Johnny Fryer 2012 English Champion
English Surfing Championships 2012
At the 4th time of asking the English Surfing Championships hosted by Extreme Academy at Watergate Bay finally got under way. The storms that had lashed the South west during the week had left a residual dying swell. With this the contest Directors decided to complete the whole of the Mens and Ladies Open Event in just one day. This meant that each of the competitors who made the finals would have surfed 4 competitive heats in one day. This was not only a test of skill and prowess but fitness and stamina would be a deciding factor too.
With 2 -3ft surf rolling through Watergate Bay all day the finals got started in the early evening, Hannah Harding maintained her authority through the heat to take the Ladies English title, the battle for second was awarded to 14 year old Peony Knight, Gabi Rowe taking third and Rachael Taylor coming 4th.
The Men’s Final was an array of progressive surfing from all four surfers, each posting impressive scores, but it was the the consistency of goofy footed Johnny Fryer who attacked on his backhand bagging his second English National title.
The second day of competition generated much smaller conditions, The longboard semi finals took advantage of the clean 1.5ft waves but the organisers luck was beginning to run out. The Southerly wind began to veer to the North and with it the came worse surfing conditions. With no other option than to complete the competition, all five finals of the scheduled finals were held in abysmal 1ft onshore surf. This though, to the surfers in the Senior, Masters and Veteran categories meant they changed their boards to suit the conditions with most opting for super buoyant fish boards and working hard at generating any speed they could muster to get those vital manoeuvers completed.
The Ladies Longboard and with her first English title was won by Emillie Currie who throughout the day had impressed the Judges with her forays to the nose. The Mens Longboard was won by Ben Howarth whose hard work and combination of nose riding and driving down the line in such poor conditions gave him his first English title too.
The English Surfing Federation is a volunteer organisation and would like to acknowledge the support of; Extreme Acadmey, Sharps Brewery, Snugg Wetsuits, Zumbatastic Newquay, Mindless Longboards, Bagabond, SurfingGB, Cornwall College Surf Science Faculty and UK Pro Surf Tour
Results
Mens Open; 1. Johnny Fryer 2. Sam Lamiroy 3. Richie Mullins 4. Gordon Fontaine
Ladies Open; 1. Hannah Harding 2. Peony Knight 3. Gabi Rowe 4. Rachael Taylor
Mens Longboard; 1. Ben Howarth 2. Ben Skinner 3. Adam Griffiths 4. Angus Murray
Ladies Longboard; 1. Emillie Currie 2. Ashleigh Bennetts 3. Nicola Bunt 4. Rebecca Stanhope
Senior; 1. Lee Bartlett 2. Felix Dixon 2. Richie Mullins 4. Gareth Llewellyn
Masters; 1. Martin Connelly 2. Lee Bartlett 3. Chris Harris 4. Paul Barrington
Veterans; 1. Tony Good 2. Andy Sturt 3. Roger Knight 4. Matt Knight 5. Anthony Weight
The Perfect Day
It was a day when you surfed until you just couldn’t surf anymore and your arms were like jelly. You would come up to the car park and grab something to eat and drink and talk about your waves until you couldn’t watch the swell rolling in anymore and go in again. It never seemed busy, only about 15 people in the line up at any one time but people surfed all day and into the night. Keith Williams as I remember was one of the guys who surfed all day on his Chapter Longboard and was catching wave after wave right from outside the wreck right upto the beach where there used to be a couple of lumps of concrete just under the waters edge at high tide. Steve Williams also stood out and seemed a master a riding Compton. Ray Hutchings was doing amazing cutbacks and just knew exactly where to put his board staying right in the critical part of the wave. Clive Richardson togot his fair share of waves too, going left or right seeming to always pick a perfect wall. Jason Matthews was about my age and started surfing at the same time as me, but was a much better surfer than me. Jason was a goofy foot and would smash the lip on his back hand through the inside at Compton.
Johnny Fryer crowned British Champion
Johnny Fryer was crowned the 2010 Quiksilver British National Surfing Champion on August Bank Holiday weekend. The 2010 Quiksilver British National Surfing Championships in Association with with Roxy, Tiger 24, Gibson Guitar, DC, Monster Energy & Fistral Blue saw Twenty-five year old goofy-footer Johnny Fryer originally from the Isle of Wight surfing at his best at Fistral Beach, Newquay to claim the British title.