Juniors – 2011 South Coast Surfing Championships
Day 2 of the South Coast Surfing Championships saw an early start at Compton Bay for all involved. After the postponement of the competition on the Saturday and swell due to build overnight, Matt Harwood had asked everyone to be at the beach for 7am for a 7.30am start.
I briefly checked Freshwater Bay on my way to Compton and the swell had definitely arrived. When I got to Compton there was a debate as to whether the competition should be moved to Freshwater Bay or even Niton. I was keen to have it moved to Freshwater Bay but the general opinion was for it to stay at Compton as the bay was out of control (later I was informed that a few guys had attempted to surf Freshwater Bay and had taken an absolute pounding). Matt made the right choice and opted to stay at Compton and start with the Juniors at 7.45am.
As the heats were being read out a huge set came into Compton and it looked really heavy. Extra safety precautions were put into place with the competitors being briefed about how to signal the beach if any of them were unhappy. There were definitely a few concerned faces but water safety was on hand from Chris Mannion and James Ranson if needed.
At one point James Ranson lost his board and was left with a long swim to the beach. Chris Mannion took great delight in this, and paddled over to give James a ride back to the beach telling everyone he had had to rescue James too. James got his own back later by becoming the 2011 South Coast Open Champion.
The Juniors were encouraged to stay on the inside and catch the re-formed waves but the rip still ensured that water safety guys was kept busy when competitors were swept too close to rocks or the wreck. One of the Juniors made it out the back and managed to catch one of the set waves, but it was before his heat had started and he then took about 10 waves on the head before deciding to come in and surf the re-forms with the other competitors.
As the Junior heats went on, the waves on the inside were getting better as the tide pushed up and they put on an impressive performance. Future South Coast Champions were really making the most of the inside waves. The Juniors surfed through to the Semi-finals and then had a break with the final scheduled for the mid afternoon.
The weather was awful with drizzle for most of the day and it was so dark you would almost think it was the middle of winter. This didn’t seem to put people off coming to watch as the car park was completely full and cars were parked all down the road along the grass bank too.
The Girls Junior Final saw IOW Surf Club’s Kirra Bell against Lucy Howell from Shore Surf Club. A brand new NSP surfboard sponsored by Rapanui was up for grabs in this final and both girls started well catching lots of waves. Eventually Lucy got the better for Kirra finding a couple of waves with a short clean wall on the inside to become Junior Girls 2011 South Coast Champion.
It was an all Island Final, and with the boys getting some free surfing in at lunchtime you could see we were in for a great final. It was fantastic to see the the future of Island surfing with Robin Forrest, Matt Townsend, Dom Arnold and Thomas Francis battling it out, wave for wave to become the South Coast Champion. Robin Forrest came out on top with a couple of great waves coming off the bottom and hitting the lip, sending spray everywhere.
Johnny Fryer wins The Saltrock Open!
Saltrock Open
Stop No 2 of 9 on 2011 UK PST
Croyde Beach, North Devon
Whitsun weekend – 28th 29th 30th May 2011
www.ukprosurf.com
Johnny Fryer wins The Saltrock Open!
The Saltrock Open 2011 went off in style this bank holiday weekend and ended with crowning a new champion – congratulations Johnny Fryer!
Saltrock Open
The Saltrock Open stole the show on what is now the busiest weekend of the year in Croyde, and an awesome view of the contest ground gave visitors a real buzz as they rounded Downend Point and came into Croyde. The waves were better than expected reaching 3 -4 ft on Sunday although it did drop off on Monday, and everyone who came to watch saw numerous great performances from the UKs top surfers.
The Men’s Open was strongly contested as predicted and was rounded off by a great final. The lead went back and forth throughout the final with Alan Stokes leading most of the way, then Russell Winter came back strongly only to be overtaken by new champion Johnny Fryer on the last wave of the heat.
The Women’s Open was won by Australian surfer Amy Stewart, and local Stuart Campbell put in a great performance to win the Pro Junior event.
The King of Watersports awards for the highest scoring waves went to Russell Winter with an 8.67 and to Lucy Campbell with an 8.5, both received on the final day of the contest.
Saltrock Open
UKPSA Director Dave Reed was stoked with how the event ran. “Another successful Saltrock contest despite the challenging conditions on the last day. With record entries and great support from Saltrock and Nike 6.0 as well as Marley Mellow Mood and Relentless plus numerous other organisations this well established event will go from strength to strength”
There was a great vibe at the contest with a good strong turnout and loads of spectators despite the grey skies and the rain! Christian Surfers did a great job keeping everyone well fed and watered with fabulous burgers, steaming teas and coffees and an endless supply of Relentless and Marley’s Mellow Mood!
Well done to everybody who entered – it was a great competition and we’re already looking forward to The Saltrock Open 2012!
Results
Mens Open
1st Johnny Fryer
2nd Russ Winter
3rd Alan Stokes
4th Jayce Robinson
Women’s Open
1st Amy Stewart
2nd Gwen Spurlock
3rd Lucy Campbell
4th Celine Gehret
Pro Junior
1st Stuart Campbell
2nd Alex Baker
3rd Luis Eyre
4th Luke Dillon
U16 Boys
1st Will Davey
2nd Harry DeRoth
3rd Max Payne
4th Angus Scotney
U16 Girls
1st Lucy Campbell
2nd Flora Lawton
3rd Emilie Currie
4th Georgia Timson
U12 Final
1st Liam Murray Strout
2nd Cieran Hughes
3rd Gabriel Ley
4th Sonny Timson
1985 Isle of Wight Surf Club Calender
In 1985 The Isle of Wight Surf Club produced a calender for sale to its members. It was pre-printed with all the years events, meetings and the tide times at Compton at the weekends. Highlights for that year were;
Thursday 3rd January – Slides/Talk by Roger Mansfield (Former UK Champion) 7.30pm, Sail Loft, Union Road, Sandown
Friday 18th January – Agm/Video, Teachers Centre 7.30pm
Friday 8th February – Fancy Dress Disco
Saturday 2nd March – Jumble Sale, Wilberforce Hall, Brighstone
Saturday 16th March – Swim Marathon
Friday 12th April – Surf Film/Video
Sunday 26th May – Longboard Contest 3.00pm and barbecue
Sunday 9th June – (Back up date for Longboard Contest) 3.00pm
Friday 21st – Sunday 23rd June – Camping Weekend/Compton Farm
Saturday 6th July – Open Day/Barbecue 12 noon onwards
Saturday 10th August – Paddle Race/barbecue 4pm onwards
Saturday 7th September – Barbecue/Frisbee Contest
Saturday 28th September – Shortboard Contest 10am
Sunday 13th October – (Back up date for Shortboard contest) 10am
Frday 15th November – Surf Film/Video
Sunday 15th December – Cracker Race
If you can shed some light on any of these events please get in touch. Some one told me that the IOW Surf Club won the Cracker Race in Sandown? 3 years in a row???
IOW surf club contest! Compton Bay, Isle of Wight.
Starting this Saturday at 8am, the IOW Surf Club Frost Bite Series! Winter league. One Competition each Month. October to March Six events Best three results to count. So how does it work? The first Saturday of the month that has contestable waves means the contest is on. i.e. a rolling waiting period. Open Division [...]
IOW Surf Club mugs
Over the last few months we have been given these lovely mugs that were given out at the 1982 and 1984 Isle of Wight Surf Club competitions. On the mugs it says they were sponsored by Burts Brewery. We would love to know more about the mugs and the competitions, if anyone has further information [...]
Johnny Fryer – Wavelength Cover
Johnny Fryer made cover for The British Surfing Magazine Wavelength, issue Sept 168 in 2007. The article to go with the cover shot was entitled ‘The Magnificent 7 ride’. It was a piece about a boat trip to Indonesia with a selection of Britain’s best surfers Oli Adams, Gary & Danny Wells, Isaac Kibblewhite, Matty [...]
