I don’t know who was more surprised on a recent evening when St. Ives lifeboat Nora Stachura, exercising off Porthmeor Beach and coming hard astern, found Harry De Roth popping up on a wave beneath her. Harry was quickly to his feet and out of there toward the beach, while Nora powered offshore in a muscular demonstration of her own wave-busting potential.
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.
As the tide fell off the bank on Saturday morning we again found good conditions for Kids Club. Wave size varied from 1 to 2 foot at the West end of the beach to a meaty 3 foot plus on the sets by the Island. So from chest-high for the Nemos to chest-high for the Sharks, everyone met a similar challenge in their respective groups. It seemed like all the kids wanted to impress, getting out in the deep for a steep take-off, and remembering to work on style once up and riding.
I try to resist calling a ‘Wave of the day” because it’s clear that many of us are reaching new heights in our surfing as the weeks progress. But I’ll give a shout-out to Matt Burrell in our banner picture for his overall performance this week. There’s a gallery of pictures below of some others who impressed this session -we’re seeing great improvement from these guys, though they’re not the finished article yet!
This week’s Kids Club will long be remembered as the one where we shared the beach and the water with millions of moon jellyfish! We arrived on the morning to find strand lines of them from the high water mark all the way to the ocean – and then found more in the sea once the session got underway. Moon Jellyfish ( Aurelia Aurita ) have a very mild sting which humans find imperceptible, and there seems to be a growing trend to keep them as pets in an aquarium apparently!
Fortunately, even the most squeamish among us soon set our anxieties aside, and the pre-surf lessons plans were put into practice as the warm-ups, then surfing, got underway. Our early start was particularly helpful on the day, as the busiest weekend of the holiday season saw the beach and the sea rapidly filling with people as we concluded our sessions at 11 o’clock.Surf conditions were again favourable for both Swellboards and hardboards, continuing our lucky run of Saturday morning surf.
A gallery of pictures below;
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!
There’s a gallery of pics below of some of the rides that were caught on camera. If you aren’t in there, then maybe next time…
All three elements in the title were present again last Saturday as the Kids Club tackled the punchiest surf of the season so far! Our banner picture shows Josh Martindale executing Simon’s instruction to “Hit the lip” to perfection. There were several candidates for ‘wave of the day’ among the Sharks group on Saturday, but Josh takes the biscuit this time.
Surfer turn out was above 100 again this week, so we should be grateful to the twenty plus coaches, helpers and admin who make it possible to teach such numbers on a weekly basis. One of our pictures this week features two of those volunteers – Tony and Adam Bayfield. You guys are legends! There’s also a picture capturing Harris’s novel ‘wheelbarrow race’ warm-up routine. Don’t expect to see that at a surf comp near you anytime soon!
The hour long sessions seem to fly by – so it’s vital to concentrate to the full to get the best out of your time in the water. There were lots of examples I could find of members giving their best in that department. Here are a few below:
And there is joy and satisfaction for both surfer and the helping hands when the pop-up leads to a good ride. Our final few pictures for this week capture some of those moments when that teamwork is in evidence!
Well, the last couple of Saturday mornings have given us both surf and some fine weather – and that has meant bumper attendance figures for both days. June 27th was mega with 117 surfers that morning, and yesterday was close behind with 100 kids getting in the water! That June day brought some punchy 2 foot waves which challenged everyone to bring their ‘A’ game to the water, while yesterday began with raft-building on a flat ocean before a clean foot-high swell rolled in allowing the Nemos in particular to show off their newly-acquired skill.
Matty’s Hokey Cokey warm-up with porcupine quill tresses!
Oscar under close supervision
It’s been great seeing how well the safety information is being absorbed at the pre-surf prepping and warm-ups. The best feedback an instructor can get is that forest of hands shooting up when he asks the group a question.
This is how you do it!
Whoops!
Man overboard!
Mum sneaks a crafty wave for herself
And there has been some good progress in the water too! Hopefully the waves and the weather will continue to co-operate and we can cram as many Saturday sessions as possible into this summer.
We’ve all enjoyed the benefit of the coaching delivered by St. Ives Surf School, and at the annual surf industry dinner in Newquay last weekend, Harris and his team were honoured to receive the national award of Inclusive Surf School of the Year for 2014. They were nominated by The Wave Project – the charity group who follow our juniors into the water on Saturday mornings with their own junior surfers and work with the surf school coaches to develop the skills and confidence of those children through their surfing. The school and the Wave Project have been working together for three successful years now, and have brought many youngsters through the scheme already.
With regard to the surf schoolâs work in the local community, Saints Boardriders and the Wave Project are only a part of what it offers!  There are Ladies Nights in the early summer when the girls can share their own fun surfing sessions in the evening sunshine.The surf school has become a popular venue for kids birthday parties – a surf lesson and a picnic from the beach cafe releasing the parents from all the stress of entertaining the children!
Rippin’
It also provides tuition to an after-school surf club from one local school, and hosts an activities week for classes from another.In a new departure, the past summer saw the school entertaining a mixed- age group from a Camborne village with an all-day beach camp encompassing surfing, bodyboarding, volleyball, sand-castle building and an evening session rock-pooling for the younger children.
For nearly twenty years now, the school has been a much-loved activity for the Chernobyl Children who are brought to St. Ives from Belarus by a local charity each year for a holiday which also incorporates health checks, dental checks and dietary supplements to improves their life chances. This yearâs group spent two days of their visit with the school, and they improvised an impromptu song in gratitude when it was time to leave.
The annual Fancy Dress Swellboard Shootout that the surf school organises has become an important attraction for the surfing community and draws a full complement of teams and a bumper crowd of spectators to Porthmeor on International Surfing Day. It has provided a good size annual donation to the funds of itâs regular charity Surfers Against Sewage for several years now.
We should also remember the Beach Surf Cinema which the Surf School springs on us once a year. It has been a summer evening treat recently, and unfailingly blessed by perfect weather!
At the flicks – Porthmeor style!
Some, or all, of the above-mentioned examples of the St. Ives Surf School’s involvement in enabling participation in the sport must have been among the reasons why it was awarded the prize of Surf School Of The Year. It is richly deserved, and I for one am delighted that itâs here in our town on our beach. Well done Harris and his team!
British titles were at stake last weekend in the thundering surf at Fistral. Jayce Robinson and Harry De Roth were there presenting St. Ives’ challenge for the crown, with Jayce seeking the added bonus of taking the UK Pro Surf Tour title as well. He needed to produce a better performance than leader Alan Stokes to snatch the title at this last event of the tour. The surf was monstrous and messy. The proposed running order was changed to put the Mens Open in the water first, and heats were extended to 25 minutes with a 10 minute paddle-out to give the competitors a chance of finding two good scoring waves. Round One was completed and the contest director moved straight to round two, deeming conditions to be still too challenging for the Masters, the Seniors. the Veterans or the Ladies. Harry had won the opening heat of round one, and proceeded to do the same in round two. Next heat featured Stokesy, and he had a shocker. He was eliminated from the competition, and Jayce, who was already out back for the next heat, could win the tour title by progressing through the heat – though he had little chance of knowing Stokesy’s result with the howling gale making the PA commentary unintelligible from the water! However, he duly won the heat and learned the great news when he returned his vest to the beach marshall.
You’ve won the tour, Jayce!
Competition resumed in slightly lighter surf on Sunday afternoon with Harry up in the first semi final. He was again in good form. holding first or second place to the hooter, only to be beaten when the final scores dropped after the surfers were coming back up the beach. He and Micah Lester had tied for second, with Micah progressing by virtue of having the highest first wave score!
So near and yet so far!
In the second semi final, Jayce wasn’t to be denied, and he took that winning vibe into the final where he pushed the competition’s in form surfer, Sennen’s Seb Smart, into second place to complete a great weekend’s work.
In fact, it completed a great season’s work, as Jayce has achieved the phenomenal feat of claiming the Triple Crown of English, British and UK Tour titles in a single season. Brilliant! You can see the champ in action at Porthmeor whenever there’s surf – though you’ll have to wait until he and the surf school crew return from their RnR trip to Bali from this weekend! You’ll agree with me, I’m sure, that Jayce, Harris and the boys have earned their tropical surf holiday this year!
The last day of British Summertime for 2014 offered our best chance to hold the final club competition of the year and find our junior champ. There was a good turnout from groups 5,6 and 7 all keen to show off their chops in some very surfable waves. The judging criteria was strictly International Surfing rules, unlike the earlier nippers’ event, but the competitors were undaunted and worked hard on their turns to impress the judges.
A distinguished panel of judges
After the opening round and repechage , the seeded surfers made their entry into procedings and pushed the standard of surfing to a higher level with some big drops and critical turns on the green waves on offer out back.
Lilly completing her ride
Jay looking for points
Harry trimming
There were some close heats bringing elation and disappointment in equal measure, but the quality of sportsmanship and goodwill toward fellow competitors was a credit to all participants.
Good effort mate!
The final itself was contested between Taylor Bairds, Jack Tarplee, Matt Burrell and Josh Martindale. Josh got off to a flyer with two strong scores in the opening five minutes, and could  not improve on them as the other guys worked their way back finding good waves of their own. As the final hooter sounded his lead had held by a mere 0.3 of a point. Close one that! Jack Tarplee claimed second, Matt third and Taylor fourth.
There were no losers on the day as all surfers received their SurfingGB Junior surf scheme certificates for achieving level 1 this summer.
Charlie Smith collects his SurfingGB certificate
Then RNLI supervisor Lloyd Davies and Porthmeor Head Lifeguard, James Symons made their awards to the groms who had shown the most initiative in aiding the lifeguarding of the beach this season, with the overall trophy awarded to Matt Burrell.
Lifeguard trophy winner Matt Burrell
Charley Fox claimed the Girls Trophy for the highest finishing girl on the day – Â a well-deserved reward for the hours of training she has dedicated to the sport this year!
Girls Champion Charley Fox
And the main prize and new wetsuit courtesy of  Tregenna Castle, went to Josh Martindale. Well done Josh!
The Champion with his swag!
Saintsboardriders thank Porthmeor Beach management and St. Ives Surf School for their continuing support for our club. Six years on from our rebirth on the beach we have over 120 Junior members and our Saturday Morning Surf Club is a sight to behold as those yellow-vested kids are led through their warm-up routines at the waters’ edge. Thanks also to all the volunteer instructors who give their time freely to club days, and to the Porthmeor RNLI lifeguards for their help and support.
Prizes for this years’ contest were donated by Robies Robes, Rip Curl, Tregenna Castle, Tombstone Surf, Off The Beaten Track, Natural Balance and Windansea. We ask our members,friends and supporters to show their appreciation of this generosity by supporting these local businesses with their custom.
And a bumper reward for readers who have got to the end of this report! Here’s gallery of photos from the competition! Enjoy.
