Well we’re one down and there’s two events to go after the second event had to be put on hold due to lack of surf, but will take place on the 5th of September. So make sure you get down to Vazon and check it out. In the meantime here’s a load of shots from The Swoffers Junior Series event number one, a great day and a big success, roll on the next one.
Leaders so far:
U10 – Joseph Gaudion
U14 – Louis Tostevin
U18 – Ben Relph
There are more photos on the way and I’m sure most of you will have seen these ones on the GSC Facebook page already thanks to the amazing talents of Pierre Bisson and James Machon but we thought it was worth popping them on the GSC site as well. Saturday morning saw some lovely clean 3-4ft conditions at T’Others and a good turnout for the Longboarding competition. Both semi’s saw their share of headstands and cheater fives with Chris Ashwell, Stu Blondel, Rob “Weather Fox” Plummer and Jon Le Noury making the final where the odd larger set saw the level of surfing raised even higher.
It was then decided that, weather and conditions permitting, the Men’s Open would run on Sunday afternoon. We were expecting solid conditions but I think it’s fair to say we weren’t expecting conditions THAT solid. When we rocked up to the car park we were greeted by heaving 8-10 ft faces with the odd larger set thrown in for good measure. After a quick straw poll all the competitors agreed that they wanted to surf but rather than having to risk life and limb coming in and out over the rocks and the massive swell for heat changes we’d run one 90 minute heat and put all eight competitors in at the same time (well seven to start with as Matt Le Maitre had to rush down from the boat and join the heat halfway through). From that we’d judge not only the winners but also The Biggest Wipeout, Best Manoeuvre and Most Committed Takeoff. As Jake Warr and Tom Colley first paddled out into the maelstrom and were shortly followed by Johnny Wallbridge, Dan Yabsley, Tim Gaudion, Simon English, Richard David we were unsure what we were going to get. As it turned out what we got was a phenomenal display of guts and ability from all the surfers. The beatings were plentiful but the commitment to get back out into the lineup saw the competitors rewarded with some incredible rides. With 15 minutes to go Johnny’s courage cost him his board as the white water snapped it clean in half, but only after he’d scored a handful of bombs. Hats off to the lot of you an amazing days surfing.
Just the vets and the masters to run now and we’ll be announcing the presentation evening after that.
Stay tuned for more photos in the coming days.
