What happens when you bring the Billabong team together and head west to tap into the wild, raw energy and cold waters of Western Australia? Hit the play button and find out. Now playing: ‘Good Call,’ a Billabong surf film by Toby Cregan. Shot in WA earlier this year, starring: Creed McTaggart, Jai Glindeman, Joel Parkinson, Ryan Callinan, Italo Ferreira, Ethan Ewing, Isabella Nichols, Mia McCarthy, Griffin Colapinto, Jack Freestone, Liam O’Brien, Seth Moniz, and Sid Englert.
English Champions crowned in 15 divisions of surfing, at England’s most elite surf contest, the 2021 Caravan and Motorhome Club English National Surfing Championships.
In a weekend of back-to-back heats and double peak surfing at Watergate Bay, a fantastic crew of over 160 surfers came together to compete to claim an English Champion title. The surf was firing, the event site and sponsors were buzzing, and the performances on show from the competitors were off the charts. Bringing back this iconic event in full capacity was a resounding success and marked moment for English Surfing, where the future is so bright.
The contest ran with live scoring in full swing on both peaks, meaning avid supporters could log in and see the heats and scores dropping from anywhere in the world, reverberating the excitement right across the globe to international fans.
The level of surfing showcased was seriously impressive, with some well experienced competitors showing their skills and some new names making themselves known.
Renowned multi-disciplined surfer Emily Currie took the Women’s Longboard Champion spot, continuing on from her victory as Boardmaster’s Longboard Champion in August. Emily showed her skills on a shortboard too making the finals and placing 4th.
In the Men’s Longboard, experienced competitors Ben Skinner and Sam Bleakley put on a good show, with Ben’s last wave of the heat swinging the Champion title to his name. Ben is currently 5th in the World for longboarding and has some very exciting contests ahead, the WSL Longboard Champ title in his sights.
In the Junior Divisions, the boys’ categories saw a great turn out and for some of the U12s, after no competition last year, taking those Champion spots was a true highlight of their year. The Champs returned their vests with beaming smiles and showed their maturity congratulating their fellow competitors. For some of the U12’s, its all about competition in the water but strong friendships on the beach, a fantastic crew of boys and girls are coming through the ranks.
The U14s, U16s, and U18s heats for boys and girls lit up the beach on Friday, in arguably the best conditions of the weekend with clean lines gracing Watergate Bay. Aerials were on show from Lucas Skinner and Stanley Norman, whilst the other groms look on to learn these skills. Fierce cutbacks and amplifying amounts of spray were powered off turns, showing the judges the high calibre of surfing and a great spectacle to watch.
On-site Caravan and Motorhome Club attended representing the brand and also on a beach cleaning mission, supporting our environmental aims to leave no trace of our contests. Red Bull also joined us for the weekend providing a chill out area for surfers and product to give some energy to those who were after it. From The Wave, Nick Hounsfield, who is also the Chair of Surfing England was on the beach watching the action from the finals on Sunday. korev lager and dryrobe lit up the site with some great branding and prizes for surfers, all which were thoroughly enjoyed by the Champs who won them!
What a weekend! This was the 2021 Caravan and Motorhome Club English National Surfing Championships, held at Watergate Bay, Cornwall. We cannot wait to return to the beach next year.
Full Results:
U12 Boys Shortboard
1 Isaac Friend 2 Noah Renaud 3 Sebastian Connolly 4 Harvey James Waters
U12 Girls Shortboard
1 Bethan Davies 2 Sunny Ingram 3 Harlyn Sykes 4 Hazel Bennett
U14 Boys Shortboard
1 Lukas Skinner 2 Reen Bowden-Inoue 3 Finley Donovan 4 Sammy Woolf
U14 Girls Shortboard
1 Eva Blackford 2 Boe Howell 3 Lilly Issberner
U16 Boys Shortboard
1 Arthur Randell 2 Elliot Barton 3 Otis Perry 4 Ishka Thres
U16 Girls Shortboard
1 Belle Betteridge 2 Lauren Sandland 3 Eva Moorcraft-Holland 4 Rosie Thomas
U18 Boys Shortboard
1 Stanley Norman 2 Sam Hearn 3 Keiron Smith 4 Beau Betteridge
U18 Girls Shortboard
1 Alys Barton 2 Tegan Blackford 3 Asha Sykes 4 Sofia Louise Gooding
U18 Boys Longboard
1 Arthur Randell 2 Gwillym King 3 Syd Randell 4 Jacob Morrall
Men’s Masters (35+)
1 Joss Ash 2 Joel Gray 3 Matt Harwood 4 Simon Nicholson
Men’s Kahunas (45+)
1 Roger Knight 2 Lee Griffin 3 Paul Kirby 4 Ian Peter Warkick
Women’s Open Longboard
1 Emily Currie 2 Tina Beresford 3 Beth Leighfield 4 Jennifer Pendlebury
Men’s Open Longboard
1 Ben Skinner 2 Sam Bleakly 3 Jack Gregorius 4 Ashley Braunton
Women’s Open Shortboard
1 Lauren Sandland 2 Alys Barton 3 Lucy Campbell 4 Emily Currie
Men’s Open Shortboard
1 Luke Dillon 2 Stanley norman 3 Joss Ash 4 Beau Bromham
A huge thank you to Watergate Bay who hosted us for the return of a full English National Championships and to ERA Adventures for the Lifeguard cover.
A further thank you to our fantastic headline partners Caravan and Motorhome Club and to our amazing partners korev Lager, The Wave, dryrobe, Decathlon, Clarke Willmott, Vospers, Red Bull, Surfdome, and our Media Partners Panoptic Motion.
A large great white shark chased a group of surfers out of the water and onto the rocks at a NSW South Coast point break on Saturday.
The video was posted to Instagram by South Coast based film maker Dane Pidgeon, with the caption: “Old mate wanted the waves to himself.”
Mason Ho and Sheldon Paishon do a quick surf session at San Clemente Pier in Southern California. Mason using a San Clemente built, Lost surfboard that was coloured by Drew Brophy at his art studio in San Clemente.
The kind of lineup competitors will hope for when in France Photo: © WSL / Poullenot
The biggest professional surfing event in France comes back from October 16-24 to the world-famous stretch of sand of the Landes. Formerly a Championship Tour event, the Quiksilver and ROXY Pro France are now part of the newly introduced Challenger Series, the direct pathway to the elite World Surf League tour.
The complete redesign of professional surfing’s ladder in 2021 now offers a clear path for athletes to come up the ranks and ultimately join the world’s best. It starts at the Junior level, where young surfers compete to build on experience. They then graduate to the Qualifying Series, a succession of events in their region open to everyone.
The top athletes from the QS are offered a spot on the Challenger Series, a worldwide tour with iconic locations such as Australia’s Gold Coast, Ballito in South Africa, New Zealand and Hawaii, where they ultimately fight for a spot on the Championship Tour. The Challenger Series, though condensed to four events (US Open, Portugal, France, Hawaii) due to COVID in 2021, will feature 8 stops, combined men and women events with equal prize money starting next year.
Johanne Defay will be a clear fan-favorite in France Photo: © WSL / Poullenot
The festivities will launch in France with the Quiksilver and ROXY Junior Pro 40 from October 13-15, the final event for young surfers, that will crown the European Junior Champions. They will have a chance to perform on a world-class venue just days before some of the planet’s best surfers.
Stop No.3 on the Challenger Series, the main events, Quiksilver and ROXY Pro France will then welcome an A-list of competitors both in the male and female fields with already 20 current CT competitors enlisted as well as the top talents from the QS worldwide.
European stars Johanne Defay (FRA), Frederico Morais (PRT), Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) and Michel Bourez (FRA) will headline alongside some of the best up-and-coming talents like Tahiti’s Kauli Vaast (FRA) and Vahine Fierro(FRA). Olympic surfing debut’s silver and bronze medalists Kanoa Igarashi(JPN) and Owen Wright (AUS) will also take part in the show as well as World No.2 Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) and Californian superstar Caroline Marks (USA).
Michel Bourez in the arena with crowds up close on the beach Photo: © WSL / Poullenot
Pressure will rise dramatically in France as these events will determine who makes the Top 80 men and Top 48 women who get a chance to compete at the final event in Hawaii.
The nine day waiting period in October sits in the prime window for great conditions in Southwest France and the competition site at Culs Nus beach offers a picture-perfect A-frame sandbank with opportunities to score both quality lefts and rights.
COVID-19 Updates
The health and safety of athletes, staff, and the local community are of the utmost importance and there are a robust set of procedures in place to keep everyone safe. Athletes, staff, media and the public will be required to show proof of the “Health Pass” before accessing any of the event facilities or the beach.
The WSL encourages fans to follow the event online and watch all the action LIVE at WorldSurfLeague.com.
UK’s biggest ever beach clean will reach Million Mile milestone on 3rd October, 2 months ahead of schedule!
On 2-10 October, UK charity, Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), are holding a mass-community mobilisation week to push past the millionth mile of their 2021 Million Mile Clean campaign.
Launched in April of this year, the Million Mile Clean is the most ambitious UK beach clean campaign ever and has mobilised more than 100,000 volunteers, nationwide, to each clean 10 miles of blue or green space through 2021.
The environmental charity originally targeted hitting one million miles of beach, street, river and mountain cleaning by December but the appetite of the public to get out into the UK’s blue and green spaces and tackle the plastic pollution crisis has been such that SAS now anticipate breaking through the Millionth Mile in October.
The Millionth Mile Week, which will take place from 2-10 October, will see 400 cleans taking place across the UK, attended by 30,000 volunteers and will launch at The Millionth Mile Clean on Sunday 3rd October, Perranporth Beach, Cornwall.
SAS is issuing a rallying cry to Ocean Activists across the UK to organise a clean or find one near them and get involved by heading to beachcleans.org.uk
Initially focussing on reconnecting communities with each other and the environment whilst putting plastic pollution back to the top of the political agenda, the Million Mile Clean campaign has fast become much more. Following the impact of the pandemic, the campaign has also focused in on mental health and physical wellbeing and has seen over 100,000 individuals reconnecting with blue and green spaces nationwide.
SAS is encouraging people to get involved and make a difference in their local community by registering a clean. All Clean Leaders are provided with an equipment pack for free along with all relevant safety guidance.
Hugo Tagholm, Chief Executive of Surfers Against Sewage, commented: “Despite the restrictions and uncertainty still in place throughout 2021, we have been blown away by the response from communities across the UK so far. Through the Million Mile Clean we have empowered an army of Ocean Activists like never before and we are now calling on you one last time to unite for the ocean and environment. We know we will achieve one million miles but this shouldn’t be seen as a limit. The question now is how far can we go? Sign up and get involved today and together we can make a difference.”
Richard Walker, IFCF Trustee and Managing Director of Iceland Foods, said: “I am hugely proud of the amazing efforts by the SAS community to achieve a million miles. Tens of thousands of people are showing just how much they care about protecting our blue and green spaces for future generations. We need to ensure that this is also at the top of every business and policy agenda, so we can drive change together.”
