Great Year For British Surfing

IT HAS been a good year for competitive surfing in the UK and North Devon riders have been in the thick of the action.

Surfing GB seems to be getting its house in order and ended the year spectacularly with the British Nationals at Fistral, where Will Bailey, from Georgeham, secured the under-14 title.

It was a great feat against a super-competitive bunch of future stars. In fact, they are so good that many have also competed on the UK Pro Surf Tour, venturing to Scarborough, Thurso in Scotland, Wales and, of course, Newquay.

Another great Tour performance came from Stuart Campbell, of Woolacombe, who pushed really hard in the open division all season. His solid performances put him within a whisker of the title. Maybe next year.
Garin Clay, from Braunton, secured the crown in the under-12 division of the Pro Tour.

Croyde Surf Club capped a good year when its combined team won the British Inter Club trophy on home soil.

Saunton Hotdoggers have been dominating the longboard scene with Ben Haworth, Zak Lawton and Alex Maddocks leading the charge nationally and in Europe.

It has been a pleasure to watch Braunton's Andrew Cotton over the year as he has continued to push the boundaries of what is surfable, challenging the biggest waves in the world to become arguably the UK's most successful surf export.

The overriding impression I am left with of 2012 is of a vibrant, flourishing surfing community.
For 2013, though, we would like a little less rain, a bit more swell and as much sun as possible, please.
I could carry on gushing about the highlights of the year, but following the terrible flooding in Braunton I wanted to send a message of support.

The village is home to some of the country's most recognisable surf brands – Tiki, Gulfstream, Hunter.
The weekend's events have been a big blow at a critical time of year and I would like to encourage everyone this festive season and beyond to shop local and support these guys and all those affected.
Go on, treat yourself to a few goodies and you will be helping support local jobs and families.

ASP International Releases 2013 Tour Schedule

COOLANGATTA, Queensland/AUS (Thursday, November 15, 2012) – ASP International has released its tour schedule for 2013, outlining events for the ASP World Championship Tour (WCT), ASP Women’s WCT, ASP Prime, ASP Star, ASP World Longboard Tour (WLT), ASP Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS), ASP World Junior Championship (WJC), ASP Pro Junior Tour and ASP Specialty events.
All schedules are subject to change and the ASP will continue to release information regarding event confirmations and scheduling when appropriate.

2013 ASP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TOUR:
- Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast – March 2 – 13, 2013
- Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach – March 27 – April 7, 2013
- Billabong Rio Pro – May 8 – 19, 2013
- Volcom Pro Fiji – June 2 – 14, 2013
- Billabong Pro Teahupo’o – August 15 – 26, 2013
- Hurley Pro at Trestles – September 15 – 21, 2013
- Quiksilver Pro France – September 27 – October 7, 2013
- Rip Curl Pro Portugal – October 9 – 20, 2013
- Billabong Pipe Masters – December 8 – 20, 2013

2013 ASP WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TOUR:
- Roxy Pro Gold Coast – March 2 – 13, 2013
- Drug Aware Pro Margaret River – March 16 – 24, 2013
- Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach – March 27 – April 1, 2013
- NZ Surf Festival – April 3 – 7, 2013 *Tentative
- Beachley Classic *Tentative
- Rio Pro – May 8 – 14, 2013
- Roxy Pro Biarritz – July 10 – 14, 2013
- US Open of Surfing – July 22 – 28, 2013 *Tentative

A full 2013 schedule can be accessed HERE


The 2012 ASP season will conclude with the ASP World Longboard Tour events in China, the Swatch Girls Pro China hosted by Wanning and the Citic Pacific Shenzhou Peninsula Pro, as well as the Vans Triple Crown in Hawaii, comprised of the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa, the Vans World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach and the Billabong Pipe Masters.
All LIVE surfing action can be accessed via www.ASPWorldTour.com

Surfing for ex-Forces

A surfing charity for ex-service personnel, which was started in Cornwall, has been highlighted at a conference with other veterans' charities.

Members of Surf Action which is now based at the Heartlands Centre in Pool, attended the conference on Armed Forces' and Veterans' Health at Newton Abbot.

A DVD was shown to attending parties highlighting the links between work and health, families and service families and veterans and their health.

Surf Action provides holistic support and signposting for veterans and uses surfing to help rebuild motivation and confidence and develop employability skills.

"It was good to see a positive direction in the collaboration between organisations working to help ex-service personnel," said Rich Emerson, Surf Action founder.

"If, in future, it were possible for the service users' (ex-service) voice to be more represented at these events that would improve the chance of the best outcomes for all."

Boscombe Surf Reef Builders in Liquidation

ASR, the New Zealand-based compnay that build Europe first artificial surf reef in Boscombe has ceased trading. The reef which cost over £3 million has been out of action since May last year, after it was damaged by a boat propeller. ASR had been due to carry out repairs in May.

Bournemouth Borough Council claims the reef "has been a fantastic success".

The authority said news of ASR's liquidation will not affect its plans to repair the reef.
The reef, made of 55 giant sand bags 740ft out at sea, opened in 2009 after long delays and running over budget.

Director for tourism Mark Smith said: "The nature of the repairs necessary do not require the specialist skills that ASR had.

"It's been made clear no additional taxpayers' money will be spent enhancing the reef's performance for surfing and that position remains unchanged."

"We are delighted with the regeneration given to an area. It's become, in fact, the model that people want to see applied to the rest of Bournemouth seafront."

Surfers ride the big waves from Hurricane Sandy in Florida

Surfers ride the big waves from Hurricane Sandy in Florida

Welsh Surf Federation's concerned over unregulated schools

The Welsh Surfing Federation has said there is evidence of surf schools being set up without proper checks and regulations.

Secretary Stuart Bentley, of Porthcawl, said he has also seen lessons being held in unsafe conditions.
The Surf body Surfing GB would like to toughen the rules across the UK if granted national governing body status next year.

It said since the collapse previous governing body the surfing industry had been "pretty unregulated".
Mr Bentley said the issue of unregulated surf schools needed to be addressed urgently as lessons had become "unbelievably popular" in Wales.

I've travelled down the Gower and seen signs for surf lessons on the side of the road with a mobile number”
"It's very worrying from our point of view as there's very little legislation about who sets up surf schools," he said.

Instructors need to have a surf coaching award from Surfing GB or with the Surfing Australia and a beach lifesaving award is also a requirement.
Surfing is becoming very popular, particularly in Wales and southwest England and where people travel to popular surf spots like Croyde, Newquay, Gower, Pembrokeshire, Porthcawl and the Glamorgan Heritage Coast.