Welsh Nationals Finalised and Champions Crowned for 2025
Words: Steve White Photos: Jon Runnells
Temperamental conditions forced this year’s Welsh Nationals to take place over two legs: The Junior and Senior Men’s categories were held at Freshwater West on May 18, leaving the Open and Longboard divisions for June 7 and 8 at Llantwit Major, where infrastructure allows for event live streaming and priority judging.
Wave quality may have varied but surfing standards were consistently high, with audiences treated to a contest packed with tension, upsets and breakthrough performances.
Channel Coast Surf Club’s Emily Williams won the Women’s Open in dramatic fashion, while 18-year-old rising star Eli Perrins-Davies (CCSC) took his first Men’s Open crown.
Fresh West delivered fine weather and waves in the 3-5ft range for The Welsh part one. Bryn Baker (Pembrokeshire Surf Club) became U14 Boys champion for the second year running. Summer Marie Moore (CCSC) came out on top in a closely contested U14 Girls final.
Bryn Baker said:
“I wasn’t nervous but I knew there were some good surfers in there, so it was really tough. It feels really good to be champion.”
Summer Marie Moore said:
“The waves were good, but then they went small. It’s amazing to be champion.”
Pembrokeshire’s Elijah Jones secured victory in the U16 Boys with a combined score of 8, a fin’s width ahead of Gower Bays Surf Club’s Monty Cole on 7.9. Jones had the highest-scoring single wave across the Boys divisions, banking him a cheque for £250 courtesy of BCRS Business Loans – a great day at the beach.
Elijah Jones said:
“The waves were great – the quarter-finals and semi-finals were just perfect. There were some decent ones in the final; it was really fun. I loved the conditions – perfect.
“I went into the finals on a high. It feels great to be champion. I’ve been wanting to win for a while so it’s amazing to get there.”
Fellow Pembs shredder, Josie Hawke made history last year taking gold across all Junior age groups and in the Women’s Open. Picking up where she left off, Hawke put on a clinic to claim the Girls U16 title at Fresh, also walking away with BCRS Business Loans £250 cheque for the highest-scoring single wave across the Girls divisions.
Josie Hawke said:
“It went a bit onshore for my heat but there were still some waves with shape. I just tried to find the ones that had a wall on them and get some speed, hit the lip!”
“I felt a bit nervous as I do before every heat, but I just treated it like another heat at a local break. It feels great to be champion. It’s good to get another title and I’m looking forward to competing again this year in the Euro’s or the GB Cup.”
Big congratulations also went to local Fyn Bell whose commitment and skill in the waves landed him the PSC Paul Ryder award for most promising young Pembrokeshire surfer.
The Men’s 40+ saw former GB pro, Lloyd Cole (GBSC) dipping his toe back into competitive waters. A combined score of 10.33 was enough to get the Gower shredder to the summit of the podium. In the Men’s 50+, an evergreen Greg Owen attacked the Fresh West lines with characteristic verve to take home his tenth Welsh Nationals trophy.
Greg Owen said:
“It’s great to be champion, I’ve trained for it and it’s nice to come down for the weekend and come away with a good result.”
Despite a variable forecast, enough swell huffed up the Bristol Channel to produce contestable, albeit wind-beaten, waves in the 2-4ft range at Llantwit.
The day began on The Point with the Junior Longboard finals, where competitors dealt admirably with the strong cross currents and made the most of the swell on offer. Delphi Beck went home with gold in the Girls category. Elijah Jones linked up neat carves on a few inside runners to finish on 7.9. Ryan Croucher (Welsh Coast Surf Club) claimed second, and Samuel Adam Johnson (WCSC) third with scores of 4.4 and 3.5 respectively.
Elijah Jones said:
“It’s great to win both the shortboard and longboard in my age category. It’s so nice to get my second Welsh Nationals title.”
Conditions deteriorated for the Women's Longboard final, putting a premium on the kind of local knowledge that Emily Williams has in abundance. She stroked into a stand-out ramp, executed two top turns and held well in the pocket to put herself on course for a 6.77 overall. Amelia Dickinson put in a shift in her debut Welsh Nationals to put her name on the silver medal, while Rachel Cosier (Channel Women Surf Club) and Georgina Lewtas (PSC) came in third and fourth.
Emily Williams said:
“It was super-brutal with the rip. My plan was to catch a few lefts and then go right, and I caught one left which took me so far over [the reef]. I caught a nice right after that, then it went flat for a while which I think helped me a little bit.”
The rising tide woke up the left-hand side of the bay (long-running rights) for the Men’s Longboard final. After representing Wales at the Worlds in El Salvador this spring, Blake Jones (WCSC) and Evan Rogers (CCSC) had momentum on their side, but they had reigning Welsh logging champion Elliot Dudley (CCSC) to contend with.
Jones and Dudley had an early exchange, both combining drop-knee turns and dab-fives to get their accounts moving. Rogers responded with a series of carves on an inside runner. A decisive moment came as Dudley summoned a little wall that kept drawing up out of the rock pools. After bartering through a crumbly section, a soul-arch put the cherry on the hang-ten cake and sealed the deal – “a work of art” said commentator Greg Owen; 7.33 said the judges.
Retaining his 2024 crown, Dudley clocked 15.66 overall. Rogers, 13.8, while Blake claimed third on 6.77. Dudley’s 8.33 ride was the highest single wave score of the contest, granting the local logger Barti’s Wave of the Welsh cheque for £500.
Ryan Croucher (WCSC) drew first blood in the U18 Boys final at mid-tide, then Coby Williams (WCSC) smacked the lip to get an early score. U16 Boys champion, Elijah Jones (PSC) struggled with wave selection, but Tom O’Leary (WCSC) just got into the rhythm, finding himself in the right place at the right time. A 5.57 was the decent return for a cut-back and top turn combo. He backed this up with smart back-hand off-the-top on a set wave and two solid turns that sent buckets of seawater into the rain.
A bronze medal-winner in last year’s U18s, Tom’s end tally of 13.34 nailed down the gold medal, confirming his upward trajectory in Welsh surfing. Also becoming a regular face on the podium, Coby Williams took silver with 7.9. Ryan Croucher claimed bronze, while Elijah Jones came in fourth with 3.8.
Tom O’Leary said:
“It’s my third national title. I didn’t know I’d won it. I was paddling in, watching my dad cheering. I’m stoked. I think I surfed well.”
Josie Hawke’s absence gave added incentive to finalists in the U18 Girls category. Poppy Owen (PSC) needed no further invite, throwing a huge backhand reo and hitting the lip to pin a 5.5 onto the scoreboard in the opening minutes. Pembs’ Katie David waded into the action, dropping into a little pit and executing a lovely bottom turn to forehand carve, posting a 4.17. Another ripper from down West, Delphi Beck made some nice turns on the face, while Caitlin Bazely (CCSC) tackled the tricky conditions bravely to snag a few in on the inside.
But it was Owen who was still hunting as the clock ticked down. She launched herself into a left-reeling wall on her backhand, burying the fins into two huge hacks that contributed to a podium-topping combination of 9 points.
Poppy Owen said:
“I got out of the final not the happiest, I didn’t think I’d won. It was a complete surprise!”
The Men’s 35+ category got underway in mid-tide waves that ran over the reef and fizzled out into deep water. This put pressure on competitors to lay down a statement first manoeuvre. Runner-up in this category last year, Craig Bright (CCSC) opened his account with 5.33 after a foam-climb and a huge hack on a right-hand wall. Gareth ‘Guff’ Vaughan (CCSC) harnessed a nice left, before Elliot Dudley (CCSC) dissected an inside runner with a lovely lay-back. Ryan Thomas (CCSC) went to town on a big lump of channel water, flying across the wall on his backhand, investing a huge hack and pumping through to an inside lip-wallop.
But the day belonged to Craig Bright, going one better this year and finishing in first place with a 9.93. Thomas missed out by a whisker, ending on 8.32. Dudley was just behind on 7, and Guff coming in fourth with 6.7.
If the waves struggled to hold up in the previous final, then conditions deteriorated for the Women’s 35+, making it difficult for competitors to manufacture points. Last year’s Women’s Open silver medallist, Sindia Sosdian (CWSC) laid down a few ‘s’-turns along a face and some nicely controlled drops to register a combined tally of 2.84. It was a tougher day at the office for Wales international Georgina Lewtas, however, who couldn’t quite find scoring opportunities this time around.
GB Surfing Performance Coach, Luke Dillon dropped by to oversee the hotly anticipated Men’s and Women’s Open finals. First up, a stacked Men’s Open between Eli Perrins-Davies (CCSC), Logan Nicol (CCSC), Patrick Langdon-Dark (Langland Board Riders), and Seth Morris (PSC).
Firmly in comp-mode, each showcased powerful manoeuvres with speed, criticality and precision, sending judges to the upper ends of the scorecard. Perrins-Davies used priority effectively early on to stick a huge wrap around carve. This was swiftly answered by Morris in the shape of two big backhand hacks and a fin-blast visible from Minehead.
Hungry for his fourth Welsh Men’s Open title, WQS candidate Logan Nicol put on his usual display of all-action surfing, striking 12 on his backhand to earn an early lead with 6.1.
Patrick Langdon-Dark (LBR), possibly favourite to take the title, laid down statement destructive backhand snaps that took the pro down to Curt’s Corner at Llantwit. A 5.33 was his reward, this was followed up by a 6.27, pushing him into pole position.
Competitors went toe-toe throughout but with the minutes rapidly melting away, Eli dropped into a set wave, positioned low on the bottom turn before blowing the back out of the murky channel halfpipe, rounding off with a nice cutback – clean as a whistle! Cheers flew up from the beach as the Ogmore grom moved into a deserved first place with a combined 13.03.
Men’s Open winner in 2021, ’22 and ’24, Logan had to settle for silver this time around. PLD was in third on 11.5, and Seth fourth on 9.86, concluding a thrilling encounter that could have been anyone’s.
Eli said:
“I didn’t know I’d won it, I thought I’d be lucky to get third. I’m so, so happy; just over the moon. It was really hard work out there, to go up against Pat, Logan and Seth and to beat them, I’m just over the moon. A big thank you to all my family and friends for supporting me.”
The Men’s Open entered a new era, but more drama was to come in the Women’s Open final.
Local legend, Sindia Sosdian pulled into a few waves of substance and score-built steadily to etch 7.3 combined onto the scorecard. Newly-crowned U18 champion, Poppy Owen also got into the thick of the action, lighting up a right-scrolling wall on her backhand with successive power carves for an individual score of 5.
Lewtas (PSC) registered on a few ramps, but Emily Williams was slower to get out of the blocks and had nothing to her name with ten minutes gone. She then clicked into two successive inside drainers to scurry up the scoreboard, still trailing Sosdian by fractions of point.
Washed clear of the priority zone, multiple Welsh title holder Williams looked all at sea as the final seconds passed. Then from nowhere, the low-period swell threw up a small wave and she was straight to her feet, working carves and slashes into a frothy early evening double-up against the drone of the heat buzzer. “What a style bandit” yelled Owen on the mic. The classic buzzer beater pushed Williams to the front on the leader-board, denying Sosdian her first Women’s Open crown. Watch the wave for yourself on YouTube!
Emily said:
“I thought I could see the other girls paddling out, then I realised I was on the inside. I wondered whether or not to get out and run around and get back in the sea. I committed to it and went for it, paddled out, got out the back and 23 minutes were gone.
“A set came through, some broke too far in, or they closed out, then one just reformed and that was it really. As soon as I was surfing it I just thought ‘at least I’ve had a good one’”
In summary, the Puravida MiPost Welsh National Surfing Championships ended a tricky run of forecasts with great waves in Welsh surfing’s spiritual home of Fresh West, and contestable ramps in Llantwit Major. Competitors enjoyed decent swell despite the challenges, and all athletes adapted well to the variable conditions.
Congratulations to all entrants and huge thanks to all involved.
