Award for St. Ives Surf School!

Award for St. Ives Surf School!

General Club News St. Ives Surf School events

We’ve all enjoyed the benefit of the coaching delivered by St. Ives Surf School, and at the annual surf industry dinner in Newquay last weekend, Harris and his team were honoured to receive the national award of Inclusive Surf School of the Year for 2014. They were nominated by The Wave Project – the charity group who follow our juniors into the water on Saturday mornings with their own junior surfers and work with the surf school coaches to develop the skills and confidence of those children through their surfing. The school and the Wave Project have been working together for three successful years now, and have brought many youngsters through the scheme already.
With regard to the surf school’s work in the local community, Saints Boardriders and the Wave Project are only a part of what it offers!  There are Ladies Nights in the early summer when the girls can share their own fun surfing sessions in the evening sunshine.The surf school has become a popular venue for kids birthday parties – a surf lesson and a picnic from the beach cafe releasing the parents from all the stress of entertaining the children!

Rippin'

Rippin’

It also provides tuition to an after-school surf club from one local school, and hosts an activities week for classes from another.In a new departure, the past summer saw the school entertaining a mixed- age group from a Camborne village with an all-day beach camp encompassing surfing, bodyboarding, volleyball, sand-castle building and an evening session rock-pooling for the younger children.

For nearly twenty years now, the school has been a much-loved activity for the Chernobyl Children who are brought to St. Ives from Belarus by a local charity each year for a holiday which also incorporates health checks, dental checks and dietary supplements to improves their life chances. This year’s group spent two days of their visit with the school, and they improvised an impromptu song in gratitude when it was time to leave.

The annual Fancy Dress Swellboard Shootout that the surf school organises has become an important attraction for the surfing community and draws a full complement of teams and a bumper crowd of spectators to Porthmeor on International Surfing Day. It has provided a good size annual donation to the funds of it’s regular charity Surfers Against Sewage for several years now.

We should also remember the Beach Surf Cinema which the Surf School springs on us once a year. It has been a summer evening treat recently, and unfailingly blessed by perfect weather!

At the flicks - Porthmeor style!

At the flicks – Porthmeor style!

Some, or all, of the above-mentioned examples of the St. Ives Surf School’s involvement in enabling participation in the sport must have been among the reasons why it was awarded the prize of Surf School Of The Year. It is richly deserved, and I for one am delighted that it’s here in our town on our beach. Well done Harris and his team!

That’s Champion Jayce

That’s Champion Jayce

Competition news General Club News Surf Profiles

British titles were at stake last weekend in the thundering surf at Fistral. Jayce Robinson and Harry De Roth were there presenting St. Ives’ challenge for the crown, with Jayce seeking the added bonus of taking the UK Pro Surf Tour title as well. He needed to produce a better performance than leader Alan Stokes to snatch the title at this last event of the tour. The surf was monstrous and messy. The proposed running order was changed to put the Mens Open in the water first, and heats were extended to 25 minutes with a 10 minute paddle-out to give the competitors a chance of finding two good scoring waves. Round One was completed and the contest director moved straight to round two, deeming conditions to be still too challenging for the Masters, the Seniors. the Veterans or the Ladies. Harry had won the opening heat of round one, and proceeded to do the same in round two. Next heat featured Stokesy, and he had a shocker. He was eliminated from the competition, and Jayce, who was already out back for the next heat, could win the tour title by progressing through the heat – though he had little chance of knowing Stokesy’s result with the howling gale making the PA commentary unintelligible from the water! However, he duly won the heat and learned the great news when he returned his vest to the beach marshall.

 

 

 

You've won the tour, Jayce!

You’ve won the tour, Jayce!

 

Competition resumed in slightly lighter surf on Sunday afternoon with Harry up in the first semi final. He was again in good form. holding first or second place to the hooter, only to be beaten when the final scores dropped after the surfers were coming back up the beach. He and Micah Lester had tied for second, with Micah progressing by virtue of having the highest first wave score!

 

 

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So near and yet so far!

 

In the second semi final, Jayce wasn’t to be denied, and he took that winning vibe into the final where he pushed the competition’s in form surfer, Sennen’s Seb Smart, into second place to complete a great weekend’s work.

In fact, it completed a great season’s work, as Jayce has achieved the phenomenal feat of claiming the Triple Crown of English, British and UK Tour titles in a single season. Brilliant! You can see the champ in action at Porthmeor whenever there’s surf – though you’ll have to wait until he and the surf school crew return from their RnR trip to Bali from this weekend! You’ll agree with me, I’m sure, that Jayce, Harris and the boys have earned their tropical surf holiday this year!