Swellboard Shootout: part 3. Surfing

Once it came to the surfing, each team carried its fancy dress score into every heat. The quality of surfing was variable, to say the least – there were several very game non-surfers entered into the event as well as a few with national and international recognition in the shortboard and longboard ranks! The twenty or so teams were whittled down to a four team final through the rounds, and by then it was surfing skill that would win it.

Here’s a gallery of what happened!

Still to come: the After-Party and a portrait gallery.

Swellboard Shootout 2017 part 2. The Parade.

by Nog Fundraiser General Club News St. Ives Surf School events Surf Club Events

Once the teams have been shown to the judges, and their scores for costume evaluated, there is a grand parade from the beach, through the town and back via Fore Street, the lifeboat station, the Wharf and Bunkers Hill. This invariably picks up a crowd of curious onlookers to swell the numbers on the beach at Porthmeor to watch the event. This originated from the 2013 event when conditions at Porthmeor were red-flagged as too dangerous and the early rounds took place at the Breakwater after everyone marched there to get the competition underway. The spectacle proved so amusing to participants and public alike that a parade has become an integral part of the day now. Here’s 2017s version!

Swellboard Shootout 2017

by Nog General Club News St. Ives Surf School events Surf Club Events

Last Sunday saw the seventh annual Swellboard Shootout surf competition organised by St. Ives Surf School on Porthmeor Beach. The event raises funds for Surfers Against Sewage, and this year saints boardriders were honoured to be co-beneficiaries with them of the funds raised over the weekend. Indeed, Sunday was only the culmination of a three day extravaganza which commenced at Porthmeor Beach West on Friday night with an evening of fish tacos, beer and music from Frankie Davies and Ben Warner. Saturday evening saw the open-air film show and curry night at Cohort Hostel, before the teams gathered on Porthmeor Beach on Sunday morning dressed to impress and ready to lay down some swelly-riding magic in the quest to lift the coveted trophy.

A single blog cannot do justice to such an epic day, so this is just the first instalment of a multi-part, cut out and keep pictorial memento of the day’s action. Our banner picture features our august panel of judges in their lofty, secluded majesty.And now we meet the teams:

: Bees!

: Shark attack

: Aliens

: Mime artists

: Ninjas

: The Men From The Council

: Frauleins

: The Simpsons

: Avatar

: Tourists

: Pesky seagulls!

: My Little Pony

: Cutlery

: ?

: Deep Search Ocean Voyagers

: Village People

: Gym Bunnies

: ?

: Cliff Rescue

: Fox and Hunters

: Seacocks

: Circus Folk

: Brazil V Argentina

: El Presidente and the First Lady take in the proceedings

Coming next : The parade.

Big Spring Beach Clean 2017

by Nog General Club News St. Ives Surf School events

Saturday 1st of April was the date of this year’s Big Spring Beach Clean in St. Ives. A large group of volunteers was welcomed on Porthmeor Beach by Lowenna Jones of Surfers Against Sewage and Harris Rothschild of St. Ives Surf School to be briefed on what we might find during the clean-up, and what NGO’s like Surfers Against Sewage are doing to raise awareness of seaborne pollution and to combat the sources of that pollution.

Harris and Lowenna

Once the briefing was complete we split into two groups, one group to work from Porthmeor West across the beach, The Island, Porthgwidden Beach, Bamaluz and the harbour from Smeaton’s Pier while the other group began at Porthminster Point and worked across Porthminster, Pedn Olva rocks and the low tide foreshore from Lambeth Walk and West Pier to meet on the Slipway. Our task was made easier this year as the Spring tide had cleansed the beaches earlier in the morning, and the three principal beaches had already received their usual morning clean from the regular service. However, there was still lots to find around The Island, and plenty of examples of ‘nurdles’, the small plastic balls that are the raw material of the process of making plastics were found along Lambeth Walk where the big tides had flung them up at the high tide mark. Shreds of discarded rope and random metal pieces were prevalent in the harbour along with the persistent menace of cigarette ends and fast food litter.

It was very worthwhile exercise of a couple of hours which reaped a small harvest of marine debris and in the process raised public awareness locally, the event being covered by the St. Ives Times And Echo, and nationally in a piece on Sky TV News featuring Surfers Against Sewage director Hugo Tagholm and St. Ives surfer Jayce Robinson. Thanks and well done to all who took part, many of whom are in our banner picture taken at the conclusion of proceedings by Matty Snelling. All other pictures by Nog.

: Phoebe and Jon going that extra yard!

: Representing!

: Nurdles on Lambeth Walk

: The Porthminster posse converge on the harbour

How Was Your Weekend?

by Nog Competition news General Club News St. Ives Surf School events Surf Club Events

OK. So the morning high tide caused the cancellation of Saturday Kids Club,much to the disappointment of kids, parents and instructors alike! So how did you get your weekend surf thrill?

Well – as it happened – there was lots of surf action to be caught at Porthmeor Beach over the weekend, courtesy of St. Ives Surf School. On Friday night Porthmeor West Beach Bakery hosted the Red Bull Surf Cinema, showing a series of Jamie O’Brien films interspersed with locally made surf films, including the premiere of Harry De Roth’s latest. It’s the best evening of the year for gathering local surfers together, catching up with friends, and for club members young and old to hang out!

DJ Justo kept us royally entertained with some soulful sounds until the evening sun dropped behind Man’s Head and the screenings began. And he was on duty again on Sunday morning aboard the Red Bull truck as the 5th edition of the famous Fancy Dress Swellboard Shootout commenced at Porthmeor.

Twenty eight teams reported for battle sporting some amazingly inventive fancy dress ideas, and after displaying for the judges, the whole competition paraded through St. Ives to remind the town that International Surfing Day was being celebrated at Porthmeor.

I’ll leave the details of the format and regulations as they have been well explained in blogs from recent years – and proceed to the results as announced at the after-party at the Balcony once the beach festivities had ended:

Best fancy dress earned Kiss a £200 prize donated by Maurice Symons of The Sloop Inn

Kiss headline at Fancy Dress comp.

Jamaican Bob – winners in the water.

The Jamaican Bobsleigh Team won the Shootout in the water – boosted enormously by a stonking ride by Adam Bayfield which received two 9’s and a 10 from the judges and earned him a goody bag of Rhythm clothing, and helped earn his team a first prize of a trip to surf the Severn Bore courtesy of Red Bull.

And to demonstrate that the day wasn’t all about surfing prowess – Eggselence were awarded the wooden spoon for the lowest score of the day – along with some cool clothing!

Takedowns and drop-ins are encouraged!

Grateful thanks Mi Luds!

We are delighted to once again help Surfers Against Sewage in their great work in campaigning for clean oceans, and heartfelt thanks go out to the sponsors who supported the weekend’s events : Red Bull, Rhythm Clothing, Korev Lager, Robies Robes, and Porthmeor Beach. Thanks also to Barnie and Joel, RNLI lifeguards who volunteered to provide water cover for the event, and to our distinguished judges – you know who you are!

Watch Luke Pilbeam’s video edit here!

Nick Pumphrey’s photo gallery of the Swellboard Shootout is here

And Harry De Roth’s latest video is here

But enough about our weekend – How was yours?

A Media Day

by Nog General Club News St. Ives Surf School events Top Shots

A fun trip to St. Austell Brewery last Thursday to join SurfingGB in celebrating their sponsorship partnership with Korev Lager. Along with our old friend Lyndon Wake, representing his Croyde-based surf school, we had Harris on behalf of St. Ives Surf School and Nav’s sporting a Saints Boardriders hoodie. It’s a real coup for SurfingGB to bring St. Austell Brewery on board, their support for Cornish rugby is well known, and they are keen to help our sport in a similar way. We were honoured to be asked to join in this first meeting, and thrilled to learn from SurfingGb that we have the largest junior membership of any surf club in the land!

Award for St. Ives Surf School!

by Nog 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’

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!

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!

Ladies Night

by Nog General Club News St. Ives Surf School events Top Shots

Wednesday’s Surf School’s Ladies Night was the first of the summer, and a strong turnout survived a testing fitness session on the beach with Stef Harkon before enjoying the gentler pleasures of a sunset surf on a balmy Porthmeor evening. There were waves a-plenty to be had, and a couple of surf school coaches on hand to help the newbies get their share. Here’s a sample of what went down!

: Stef’s warm-up routine

: Pop-up practice

Look out for the next one when time and tide allow!

Swellboard Shootout 2014

by Nog General Club News St. Ives Surf School events Wave Of The Day

Is this the wave that shook the surfing world last weekend? We’re looking at the Minions – the super groms from Saturday Surf Club who claimed the title of Swellboard Shootout champions of 2014 with this team wave in the final!

Twenty crack teams ( I think I heard that right) began the event that morning with a presentation before the judges for fancy dress points before the parade through Fore Street and The Wharf and back to Porthmeor for a wave-riding extravaganza.

Toy Soldiers and Minions stand to attention

The first round saw five heats of four teams per heat surfing in tag fashion with surfers earning points for style, innovation, surfing prowess and possibly a mark or two for skullduggery! The surfer in the water claimed his wave when he felt he had achieved a high score and paddled in to be replaced by the next team member. When the fourth member had claimed his individual wave, the rest of his team paddled back out to join him on a team wave. Those surfing scores were added to the fancy dress score to give a complete heat score. A repechage round after round one enable the slow starters to have another crack at mastering the formula before the semis and then the final brought the action to a thrilling climax.

Team Lowe

There were a good few pros and elite surfers sprinkled through the teams – Big wave rider Tom Lowe and his girlfriend Janni, a champion in her own right were the core of one team. Another, The Gladiators featured English Mens champion, Jayce Robinson, English Under-18 champion, Harry De Roth, Portugal-based pro, Dane Hall and Dale Robinson! There was longboard stylist Mike Lay and former English Schools longboard champ Simon Trebilcock on show as well as a number of ex-junior tour surfers such as Jacob Down,Bert Wright, Jack Whitefield and Adam Bayfield. Tassie Swallow, multiple title winner and Lauren Ringer, former Junior QS competitor brought in pedigree ladies surfing – and I suspect I’ve overlooked other noteworthy performers under the disguises!

The Mummies

Last years’ winners returned as The Mummies but couldn’t resurrect that winning vibe this time around. There were notable comic turns from Victoria’s Oldest Secret, The Tourists and the hot surfing drag act, Doctor’s Orders.

Victoria’s Oldest Secret

Tourists

Naughty!

Shotgun Wedding gave family values a reworking as a back-country grotesque while the Shipwrecked Matelots and The Gladiators offered helpings of smooth swellboard surfing behind a veneer of couldn’t-care-less attitude.

Shipwrecked!

I am Spartacus!

You’re goin’ marry my daughter!

A recent outbreak of golf mania in Balcony and Surf School circles may have prompted the Balcony team to adopt that theme. Similarly, the World Cup must have been on the minds of the Ingerland Football Fans in choosing their acutely-observed dress. What inspired the girls in Team Jenna is anybody’s guess – but eye-catching it was, nevertheless.

19th Hole Or Bust

Oo-err!

We’re Gonna Win the Cup

There were superheroes in the shape of the Surfers Against Sewage contingent, and a band of robbers who were anything but stealthy! The Jellies defied definition but were well rewarded for the effort they had spent on their outfits!

We can fly! But can they surf?

Yikes!

Give us the trophy!

And then there were those indefinable “What were we thinking of” teams whose enthusiasm to be part of a fun day over-rode any inhibitions about competing against fancy dress fiends who have agonised for months over what they would wear on the big day.

I hope nobody from Porthminster sees this

Schoolboyed it

I’m a ladeeey! At least one of them’s lying.

We adjourned to the Balcony for the all-important announcement of the final result – and as the placings were called , in reverse order, the excitement boiled. Two teams left – Matelots or Minions for runner-up? Well, I gave that away at the start of the blog! A massive cheer erupted from the gathering as the Minions were declared winners of the 2014 edition of the Swellboard Shootout! Matt Burrell grabbed the mike to make the winners’ speech he’s had ready since he first dreamed of winning the Rugby World Cup, the Pipemasters, the Ashes or maybe even the Swellboard Shootout. He graciously thanked his mum, his teammates and his sponsors, and then the four members of the winning team managed (just!) to hoist the trophy aloft to a hearty cheer from the crowd.

Champions! Matt Burrell, Taylor Bairds, Josh Martindale and Bridget Wells: pic. Nick Pumphrey

Our thanks to St. Ives Surf School. to Rhythm and to Red Bull, principal sponsors of a great day out. Our continuing support to Surfers Against Sewage for their tireless work to keep our oceans and coastlines pollution free. And our thanks to all the lifeguards, judges, beach marshalls, photographers,participants, spectators and to Porthmeor Beach management and catering for their efforts.

Let’s hope we can build a tradition here!

Job done: pic. Nick Pumphrey

There is an early report in Carve magazine including the first video edit to emerge here

A warning to Mums and Dads – this final picture should not be shown to children under the age of 30. Anyone suffering nightmares after viewing please seek medical advice.

Ben – is that you? Ben? Ben?

It’s Time!

by Nog General Club News St. Ives Surf School events

Fun For All The Family

Here’s our last look back at last year’s entries as we prepare for tomorrow’s Fancy Dress Swellboard Shootout to celebrate International Surfing Day. We say a fond “G’Day” to the Tarplee family over in Oz . Wish you were here to share this day with us.This Simpson’s outfit was your most recent rig – and the Great White Sharks of a previous year was another splendid effort! Who will sport the best fancy dress this time?

A brief shout-out to all participants in this morning’s Kids Club – Well done all! There was some stylish surfing on show, and the Team Swellboard contest among the Outbackers was a pretty gritty affair! Nick has some pictures to view here– get over there to see if he caught your best wave today.

See you at the beach tomorow -10am sharp for all competitors!

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Category: St. Ives Surf School events

Swellboard Shootout: part 3. Surfing

Swellboard Shootout 2017 part 2. The Parade.

Swellboard Shootout 2017

Big Spring Beach Clean 2017

How Was Your Weekend?

A Media Day

Award for St. Ives Surf School!

Ladies Night

Swellboard Shootout 2014

It’s Time!