Finale

Finale

by Nog Competition news General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

A day which began in the Autumnal chill of a dawn morning blossomed into a beautiful Porthmeor Saturday afternoon beach day to crown our season with a final session of tripping little waves by Mans Head for our juniors and some challenging surf by The Island for our Seniors competition. That early check-in for the comp and a ten o’clock start for the Nemos, Dorys and Swordfish brought us all to a climactic conclusion with a gathering by the surf school for the end of season celebration and awards followed by a sausage sizzle on the beach to cap a fine club day.

Super grom session below:

The competition attracted a healthy number of surfers including some plucky youngsters who fancied a chance to challenge the older cadets. It produced some memorable heats and a keenly contested final graced with the best rides of the day including a trophy winning ten point ride by our eventual champion.

The Finalists

And so to the summation of the summer’s efforts. We gathered our groups in turn for a photo and a commemorative medal before the coaches were given the unenviable task of choosing a surfer from their group in each of these categories: Most Improved, Most Committed and Surfer of the Summer.

If you hadn’t guessed, our banner picture today shows Bobby with Head Judge Jonny celebrating the ten point score which contributed to his championship-winning 18 point total in the final. It was a ride that deserved to belong in a final! Elyse was our Girls Champion and also ran a close second to Bobby in the final with a couple of scores that might well have won on another day.

It was fitting after such a celebratory awards session that the weather invited us to stay and enjoy our BBQ Sausage Sizzle on the beach picnic fashion and build those surf club memories to carry us through to next summer!

It only remains for me to thank our generous benefactors for another season of support of our young surfers. Principal among them is St. Ives Surf School and our magnificent coaches. Your enthusiasm fires those youngsters to meet challenges head-on and thrive in the water. Our many Saturday helpers, both in the water and around the check-in and administration are a boon, and we are always indebted to Porthmeor lifeguards and the management of Porthmeor Beach for their support. And finally, ‘Thank You’ to all our parents for your contribution and engagement with the Saturday morning surf club. See you all in 2025 to go again!

Summer Sign-Off

Summer Sign-Off

by Nog Competition news General Club News Surf Club Events

A Sunday afternoon surf is one of life’s enduring pleasures and our young chargers had the chance to experience it for themselves at our final Kids Club session of the 2023 season. The weather was kind and the waves were friendly – the water as warm as we are likely to find at Porthmeor. Our banner picture shows most of those who came to make this a fitting send-off and was taken as a prelude to the afternoon activities. Our youngest crew had a session with their coaches while the Sharks and Dolphins held a competition further down the beach.

A Harris pile-on. Why?

Those coloured rash vests certainly brought out the competitive element in our advanced surfers. We witnessed a couple of interference calls which scotched hopes of winning a heat and the judges followed the full rules protocol to guarantee fairness and to educated these newbies in the game.

National Champions on the panel
Boys finalists
Girls finalists

And then it was back under the awning for the distribution of prizes and compliments to our high achievers. There were commemorative medals for all participants in Kids Club 2023, and then came the group awards in three categories: Most improved surfer, Most committed surfer and Surfer of the summer. Our coaches found these selections as difficult as always, all youngsters showing distinct improvement over the course of the summer. We then came to the results of the main competition and the time-honoured tease of announcing the result in reverse order. Bobby Smith triumphed in the boys event, while in the girls section Leila retained the crown she won last year. Congratulation to both of them, and to all our competitors for their participation.

The conclusion of the awards was the signal for the committee members to demonstrate their skills at twizzling, balancing and splashing the sauce as we fired up the barbie to share a Sunday Sausage Sizzle among family and friends to toast another fine season of surfing for Saints Boardriders Kids Club ( Super sibilant sentence structure seen there! ). We acknowledge the great support of Tregenna Castle in providing both the food and the beer, while also thanking Porthmeor Beach for chips and hot drinks for all the kids. We feel a depth of love and gratitude to Harris and the surf instructors for their unstinting support, to the check-in crew and administration for another summer of supervision, and Porthmeor lifeguards for another safe season. Our judges this afternoon were Tassie Swallow, Jayce Robinson and Josh Martindale, with Johnny Fryer co-ordinating. Thanks to you all, and to our parents and helpers who made our Saturday mornings tick like clockwork despite the usual car park congestion. We finish with a picture of Jack in a pinny. We haven’t seen enough of him this summer but the day will shortly come when his girls will want to join surf club! NB: Ben on quality control – We never let our standards slip!

The Porthmeor Cup

The Porthmeor Cup

by Nog Competition news General Club News St. Ives Surf School events Surf Club Events

It has been five years since we enjoyed the St. Ives Cup, an Autumn handicap competition between local surfers that was so well-received by the community. Towards the end of last week Harris looked at the surf chart, checked that the tides were favourable and put out the call ” Who fancies it?” On Friday afternoon it was called ‘On’ for 8.30 Saturday morning and around forty competitors checked in for “The Porthmeor Cup”, a new incarnation of that fabled beast. There was a generous support of families and friends on a warm late-September day as the battle began in challenging chest-high surf that tested even the highly ranked chargers and created a thrilling spectacle for everyone on the beach.

Johnny
Jayce
Harris
Giacomo
Jonny
Simon
Deano
Ollie
Marco
Rob
Judges on rotation
Christian
Rob
Dan
Teddy
Scrappy
Kaz
Dan
Charlie
Ben
Ollie
Charlie
Pete
Johnny
Jayce

I fear we didn’t capture all the action, or even all the competitors, on camera over the day, but here are a few more of them and a couple of beach scenes to round out what was recorded by our reporters on the day.

Another judging session
Ben, Jayce and Steve
Jack
Marley
Mick
Timbo post-heat debrief
Owen
Ben
The scene
Ben
Jacob
Ollie
Harris
Simon
Pumps
Hamish
Scrappy
The business end of the comp.
Hospitality tent
Dan – finalist
Johnny – winner
Charlie
Tarps and Pete
Christian
Johnny – finalist
Final line-up
Presentation
Ben collects a prize
Shaun and Johnny
Don’t want this party to end! Note Charlie’s award!

Our thanks are due to Harris and the Surf School crew for running such an ace competition flawlessly. Our gratitude also to Porthmeor lifeguards for their help and support, to Porthmeor Beach for feeding the competitors and to St. Ives Brewery for their refreshing ales. We also recognise the support of our community, particularly the families and partners of our competitors for sharing them with us for a precious day among friends. Thanks too to Barry Walker for the action shots of the surfing and to those competitors who took a spell in the judging chair during the day. Congratulations to all our surfers, and particularly to our champion, and first holder of the Porthmeor Cup, Johnny Fryer!

First BLUd of 2023

First BLUd of 2023

by Nog Competition news General Club News Groms longboarding

Porthmeor saw our first coloured rash vests of the season as Minnow Green brought the Porthmeor Longboard Classic contest to the beach to start the British Longboard Union competitive season over the weekend of April 15th and 16th. It was a busy programme with categories of  Men’s Open, Womens Open, U18, U16, Masters, Grandmasters, Cadets & Single Fin to complete with barely a minute between the finish of one heat and the start of the next. That it passed without a snag is testament to the well-practised teamwork of Minnow’s crew and the enthusiasm of both competitors and officials to make it a joy and a celebration of the noble art of riding the longboard.

We had a few St. Ives locals competing, with Sam Crookshanks taking a win in the blue riband Single Fin class and making the final of the Men’s Open. Ollie Riley and Kaz Phillips made the finals of their respective junior divisions and the Men’s Open saw the competitive debut of Gary Brownsword, and ace bodyboarder Colin Stirling stepping up several board lengths to enjoy a dip along the beach from his familiar Low Tide Boiler locale. Jack Dudley also put in a creditable performance in the Single Fin event. Full results available here.

There are a few pictures from the weekend below and the BLU website has details of their forthcoming events and more to further your interest. Our thanks are due to Porthmeor Beach, St. Ives BID, Tregenna Castle Estate, CTC, 10 Over Surf Shop, Ocean and Earth, Skindog Surfboards and the RNLI Porthmeor lifeguards for their support for the event and Saints Boardriders look forward to hosting the BLU again in the near future for another extravaganza of longboarding on Porthmeor Beach.

Clubhouse balcony judging platform
Sam, toes to the nose
Elliot Dudley
Ollie in action
Single Fin Finalists
Caz cruisin’
Under 16 finalists – Caz second left
Colin in yellow vest
Gary makes the drop
Slipping into September

Slipping into September

by Nog Competition news General Club News Groms longboarding Surf Club Events

Well, our luck continues to hold and a large turnout of surfers enjoyed fabulous conditions for our first September session of this season. Under warm blue skies we had a fine morning polishing our surfing ready for the end of season bash. There were a couple of absentees as Ollie Tarplee and Caz Phillips went off to Newquay to compete in the BLU longboard event, and it’s pleasing to report that they both made their respective finals, Caz placing third in the Under-18 Boys and Ollie coming fourth in the Under-16 Cadets. Well done guys – we’re proud to have you representing the club! Our banner picture shows Ollie in action at Fistral Beach.

Some pictures below from the club session at Porthmeor:

St. Ives Cup – Inaugural Edition!

St. Ives Cup – Inaugural Edition!

by Nog Competition news General Club News St. Ives Surf School events Surf Club Events

Friday 19th October saw a new addition to the local surfing calendar, courtesy of St. Ives Surf School. An open competition for St. Ives surfers was held at Porthmeor Beach in front of a sizeable crowd of surfers and surf fans. It was heartening to see how many good surfers we have in the town – and there are quite a few more who were unable to make this comp at such short notice! Held under international judging rules, but with each surfer having been awarded a handicap according to their ability – the event was designed to give everyone an opportunity to advance through their heat, and thus encourage everyone to push his surfing to the limit.

It was a rapid-fire event as the 4pm start left little time to complete proceedings before dark. Six-man heats and not a moment lost between heats led us to a four man final as the light faded. The judges re-located to the waters edge to get a close-up on a thrillingly tight climax to the day.

Here are some of the faces on show- my apologies to those competitors my lens missed!

There was a nerve-wracking interlude as the judges checked and re-checked their scores from the final. The result was clearly a close-run affair!

 

And then we were ready. First trophy to be decided was Kook of the Day. Giacomo took the honours on this one for running over a grom during his heat. Here he is receiving his award from Teddy.

 

Next up was, perhaps a little more coveted – Move of the Day! Jayce took this for the most outrageous of the several airs that were landed during the contest. Here he is receiving his trophy from Caz!

 

And so to the winner and first holders of the St. Ives Cup. Harry De Roth claimed the prize, from Adam Bayfield in second, Jayce third and the evergreen veteran Tim Whitefield fourth.

Well done Harry!

Senara and Millie give the prize to Harry

Below are our finalists taking a bow. And before we go, we must thank Harris and St. Ives Surf School for another great occasion. This will, I’m sure, be the start of a new tradition in the town. The St. Ives Cup is here to stay. YAY!

Adam, Tim, Jayce and Harry. Our finalists.

 

2018 Final Competition and Prize-giving

2018 Final Competition and Prize-giving

by Nog Competition news General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

Whew! So another summer season draws to a close. It’s the last Saturday of September and time to assess what we have achieved in Kids Club this year. For the junior groups it’s a case of one last coaching session, practising those hard-won skills. First there was an end of term photo, and then we were underway.

Our advanced surfers, meanwhile, were competing further along the beach. The waves were small but contestable as the event began, though they diminished in size through the morning necessitating the use of swellboards rather than their own shortboards for some of the bigger competitors.

The heats and the semis were hard-fought affairs with the small conditions meaning that all the competitors took plenty of waves, keeping the judges very busy back on the beach. Eventually, the places in the respective finals were earned – with a special mention to Millie Rose who abandoned her semis part way through after suffering a weeverfish sting, but had registered two good enough scores to make the final. She was treated at the RNLI station and returned to contest the final undeterred!

And so, we gathered back at the gazebo to admire the table full of glittering cups and learn who would get to take one home this afternoon. Group awards were made in three categories as always; Most committed surfer, Surfer of the summer and Most improved surfer. Here’s a gallery of those who impressed their coaches this summer:

And only then did we learn the results of the finals as the competitors were called in reverse order to gather for a celebratory picture. Lucas Vima collected the Boys trophy, and Elizabeth Hewlett took out the Girls comp. Well done to all our finalists and a particular well done to both our champions! 

There was one last award to be made on the day. Lifeguard supervisor, Lloyd Davies, had found good cause to honour one of our members for his outstanding contribution in helping Porthmeor lifeguards this summer. It’s a special accolade which is not offered lightly – indeed it hasn’t been awarded for several years – acknowledging the help Caz made to the lifeguard team in carrying, fetching, moving equipment, bringing lunches and generally easing the burden on those hectic summer days at the beach. He’s already been earmarked as future lifeguard material! Well done that boy.

In conclusion, may I offer on behalf of saints boardriders our gratitude to the parents and helpers of our junior members for their contribution to the smooth running of the Saturday sessions this year. Thanks  to our judges for their officiating today, and to Porthmeor Beach management for their unstinting support for the club and for feeding our members on this celebration of our season. Thanks to the RNLI, and Porthmeor lifeguards who patrol the beach, in particular to those lifeguards who give their coaching to our kids prior to their work shift on Saturday mornings. And our final thanks goes to Harris and his team of surf coaches at St. Ives Surf School without whose enthusiasm and drive we would cease to function. You guys are the best! 

But before I go, let me remind you that the Surfers’ Ball is fast approaching. Last year’s sell out was widely acclaimed as the best night of the year in the town. St. Ives best-dressed event is on the 26th October at Tregenna Castle. Music from Sandy Acres Seven, Tom Quirke and Ross Williams, and a late night dj . A three course dinner, auction and casino plus those glamorous red carpet photos! All for £30. Tickets are going fast so get yours now. They’re available through both Tregenna Castle and St. Ives Surf School, I hope to see you there!

 

 

Swellboard Shootout 2018 – Conclusion.

Swellboard Shootout 2018 – Conclusion.

by Nog Competition news Fundraiser General Club News St. Ives Surf School events Surf Club Events

Once the judges had seen the teams in their finery, it was off round the town on the traditional parade. Through the Digey, along Fore Street, down Lifeboat Hill, along the harbour and back to Porthmeor for the surfing element to commence. With only ankle-biter waves, and few even of those, it didn’t present the spectacle that previous editions have offered, although the contestants gamely tried the reverse take-offs, switch foot manoeuvres and headstands which have become the currency of progressive teams in the Shootout story.

Here’s a gallery of the day as it developed:

Somewhere in the middle of proceedings we managed to take a break while England won a World Cup football game, before running the final in the smallest, glassiest wave of the day. And then it was all round to The Balcony to wrap up the day with the prizegiving and to get our rocks off to the sweet soul sounds of our favourites, The Sandy Acres Seven. Here’s the gallery that brings the day to a conclusion.

Our thanks are due to Harris and the crew of St. Ives Surf School for another fabulous edition of the Swellboard Shootout. Thanks also to Porthmeor Beach for hosting the event and feeding the participants. Thanks to our volunteer lifeguards, our judges and Pete for bringing an element of order to the day. A big thank you to Maurice Symons of The Sloop Inn for the £200 prize for the Fancy Dress winners, and to Swell for the gift of a swellboard which was awarded to Luciana and Flavio for their selfless contribution to the running of saints boardriders. Thanks to Red Bull for their continuing support of our event, and thanks to the Sandy Acres Seven for bringing the whole day to a rocking finale! We love it!

Swellboard Shootout 2018 – part 1

Swellboard Shootout 2018 – part 1

by Nog Competition news Fundraiser General Club News St. Ives Surf School events Surf Club Events

An all-star super group of Freddie Mercury, Elton John, Iggy Pop and The Artist Formerly Known As Giacomo performed at Porthmeor Beach in the seventh edition of our annual Swellboard Shootout – but were they the stand-out act? There was glorious Sunday sunshine, but only the suggestion of a wave, as we gathered before the judges to parade the teams and process through St. Ives for the wider appreciation of the town before getting down to the semi-serious business of fancy-dress surfing. Have a look at our teams in the gallery below and choose your favourite fancy dress. You’ll learn of our judges’ decision later.

Stay tuned for the next instalment of the 2018 Swellboard Shootout extravaganza!

 

The End Of Term

The End Of Term

by Nog General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

 The last day of September and the last day of term for the Kids Club. The morning followed the usual awards day format with the youngest groups completing a normal session while the older ones competed for a prize under international judging rules. Here’s some of the action:

Porthmeor Beach takeaway served up a complimentary dish of hot food, a hot chocolate and a bag of sweets for each competitor before we gathered for the prize giving. The junior groups saw three awards per group: Most Improved Surfer, Most Enthusiastic Surfer and Surfer Of The Summer, while the seniors’ awards went to the winners of the day’s competition. Pictures below! Our thanks to Porthmeor Beach, St. Ives Surf School, Porthmeor RNLI Lifeguards and the many volunteers who give their time freely at every surf club event. Further thanks are due to Tregenna Castle and The Balcony Bar for their sponsorship and support. We have boogied to Sandy Acres Seven and The Mosquitoes on fundraising nights, and rattled our collecting tins at Tescos in following our grand vision of building a clubhouse. Our thanks to them too! Next up is our Surfers Ball at Tregenna Castle on the 20th of October. Tickets are still available, but they’re going fast. Buy early to avoid disappointment. And so to the awards;