.uk

Photos: BLU/Farscapes Ltd

Men’s Open
1 Ben Skinner
2 Sam Bleakley
3 Arran Bright
4 Evan Rogers

Women’s Open
1 Emily Currie
2 Claire Smail
3 Beth Leighfield
4 Annie Carroll-Young

Single Fin
1 Ben Skinner
2 Jack Unsworth
3 Arthur Randell
4 Sam Bleakley

Masters
1 Sam Bleakley
2 Adam Chell
3 Nick Watt
4 Colin Bright

Grand Masters
1 Adam Zervas
2 Rich Unsworth
3 Ben keay
4 Keano Keenan

U16 Cadets
1 Arthur Randell
2 Ted Pearson
3 Blake Jones
4 Lola Bleakley

U18 Girls
1 Stella Briggs
2 Annie Carroll-Young
3 Lola Bleakley
4 Lilly Wright (DNS)

U18 Juniors
1 Jordan Zervas
2 Arthur Randell
3 Blake Jones
4 Matt Mitchell

Man builds his own human powered wave pool

This man has built a human powered wave pool three hours way from the ocean in the middle of Java…Yes stop for a moment and take that in…built his own wave pool.

“Freds wave” is a simple mechanism that he has been perfecting for a few years bringing surfing to kids who would probably never see the ocean. While the wave isn’t technically up to the standards we have seen recently, we still think it is bleddy amazing. How much fun are these kids having?. Fred we salute you….And we are off to the scrappy…

Peg invited to inaugural adaptive Nelscott Reef Pro champs

Nelscott adds adaptive category with equal prize money.

The organisers have invited 8 big wave athletes from the AS1-AS4 categories to compete in 30 foot waves at the same day as non adaptive surfers.

The Uk’s Peg Bennett has received an official invite to compete in the inaugural adaptive Nelscott Reef Pro. Photo Ben Howard

The invites are based STRICTLY on their past experience in big waves, there is no entry fee, room and food are paid for and also, in a yet another world first, surfers in the adaptive division will be earning equal prize money right along side the male and female pro’s of the contest.

It is going to be huge and we can’t wait to see what happens. Good luck everyone!