A final Saturday for the season

There comes a time when you have to let go. Our young surfer in the header picture has reached that point, and, indeed, so have the rest of the 2016 cohort of saints boardriders. Saturday was our last session of the season with only the grand finale on Sunday 25th to come. There will be group sessions for junior surfers, and a comp under standard judging rules for the Dolphins and Sharks. Here’s hoping for a fine day and great surf as we say goodbye to our 2016 sessions!

In the meantime here’s a gallery of pictures from Saturday.

A Gentle Saturday Surf

by Nog General Club News

Saturday 27th August brought us a small wave – we might call it Nemo-friendly! It served our mini groms very well, and they had a particularly fun session. Tandem rides and tricks were much in evidence. As usual, there were also a few steeper, more testing waves for the older surfers, so all-in-all, a fine day was had by everyone!

Counting Our Blessings

by Nog General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

As we come to the end of our rash of postponements due to Saturday morning high tides, we are now anticipating another threat to our weekend session in the form of a predicted huge swell for the weekend! While we see how that plays out let us count our blessings that the sessions we have been able to run so far have all offered pretty decent conditions. Last Saturday was just such a case, and while the National Nippers Surf Lifesaving competition in Exmouth cost us a great numbers of absences, there were still 75 surfers took to the water.

I felt I detected some surfers’ attentions were beginning to focus on the end-of-season competition as there were several examples of trick rides on display as well as some traditional polished surfing to admire. The gallery below shows some of the action. Let’s see how that weekend forecast pans out!

Hokey Cokey

by Nog General Club News Groms Surf Club Events Top Shots

That old music hall routine is one that many of our groups use in their warm-up, and it aptly describes the nature of our Saturday mornings so far this season. In – out – in – out the high tides have cost a fair few sessions.

Last Saturday saw 105 kids enjoying perfect conditions – a gentle surf with enough grunt even for those surfing their own shortboards to bag some peelers. There was some good surfing on show throughout the groups, and I’ll offer additional props to the members of the Sharks who put in a great hour helping the more junior groups before their own session commenced. Great work guys and gals!

There’s a gallery of some of the action below.

Waves a’ plenty

by Nog General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

A blustery Saturday morning saw a rippy low tide offering some chunky waves to the Dorys and Nemos in the 9 o’ clock session. It required a large corps of instructors, helpers and parents in the water to get the kids on the waves. Nevertheless, despite the wipeouts, inevitable collisions and numerous duckings, the smiles told us that a challenging day in the surf is fun!

A Team Huddle

Even the sharks surfing out back found themselves tested by the conditions, and all the intermediate groups were also pushing themselves to get on the larger, steeper waves. Attendance was again over 120 surfers, all keen to keep the Saturday morning vibe despite the disappointing run of cancellations due to early morning high tides. There’s more on the next two alternate Saturdays, but then we see an unbroken spell for a while to get into the groove as the school holidays begin. All we need are waves! Some Saints below…

The Early Bird

by Nog General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

It’s the early bird that catches the worm, so the saying goes. Well, we could have caught dolphins, jellyfish and even sand eels at Saturday Club this week. All were on show, but it was waves that we were after. 132 kids took to the water this week in search of that particular thrill we find in waveriding, and there were waves for everyone.

Simon and Josh put the advanced surfers to the test with some video analysis.

The gallery of pictures below gives a flavour of how the morning went – it’s not a non-stop surf fest! And the warm weather encouraged quite a number of families to make it a beach day -some even enjoying a late surf in the early evening glass-off. Ah those summer days!!

Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

by Nog General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

Well, today’s title, borrowed from Nat King Cole’s breezy song, is almost a farewell to Kids Club’s 2015 season. Our last Saturday outing before the end-of-season contest offered some decent surf conditions for our coaches to make a final assessment of how our junior members have progressed this year.

We have taken a great deal of pleasure from the Nemos and Dorys, the newest and youngest intake to the club – particularly in having their parents or elder siblings in the water with us giving the sessions a real family feel. For the older and more experienced groups we’ve structured the fun around the SurfingGB junior surfer scheme, and tried to instill good surfing and safety practice into their time in the water. The picture below shows some of the Sardines group with Porthmeor head lifeguard, James Symons, learning that vital knowledge of how to make a phone call to the emergency services should they witness a dangerous situation on the beach.

This is one of the fundamental skills required to pass level 3 in the junior surfer scheme. Our two images below show Luca and Matty smashing the close-out to finish a ride in fine style having got as much as the wave offered. That’s what we’re after!

So, only the end of season contest remains. I’ve seen some of the kids out polishing their moves during these last few days of the summer holidays. Expect to see the buddhas, cockroaches, coffin rides and ( without giving too much away ) some headstands in the fun shoot out. And fingers crossed for some good waves for the senior groups to show what they can do under traditional contest rules. 12th of September it is then !

Here’s a gallery of pics from Saturday:

Surfin’ Saturday

by Nog General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

Eighty eight surfers turned out for the Saturday club this week on a blustery, cool morning. The surf was chunky, with some strong rips on the inside, and a bumpy face on the set waves. Our banner picture shows our youngest member, Deja, putting her dad through his paces. Some of the groups have developed routines and themes – the hokey cokey being one particular example. Our picture below shows the Mackerels gathering for a team cheer at the end of their session.

There were plenty of waves for everyone, and a small gallery below captures some of those rides.

There will be no Saturday morning surf club next week due to adverse tide times.

It’s A Beautiful Day

by Nog General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

Another fine Saturday morning dawns, and again we have waves – at least large enough to interest our smaller members. A turnout in the mid-80’s was taken through lessons which included learning how to paddle out pushing the board up into the oncoming wave, and how to speed up and slow down once you are on the wave.

With the advanced groups, surfers who might be at a beach unaccompanied by a parent or adult, the small conditions gave us a chance to introduce them to Porthmeor Beach’s Head Lifeguard, James Symons, who explained how to make an emergency phone call if they should witness an incident – and what information they might be expected to provide to the call handler to help get the most effective help quickly. An accurate location, the nature of the incident, the number of casualties involved, are there people already attempting a rescue – possibly a good assessment of the weather conditions if an air ambulance should be requested – and so on. Some members of the group were then handed a phone to make that call to the call handler having been given an imaginary scenario to describe. We hope never to find ourselves in such a situation, but being prepared to deal with one is a vital skill for any surfer!

And then those groups got their chance to paddle out, and were last seen disappearing round the corner into Foxholes on a surf safari. It’s been an unsettled summer, weatherwise, except for Saturday mornings at Porthmeor which have blessed us with enough of both sun and surf to keep enthusiasm firing among saints boardriders! A gallery of today’s action below:

Kids Club ( Continued )

by Nog General Club News Groms Surf Club Events Top Shots

There is a phenomenon at the very top of world surfing at the moment known as the Brazilian Storm. It refers to the posse of surfers from that country who have suddenly arrived at the peak of international competition in the sport. Well, Saints Boardriders has it’s own Brazilian Storm in the persons of Flavio and Luciana Favero, seen on check-in duty last Saturday in our banner picture.Their organisational skill has transformed the running of the club into a pretty hassle-free affair, and Luciana even finds time to get in the water with the coaching staff every week and help the nippers into the waves. Both can usually be seen running down the beach for their own surfing session once their club duties are complete. You guys rock!

Attendance this week was in the mid-80’s – our lowest of the season so far, though this is likely explained by the number of absent members who were competing in the surf life-saving event at Portreath on the day. Our day went well in the water with some punchy waves challenging the surfers to hang on and enjoy the ride! Here’s baby Alba checking out the action with mum, Lauren Ringer – expect to see both of them out there in the near future!