Kingsley surfers compete in the English National Surf Championships this weekend

Kingsley surfers were well represented this weekend as three members of Kingsley Surf Academy took part in the English National Surf Championships at Watergate Bay. The prestigious surf competition had been postponed from its original date on the first weekend of May and rescheduled. The surf forecast showed one day of contestable conditions, and Surfing England decided that only the under 12, under 14 and SUP divisions would be run in one single day.

Willow C, Ollie C and Raffy H were up early for a 7am check in, with the first heat entering the water at 7.30am.

Ollie, wearing blue, was in heat one of the under 14 division. Conditions were about as tricky as 3ft waves can be, closing out fiercely on a low tide bank. There were very few open faces and the surfer in red managed to find a couple of walls allowing a quick ride on each. Ollie and the others struggled to find anything offering decent scoring potential but each managed to find a few waves. Unfortunately, Ollie was narrowly edged out and came in feeling understandably frustrated but having enjoyed the experience of his first competition nonetheless.

Raffy was up next and, wearing yellow, was feeling excited, channeling his inner Griffin Colapinto (current 1st and consequent yellow jersey wearer on the World Surf League). Raffy got a couple of early waves getting some scores on the board. The surfer in white grabbed a right with some open face and took the lead. The surfers then battled against a closeout set which had them pinned on a tricky bank which went on for nearly 10 minutes! They finally came through unscathed and Raffy caught the last two waves of the heat offering some open face and opportunity for some nice turns. He took the heat, progressing to the quarter finals.

Willow was up next, wearing a blue rashie. She was excited to get going and get the heat underway and knew some of the other surfers from previous competitions. The waves had really deteriorated by this point and it became a bit of a wave catching contest with all contestants struggling to find any green, open faces. Willow put a couple of scores on the board, though she might have been slightly underscored on one....she continued to try her luck on anything that came her way but couldn't find the opportunity to achieve the score to allow her to progress. She came out of the surf with a big smile nonetheless.

The tide filled in and the swell with it. Despite going through fits and starts of the waves becoming more rideable and offering some more scoring opportunity, by the time Raffy went back in for his quarter final heat the surf had really turned off. Head high closeouts with some decent sized sets detonating on the bank pinning the surfers on the inside for minutes at a time were commonplace. Raffy, surfing in blue (which turned out to be an unlucky colour for the Kingsley Surf Club members) struggled to find anything with an open face. The other surfers didn't fare much better except for yellow who found a couple of sections on 2 waves, one allowing a forehand re-entry scoring a 7.5. Raffy was narrowly edged into 3rd with the first two surfers advancing. He was unable to find the 4 he needed to progress despite repeated efforts.

All the surfers were stoked to have been part of the competition. They benefitted hugely from the experience and finished with their heads held high. The atmosphere was friendly, and the competition was well organised and expertly run. It was a pleasure to be a part of it.

Next year, we will come back with some silverware!

Thank you to Mr. Dupuy and the Kingsley Surf Academy Team and Kingsley families for everything you do to support our young surfers at Kingsley.