Sunlight at Scarborough

The UKPSA is back on the road again for the Autumn round of contests. Starting in Scarborough the conditions weren’t good for the surfing but we definitely had some great weather. The 3rd day this year I have been able to sit in my bikini.

It was really nice to catch up with everyone and some old friends. Hanging out around the contest area in the sunshine, van life hit the North Bay – we could have been in France.

Me and Claire doing check-in in the dry for once.

Gordan Fontaine turned up and said the coastline reminded him of the Basque country. Everyone really loved the set up and the Animal bike team put on a good show keeping the crowds entertained.

Another day of waiting on the Sunday to see if by any miracle the swell was going to arrive to run the Pro Junior but it wasn’t to be so we set off on the long journey to Thurso. Can’t wait to start some of the contest surfing over the next few days.

The Officials hard at work

The view from South Fistral

Amazing swell has been hitting Cornwall from the tail end of the hurricanes. With bad weather expected we haven’t been treated too badly.

There’s been some sunshine which has been a novelty for September! Checking out the surf after work today was amazing.

I went for a run at sunset to find heaps of people out and about walking and checking out the stormy surf.

Probably 12ft+ at the Cribbar there was people enjoying the warm but windy evening and the giant waves. I love how the energy seems to make everyone come alive. There was definitely an electric atmosphere around the beach.

Really looking forward the the swell settling down so can get some good surfing in on the evenings.

The Cribbar

Base camp...

This weekend saw the return of the Red Bull Break 5′s team event. A personal contest favourite of mine and one of the best received events on the calendar.

Hitting it up with my partner in crime Miss Evans, we drove down the tiny track to Sandymouth, opening out onto an amazing contest site. SSSI rated National Trust land for location of this event meant not only was it set in stunning scenery, but we were about to witness something special.

For those of you unfamiliar with the idea behind it, it’s about getting back to your roots, about what surf contests used to be like back in the hey day, about kicking back and hanging with friends and cheering for your comrades.

The view from the bedroom/office/event control...

The team are made up of 5 surfers from differing age categories and disciplines i.e longboard, over 50′s, women’s, groms. The idea is that each team can have one pro surfer, and the other members get a ‘handicap’ points system to enable them to better, or come within good striking distance of the elite. The heats are mixed on the first day so girls surf against longboarders, against groms etc and the points system works out the rankings.

With one of the sickest set ups I have ever seen at a contest, and I thought last year was amazing, I knew a great weekend was going to ensue – laughter at my twitter frothage from Friday night was soon understood, as stragglers came in on Saturday morning.

With the usual contest luck it pissed it down. Not so bad if you are donning a wetsuit and off to smash some of the lumpy peaks rolling in. Definitely bad if you are trying to judge from deck chairs on the headland for high tide, and then having to stand behind the pop up tent to try and shield some of the vertical water from blinding you!!! Still, love a bit of extreme judging, it’s good for the soul!!!

To warm us up Red Bull provided food and water… obviously by water I mean fire water and when the bar opened at 5pm with free drinks tokens there was already a queue forming. Ensue lots of bad dancing, partial and full nakedness, dancing on tables and a bit too much Bromance going on (Cotty now infamously dry humping the Carve editors leg!).

Barter's caught stealing free Red Bull... or frightened the beaming light was Cotty setting his sights on his Bum (-blebart!) ?

The second day of event saw everyone surf in their own division. With some more partial nakedness taking place in the heats, and a noticeable lack of free surfers (more taken to sitting hungover on the bean bags then surfing in the howling onshores) it was down to crunch time for the teams. Every judges contest nightmare resulted in a tie for first place…. A surf off ensued between the A*S Bandits from Woolacombe, and Rip Shred from Newquay – with Richie Mullins already celebrating victory, or having hair of the dog, having to bow out of the surf off.

Queue howling onshore gales, the worst rain all weekend and the teepee nearly blowing away. Judging with clipboard in front of me to see through the water dripping down my face it was definitely an exciting final. We were right among the crowd with cheers for both teams from all around. The first exchange was amazing – Oli Adams getting probably one of the best waves I have seen in 2011. It literally came down to the final minute waiting for the last man standing, Stu Campbell, to catch and claim his ride. The sums were done and the whistle blown…. at the final wire the handicap scoring system worked it’s magic and A*S Bandits took home first place.

What a brilliant weekend… cannot wait for next year.

The winning team...

Following on a week later from the Boardmasters 6 star WQS, Fistral hosted the Quiksilver King of the Groms European final, followed by the 4 star ASP Pro Junior. Crowning a new European Junior Champion and Pro Junior champ with the last event of the calendar.

I got so carried away I forgot to take any photos – I know I know, CAN YOU IMAGINE ME WITHOUT MY CAMERA!!! Well that’s a little white lie, I was so busy trodding my well worn path from Boardmasters with score sheets, that I didn’t have time. I’d love to know how many miles I have walked around North Fistral over the last few weeks, have had to invest in a new pair of Celts!!! (Great excuse- right?) I’ve borrowed these photos from my good friend Ester Spears who also writes a blog so check out his musings at http://esterspears.wordpress.com/

Fistral did actually do it’s thing and we had waves for most of the week. The final unfortunately suffered from the curse of the contest and saw tiny onshore mush for the guys battling it out.

Was a superb atmosphere around the event and really great to see some top level surfing from the juniors, the Brit team was out in force showing that their time in France has been paying off. Hats off to Quiksilver for a brilliant contest (the party on the Sunday as the official launch for the Quiky Store at Fistral was amazing – DJ’s, Teahupo’o on the big screen, a BBQ and beers – an awesome way to round the week off!!!)

It’s back to the UK contest circuit for us all for now, with the summer break over. I’m off to practice my Fr-english, and dream of Nutella and cold beers, don’t think there will be any opportunity for me to squeeze a Eurotrip in amongst the last few contests of the year but you never know!!!

Some longboard action from Monday.

Day’s 1-3 of the Relntless Newquay Boardmasters saw sunshine, surf and lots of crowds hitting down at Fistral beach for the first rounds of competition.

The longboard saw difficult conditions with a couple of snapped boards, and some dangerous moments with the rocks. Hats off to the ladies as I would not have wanted to be paddling out in that!

The UK’s Candice O’Donnell progressing to the semi finals of this 6star event taking 2 and 1^st places in her 2 previous heats. Ben Skinner and Adam Griffiths both winning their quarter finals to go through to the semis.

Crowds at Fistral Beach

Yesterday saw nice weather but with smaller surf and swell predicted all week a layday was called. Today sees bigger surf, stronger winds and a bit of rain blowing through. The Open contest is progressing today with the last 4 rounds of round one and through to the round of 96. There are a few of the English contingent lining up nicely for the next round. Mark Harris, Russ Winter, with Jayce Robinson and Ruebyn Ash already seeded through. Still to surf this morning is Oli Adams and George Picking who meet up in the last heat of the round of 144.

Fun times at the Coca Cola area...

Can’t brave the elements to pick up the action today? Tiger24 is streaming today live from the beach. Go to the ‘live’ section of the website and keep up to date with all the action. (Once it is up and running!)

Top Gun Music playing yet???

Despite the indecisive weather I’ve been out and about having heaps of fun  (when I’ve  not been surfing, can’t seem to get enough at the moment!!)

I headed over to RNAS Culdrose Air Day on a flat grey day.  Had heaps of fun checking out the helicopters and planes (not the men in uniform ) and then decided to treat myself to a ride in a helicopter. Was seriously such a rush and if you ever get the opportunity grab it!! We flew over the coast near Porthleven so managed to check the surf and decide we weren’t going to be rushing off with our boards as soon as we landed!!

This started me off on a bit of a Top Gun addiction as I made a little tongue in cheek video edit of my day. By a twist of fate it was showing at Newquay Airport in one of the hangars. Sounds massively random but was part of the Outdoor Screening Season with Event Cornwall. Great venues for classic films. They’ve already had Abyss on the King Harry Ferry.

Popcorn!!

Sitting in the airport next to a plane was quite an experience and definitely worth checking out some of their other events. One I am particularly excited about is going to be Point Break showing on Godrevy beach the 3rd of September. (You can get tickets at Hall for Cornwall) They usually have a bar there as well from SurfGirl friends Nomad Bars (our cocktail guru’s from The Old Grammar School) so it’s quite nice to experience different settings for the movies and have a glass of vino.

Funny how movies seem so different when you watch them years later, it’s definitely not how I remember the film!!… There was lots of hooting and laughing throughout and people had come in fancy dress, lots of jumpsuits and aviators. Such a fun evening. Next up is Robin Hood Prince of Thieves at Pendennis Castle – I might have to don my best Maid Marion outfit and try to rally a group of Merry Men to head over there!!

I feel the need... the need for speed!

One of these men actually works for the Navy!

Great venue

Home for the duration...

Before we get any older I figure I’d pop up my blog about the night surf the other week… AND WHAT AN EVENT! Wow Nike 6.0 really know how to put on a show.

With heaps of beach prescence, freebies, chances to design and win your own shoes (my housemate won a pair – lucky girl!!), not to mention free raffles for Go-Pro cameras, eeeekkk and that was just the day time!!!

Early evening of Friday and Saturday, time for sundowners and the bands kicked off on the stage – music from local bands Sandfire Siren and Albenaza and terribly I didn’t know who else was playing as I was judging and missed them!! Boo.

The crowds lined the water front (some getting a bit too merry and had to be rescued from drunken drowning in front of the masses) and the flood lights went on… I really love this event as it is so different.

High tide crowds

This year saw the addition of the Cash For Tricks rounds during the daytime, displaying aerial surfing in the tricky conditions at Fistral. The guys put on a great display with Reuben Ash getting some huge air time, Charlie Martin busting out a little superman air (blink and you may have missed it – but I was on the binos helping out the french judges so got to see it in full glory!), and many other familiar faces from the UK circuit punting for pounds!!

It really was an awesome couple of days. With the majority of the British Surf Scene all ‘under one roof’ we got to see Ben Skinner busting an air on his longboard in the last few minutes of his final – a great moment to remember. Many of the up and coming groms were shredding and doing their thing and really showing how surfing is coming along in this country under the watchful eye of their coaches. The girls put on a great display as well with some solid turns from Amy Stewart still standing out in my mind.

Judging got a little interesting in the darkness with scores being written by mobile phone light. Lee and Sam Lamiroy commentating by candle light. Well almost… I can’t wait for next year. And the huge firework display that lit up the headland late in the night- FAVOURITE

Barters down the mine!

With the season in full swing a great few days has been had by all down here in Newquay.

Nike 6.0 sponsored the night surf so a weekend of hard work ensued for me (I’ll tell you about that in another post!!)

It all kicked off with a party on Thursday night for the launch of a Nike pop-up shop in town. The Boardshort Bar isn’t a bar as you would expect from Newquay, but in fact a concept shop where you can go and design your own boardshorts and have them printed right there in front of you to wear straight away.

Massively exciting, not only does it bring the huge presence of Nike 6.0 to the town in a big way, backing up their support for an amazing event. But also ensures one of the empty stores on the high street is full for the summer (it’s tough out there for retailers so to keep a town centre vibrant and buzzing in such a way is really great). The idea is to only have it their for the season but I guess it might depend on how busy the place ends up being.

The store itself looks AWESOME with 2 well known faces on the surf scene being head hunted for the design. The Boex brothers work I know well, having ran a store designed by them previously (bizarrely just a couple of doors away from this venue), and they didn’t fail to deliver with this project. Speaking to them on the night they were so stoked that Nike had gotten hold of them to work on the Boardshort Bar “you can’t ask for a bigger brand to recognise your work” said the guys.

Attention to detail is great in what is quite a minimalist store product wise. With a few (gorgeous) pieces of clothing around, the focus is really on interaction; a live broadcast of Fistral on one of the plasma screens, a photo booth – which as you can see we took full advantage of, computers to design wearable works of art, and a lucky dip wax game raising funds for the Joe Way Paddle for Life charity.

A great idea and a wicked party. I wish them all the best… Big thanks to Nike 6.0, Northshore Surf shop, A1 surf for my invite, and Lottie at Boex design for my plus one!!!

beach life

I’m quite lucky with my job as a judge that I get asked to join in some varied contests. Last weekend it was the turn of the Rider Slip Slider event at Porthmeor in St Ives.

I couldn’t believe my eyes rolling down the hill to pumping clean surf and sunshine (standard contest conditions is usually onshore and raining!!)… was a bit late to withdraw my services so had to settle for watching the guys ripping it apart instead of jumping in there!

The comp had such a relaxed vibe around it with everyone coming down and hanging out in the sunshine.

As an invitational event for 16 riders it had a different format to usual contests with everyone getting to surf in 2 heats, their top 2 rides from the day was the requirement for the final.

took a wrong turn and ended up in France?

With no big PA system and scores given at the end of the round we saw a solid display of surfing as everyone tried to better their last ride and their peers.

Tom Lowe pulling a huge air reverse which scored him highest for the day and even got a huge hoot from the judging panel… typically it was a media nightmare as every available camera was involved in an interview or pointing in the wrong direction. I can tell you it rocked to the tune of a 9!!

The waves dropped for the final and it was a battle between Mark Harris and Johnny Fryer for first place. It was so close but Johnny just edged Egor out to take the £1000 cheque. 

Madi and her new board!

Told you it’s been an exciting month…. Had a little bit of shopping excitement with my friends. We hit up Down the Line in Hayle for a bit of Sunday afternoon mooching and ended up coming out with a luscious new board for Madi. Oops!!

She sold her board last year and planned to replace it after working all summer, so it’s been a long time since she had a board of her own. Needless to say we had to go try it out straight away for a sunset session at Sennen (try saying that fast!)

It was a good laugh as the sun went down and Madi got up on her first wave – sheeeeuuuuuwwww gotta love that feeling. Summer’s here, first wave on a brand new board. Frothing!!!

First wave fun