News Headlines

The Red Stripe British National Longboard Champs (April 18th 2007)
Article written by Chris Griffiths- Dodgy Gear rider for 2006 27/05/06

The British National Longboard Champs were held in Fistral beach ,Newquay over the weekend of 27 - 28 May 2006 .It coincided with the biggest veedub rally in Europe, the Run to the Sun. This means two things , gridlock and water pistols.

I started out from Swansea at 2am Saturday morning so as to hopefully miss the main stampede of bug enthusiasts and make good time to Newquay.
I was travelling with another competitor and good friend Elliot Dudley and we had to be checking in at the contest by no later than 8.am.
As it happened, we made excellent time, as the roads were pretty clear.
Obviously, the buggers had opted for the daytime drive (leaving the night time for drinking) as we had hoped!
We rocked up into the car park at north Fistral with about half an hour to spare, giving us just enough time to rummage around the van picking up every bit of loose change with which to pay the parking fee for the day - not a big deal at most car parks. However at North Fistral a day ticket will cost you a whopping £6.50!!It’s no wonder all the locals have taken to surfing Watergate bay !
With the golden ticket purchased (and displayed) we check in for the comp. I was going to be busy as I had decided to defend both the Masters and Seniors titles I’d won the year before as well as having a crack at the Open division.

This could be a tough weekend as the surf was a solid 3-4ft and building with a strong onshore helping it on its way. Ah well I always did like a challenge!
For such a small Island, Britain has consistently produced the long board goods at a World level. Lee Ryan, Sam Bleakly Elliot Dudley, Ben Skinner and yours truly have all been flying the flag for over a decade now.
This however means that to win a British title these days you literally have to beat some of the best plank specialists on the planet! Well the contest gets underway, but you have to have pretty keen eyesight to check out the action as a layer of fog settles over Newquay.

Some comic genius quickly renames the weekend,”The Jog to the Fog”
The judges however are eagle eyed and they quickly whittle down the main event field from 32 starters to the eight semi finalists. Some superb performances go down as the surf really starts to pump with people like Adam Zervais, Lee Ryan and Sam Bleakley showing some serious commitment on heavy sections. I for my part have had a good day having reached the semis of the open, seniors and Masters.
To be fair by the time I surf my last heat of the day, I am absolutely knackered having surfed seven heats in three divisions. Me and Elliot decide to escape the bug jam for the night and opt for driving down the coast to Perranporth for the evening.
We treat ourselves to a slap up meal in the Green Parrot pub. After a couple of Guinness and a plate of the worst pub food I think I have ever eaten, we made our way back to the van for the night looking a little like the feathery bird in the pub sign!
We lie sweating in the van for a couple of hours as our bodies tried in vain to digest the Mediterranean cement, Elliot decided to try jogging round the carpark to help it with the aid of gravity. I went for the homer Simpson remedy of slugging another can of beer hoping this would dilute it! Both approaches were met with similar success and we eventually managed to get some well needed sleep!
By six am the next morning we were back in Fistral car park. The contest wasn’t due to start until nine but we figured if the bastards were charging £6.50 for the day, then we were going to get our moneys worth (and they say the Scots are tight!)
On the bright side though, the surf is looking great! Although quite a bit smaller than Saturday, it is looking really quite clean and fun with the odd set still pushing in just overhead. The day turns out to be a cracker with the sun and surf attracting a large crowd to watch the business end of the event.
By mid afternoon I was still on course having just made the finals of the masters and the Seniors. But in the Open semi I just came up short coming in a close third behind Ben Skinner and Lee Ryan -gutted!! I maybe getting a little longer in the tooth but I still hate loosing.
All the finals were a showcase of the best of British Long boarding. Being held in pumping surf, watched by an appreciative crowd the competitors took their surfing to another level, but no one more than Ben Skinner in the Open final where he launched himself into every manoeuvre with reckless abandon .
The high risk approach paid off though as he nailed a couple of brilliant scores early on and left the other finalists with too much to do. I got just pipped for second in the Senior division by an onfire Lee Ryan but managed to redeem myself with a first place in the Masters!

The British Championships is always a great weekend and this one was no different. A big thanks must go to Redstripe Jamaican Lager who were the main sponsors of the event, without whom the weekend would have been a lot less fun !! On a personal note, I must thank my sponsors Dodgy Gear clothing,O’neill,Balin, Guts Surfboards,Reef,Nixon and Onboard surf shop for their continued support.

Back to the Headlines