Over the weekend we had the 3rd event of the Uk Pro tour at Fistral beach with the Gul Night Surfing event.It was sunny condtions and amazingly 3-4 ft surf which doesn't happen very often in the UK !!!
The event started at 3pm on friday and ran up until midnight each evening over three days with the beautiful sunset and of course England playing there 2nd game in the world cup the Fistral surf bar was packed !!!!! and of course the surfing finished early that night !!!! and so should of the football after England's crap effort !!!
Anyway back to the surfing, Toby Donachie had just returned from Australia having some intense training with Martin Dunn one of surfing best coaches to date and was looking fast and sharp in the open but fell short of another wave coming 3rd in the semi.
In the Under 16's it seems to be the same four guys sharing the wins in the UK contests this week it was Miles Hargreaves taking it out with Quik rider Luke Dillon 2nd KOTGS winner Jobe Harris 3rd and and Will Davey 4th.
On the Sunday the surf still hanging around and the sun still shining they sent the micro groms out the under 12's and this time it was a new young face taking out the event Liam Strout beating our new team rider Max Payne in 2nd Will Baily 3rd and another Quik team rider Harry De Roth in 4th.
Just to keep you all in the loop see you soon in Spain for the KOTGS !
Cheers Spence
Seasession surf Xpression sessions in association with Quiksilver
The Seasessions Xpression session sponsered by Quiksilver and Reltentless will pit the best of Irelands Under 18's hotshots against the top Irish free surfers.
The competition format will reward big moves rather than tactical surfing with the winner. The expression session will be decided on the best move or best wave depending on conditions.
Quiksilver are providing a week trip to the Quiky Pro and will get an all expenses paid VIP trip to the Relentless Newquay Boardmasters and a wild card entry to the WQS event. Quiksilver will also be providing spot prizes for the event. The top Irish free surfers will compete against the winners of the Bundoran Boardriders Junior contest.
The contest will run on either the saturday or sunday depending on conditions. Below is a list of those invited.
Aaron Reid
Cain Kilcullan
Damian Conway/Ollie Flatterty
Nicole Morgan
Easkey Britton
Ronan Ortzen
Steven Kilfeder
Winner of u18 Bundoran Comp
Winner of u16 Bundoran Comp
Local Wildcard
Hugh Galloway
William Newmarsh
Local wildcard
The festival will also be showing Relentless Powers of three, From the Shadows and Lives of the artists on a 10foot lcd TV. Mickey Smith and Barry Britton will be a few of the top names who will be displaying their art at the festival for anybody else whose art is inspired by the ocean or waves and wants to get involved email seasessionsart@gmail.com
Hi All,
After packing up the car in Newquay and setting of up the N/W coast of England to catch the Ferry to one of my favorite places in the world (Ireland). To a spot called Strandhill on the west coast which has some of the best waves in the world !! I was greeted by a mob of groms with 2ft waves and sunny sky's it was perfect for the 2nd leg of the UK & IRL Quiksilver KOTGS. With some great surfing from the up and coming irish surfers boys and girls looks like Ireland will be a strong force in years to come thoughout Europe.
Last years runner up Larom Madden from Bundoran ment bussniess from the word go ! and looked favorite to take out the under 16's this year with powerful turns all the way to the beach.
In the under 14's with some of the best surfing ive seen was a small lad by the name of Gearoid Mc Daid only just turned 13yrs of age was ripping and in my eyes could of had a good dig at taking out the older division ! scoring 7.5 and 8.0 to win hands down cant wait to see him in Europe !!!! A great turn out from the Queens of surfing with the Irish lasses showing they can mix it up just as good as the boys it came down to the dying seconds of the final where Niamh Kelly scored a 8 point rider to win over Eva Martin but great surfing from all the finalist .
So at the end of the day it was a clean sweep for the Bundoran ripper in the under 16's Larom Madden who is crowned Ireland Quiksilver's King of the Groms. alongside him was Gearoid who also has earned himself a place in the European final in Zarautz on the 30th & 31st July. Also new team rider to the European Quiksilver team .
Again we used the computerized judging RideScoreSystem, which proved to be very successful over the weekend, so scores and positions were constantly relayed to the competitors” and had a great response from all the groms and happy parents who were constantly updated thoughout the heats knowing how there keen little rippers were getting on.
Full press report will follow along with action shots .
See you in Zarautz keep surfing Spence
Swans Rule at Quiksilver Welsh Nationals
Adam Jenkins is our new Welsh Champion claiming victory in a highly competitive and hard Fought final keeping the title in Swansea once more.For a third year in succession the event was blessed with great waves and even better weather as competitors revelled in the 2-4ft surf and spectators basked in glorious sunshine. A mammoth 12 hours of competition took place on Saturday in an effort to maximise the great waves on offer which whittled the event down to the semi finals in all divisions. Some great surfing was witnessed from Wales finest especially from our girls some of which had decided to enter the Open division in the hope of ruffling some feathers. And ruffle they did with Jo Dennison and Gwen Spurlock upsetting a few of their male piers by progressing through to round two.Aside from the girls taming the men, there was great surfing from Harry Cromwell, Max Tucker, Gareth Vaughan, Colm Garrett and Rhys Morris in the early rounds as the guys let loose in the pumping swell. Josh Hughes was day one's stand out laying a series of powerful snapping gouges identifying him as a clear favourite. A killer rip was the only black fly in our Chardonne reaping havoc in the Quarters as our competitors struggled to hold position which left many frustrated, exhausted and out!
Saturday's marathon day proved to be a good call with Sunday producing difficult conditions thanks to a strong cross shore wind messing up the 2-3ft surf which deteriorated as the day progressed. This didn't affect the action as our semi finalists took to the water with renewed vigour knowing a place in the final and a shot at the title was up for grabs.
Open semi one saw Blyth and Vaughan take out Max Tucker who needed just a small score to progress only to be denied by Mother Nature. Josh Hughes nailed his place in the final with conviction whilst Jenkins speed saw him progress at the expense of longboard supremo Dudley riding 4ft less fibreglass than normal.
In a tightly fought final the momentum remained with Jenkins the Langland surfer picking off two rights with clean faces allowing him to bash a couple of solid turns to squeak past first time finalist Rob Blyth, former champ Mark Vaughan and favourite Josh Hughes. Clearly
delighted with the win, Adam was lost for words leaving the smile to tell the story, claiming the title previously held by good friend Lloyd Cole (unable to compete due to injury). There was further good news for Swansea as Beth Mason took out the women's title and Nick Dowrick the Longboard crown. The level at which the girls are now surfing is incredible with any of the girls capable of winning. In a day all about catching the right waves it was this that settled the final as Beth's superior wave selection saw her nudge past Jo Dennison, best mate Gwen Spurlock and first time competitor Lisa Dennis. Dowrick's win in the Longboard was perhaps the biggest shock of all beating none other than 2xEuropean champion Elliot Dudley with great foot work, well worked walls and some good timing with the sets, this left OJ Freshwater in 3rd and the ever green Colin Bright in 4th.
Only Greg Owens win in the Seniors stopped a clean sweep for Swansea. Owen added the Senior title to his Masters title won back in May for an old boys double thanks to a count back victory over Mark Vaughan who showed extreme sportsmanship by placing the event on hold, by deciding to wait for Greg to get out of bed for their semi final heat! Chris Seage and Stuart Beale the other two finalists placing 3rd and 4th respectively put in some great surfing to make the final closely fought.
As the crowd assembled for the now customary presentation in the sun with the magnificent back drop of Freshwaters dunes and surf, there was time to draw breath and reflect on an eventful weekend's action that included three tourists lives being saved by two of our competitors Dean Gough and Rob Blyth, well done gentlemen!
The trophies and Quik goodies were awarded to our finalists by WSF President Huw John, and the thanks yous passed out. A huge thank you went out to Liam O'Shea and Meena Rajput as our sponsor at Quiksilver as well as:
The National Parks, Pembrokeshire Coast, RNLI, Jamie Bateman, Mark
Vaughan, Anne Blyth, Kate Blyth, Bob Freshwater, John Purton, Norman
Wright, Tim R, Rona Spurlock, Huw John, Stuart Bentley, Gareth Vaughan,
Breige Lawrence, Tom Anderson, Anne Marie Hughes, Lee Morgan, Store It
Wales, Lloyd Cole, Adam Jenkins and Eryl Mason.
See you next year !
Open
1st Adam Jenkins
2nd Rob Blyth
3rd Mark Vaughan
4th Josh Hughes
Women
1st Beth Mason
2nd Jo Dennison
3rd Gwen Spurlock
4th Lisa Dennis
Longboard
1st Nick Dowrick
2nd Elliot Dudley
3rd O J Freshwater
4th Colin Bright
Senior
1st Greg Owen
2nd Mark Vaughan
3rd Chris Seage
4th Stuart Beale
Bodyboard
1st Simon Bevan
2nd James McGreggor
3rd Emily Roberts
Julian Wilson draws wildcard into Sri Lankan Pro
A fully fit and recovered Julian Wilson (Australia) is ready to launch himself onto the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Star Tour at next week's ASP 6-Star SriLankan Airlines Pro which will run at the famous Arugam Bay pointbreak on Sri Lanka's superb south east coast.
Wilson is one of the world's most exciting, progressive, new-age surfers capable of outstanding performances in all conditions.
A serious ankle injury and subsequent operation severely disrupted his 2010 year-to-date, but he has recovered and the 22-year-old, Queensland surfer is looking forward to tackling the ASP tour with the ultimate aim of qualifying onto the elite ASP Dream Tour.
"Before this season began I set a high goal to qualify, but the injury certainly set me back a fair way and has taken close to four months to heal," said Wilson.
"Over the past month, it has rapidly improved and I've edged my way back into competition with events in the USA and Brazil last month and right now coming into Sri Lanka I feel like I'm finally prepared and ready to go."
"There's a lot of the ASP qualifying season to go this year and I have not ruled out the possibility of chasing ASP World Tour 2011.
As an ideal lead up Wilson just spent a week in Western Australia surfing with Taj Burrow and Mick Fanning.
"None of us know this wave at Arugam Bay, but we've heard it's a great high performance set-up so it's exciting to be heading to a new location and I'm very grateful to accept a wild card into this event, » added Wilson.
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