Who’s in for 2016?
General Club News Groms Surf Club EventsHaving grown the membership to over 150 last season, the sign-up for 2016 Kids Club was looking a challenging prospect for our admin crew! Fortunately we had an ace in Flavio who organised an online membership form to be followed by a supplementary visit to The Balcony for the parental consent signatures and payment, enabling us to smoothly process over a hundred renewals on the morning of Saturday 16th April. The next Saturday morning was open to new members until we reached what may be our capacity for this summer. Our apologies to the dozen or so attendees who only made the reserve list – if any vacancies arise then we’ll get back to you!
Proposed clubhouse plans onscreen
We were also able to announce our aim of building a home for the club, and were delighted to show the plans on the big screen and have the committee members explain the detail of how we might go about it. Our heartfelt thanks go to Christian Simmons for this original design!
One late arrival on sign-up day was Grace Harry, who had just completed the Lelant to St. Ives Fun Run with her mum. Their effort earned them £50 from their sponsors and we were delighted to learn that Saints Boardriders Club would be the beneficiary! Many thanks, and perhaps they have shown us one fund-raising route we could follow to get that clubhouse built!
Grace and mum fresh from the Fun Run
The next date for the diary is 7.30 on the evening of 10th of May when the AGM will be held at Tregenna Castle. Anyone interested in Saints Boardriders is welcome to attend, though only paid-up members can vote. See you there.
2016 Season Sign-Up Form
General Club News Surf Club EventsIt’s that time of year again!
It’s been a fantastic winter of surfing and now it’s time to get your frothing groms back in the sea!
Please fill in the subscription form below for the 2016 season. (…Using a mobile or tablet? It might be easier to see it on Google forms here.)
Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
General Club News Groms Surf Club EventsWell, today’s title, borrowed from Nat King Cole’s breezy song, is almost a farewell to Kids Club’s 2015 season. Our last Saturday outing before the end-of-season contest offered some decent surf conditions for our coaches to make a final assessment of how our junior members have progressed this year.
We have taken a great deal of pleasure from the Nemos and Dorys, the newest and youngest intake to the club – particularly in having their parents or elder siblings in the water with us giving the sessions a real family feel. For the older and more experienced groups we’ve structured the fun around the SurfingGB junior surfer scheme, and tried to instill good surfing and safety practice into their time in the water. The picture below shows some of the Sardines group with Porthmeor head lifeguard, James Symons, learning that vital knowledge of how to make a phone call to the emergency services should they witness a dangerous situation on the beach.
This is one of the fundamental skills required to pass level 3 in the junior surfer scheme. Our two images below show Luca and Matty smashing the close-out to finish a ride in fine style having got as much as the wave offered. That’s what we’re after!
So, only the end of season contest remains. I’ve seen some of the kids out polishing their moves during these last few days of the summer holidays. Expect to see the buddhas, cockroaches, coffin rides and ( without giving too much away ) some headstands in the fun shoot out. And fingers crossed for some good waves for the senior groups to show what they can do under traditional contest rules. 12th of September it is then !
Here’s a gallery of pics from Saturday:
Surfin’ Saturday
General Club News Groms Surf Club EventsEighty eight surfers turned out for the Saturday club this week on a blustery, cool morning. The surf was chunky, with some strong rips on the inside, and a bumpy face on the set waves. Our banner picture shows our youngest member, Deja, putting her dad through his paces. Some of the groups have developed routines and themes – the hokey cokey being one particular example. Our picture below shows the Mackerels gathering for a team cheer at the end of their session.
There were plenty of waves for everyone, and a small gallery below captures some of those rides.
There will be no Saturday morning surf club next week due to adverse tide times.
It’s A Beautiful Day
General Club News Groms Surf Club EventsAnother fine Saturday morning dawns, and again we have waves – at least large enough to interest our smaller members. A turnout in the mid-80’s was taken through lessons which included learning how to paddle out pushing the board up into the oncoming wave, and how to speed up and slow down once you are on the wave.
With the advanced groups, surfers who might be at a beach unaccompanied by a parent or adult, the small conditions gave us a chance to introduce them to Porthmeor Beach’s Head Lifeguard, James Symons, who explained how to make an emergency phone call if they should witness an incident – and what information they might be expected to provide to the call handler to help get the most effective help quickly. An accurate location, the nature of the incident, the number of casualties involved, are there people already attempting a rescue – possibly a good assessment of the weather conditions if an air ambulance should be requested – and so on. Some members of the group were then handed a phone to make that call to the call handler having been given an imaginary scenario to describe. We hope never to find ourselves in such a situation, but being prepared to deal with one is a vital skill for any surfer!
And then those groups got their chance to paddle out, and were last seen disappearing round the corner into Foxholes on a surf safari. It’s been an unsettled summer, weatherwise, except for Saturday mornings at Porthmeor which have blessed us with enough of both sun and surf to keep enthusiasm firing among saints boardriders! A gallery of today’s action below:
Saturday Stars
General Club News Groms Surf Club Events Wave Of The DayAs the tide fell off the bank on Saturday morning we again found good conditions for Kids Club. Wave size varied from 1 to 2 foot at the West end of the beach to a meaty 3 foot plus on the sets by the Island. So from chest-high for the Nemos to chest-high for the Sharks, everyone met a similar challenge in their respective groups. It seemed like all the kids wanted to impress, getting out in the deep for a steep take-off, and remembering to work on style once up and riding.
I try to resist calling a ‘Wave of the day” because it’s clear that many of us are reaching new heights in our surfing as the weeks progress. But I’ll give a shout-out to Matt Burrell in our banner picture for his overall performance this week. There’s a gallery of pictures below of some others who impressed this session -we’re seeing great improvement from these guys, though they’re not the finished article yet!
A Beach Invasion!
General Club News Groms Surf Club EventsThis week’s Kids Club will long be remembered as the one where we shared the beach and the water with millions of moon jellyfish! We arrived on the morning to find strand lines of them from the high water mark all the way to the ocean – and then found more in the sea once the session got underway. Moon Jellyfish ( Aurelia Aurita ) have a very mild sting which humans find imperceptible, and there seems to be a growing trend to keep them as pets in an aquarium apparently!
Fortunately, even the most squeamish among us soon set our anxieties aside, and the pre-surf lessons plans were put into practice as the warm-ups, then surfing, got underway. Our early start was particularly helpful on the day, as the busiest weekend of the holiday season saw the beach and the sea rapidly filling with people as we concluded our sessions at 11 o’clock.Surf conditions were again favourable for both Swellboards and hardboards, continuing our lucky run of Saturday morning surf.
A gallery of pictures below;
Kids Club ( Continued )
General Club News Groms Surf Club Events Top ShotsThere is a phenomenon at the very top of world surfing at the moment known as the Brazilian Storm. It refers to the posse of surfers from that country who have suddenly arrived at the peak of international competition in the sport. Well, Saints Boardriders has it’s own Brazilian Storm in the persons of Flavio and Luciana Favero, seen on check-in duty last Saturday in our banner picture.Their organisational skill has transformed the running of the club into a pretty hassle-free affair, and Luciana even finds time to get in the water with the coaching staff every week and help the nippers into the waves. Both can usually be seen running down the beach for their own surfing session once their club duties are complete. You guys rock!
Attendance this week was in the mid-80’s – our lowest of the season so far, though this is likely explained by the number of absent members who were competing in the surf life-saving event at Portreath on the day. Our day went well in the water with some punchy waves challenging the surfers to hang on and enjoy the ride! Here’s baby Alba checking out the action with mum, Lauren Ringer – expect to see both of them out there in the near future!
There’s a gallery of pics below of some of the rides that were caught on camera. If you aren’t in there, then maybe next time…
Sun, Sea, Surf
General Club News Groms Surf Club Events Wave Of The DayAll three elements in the title were present again last Saturday as the Kids Club tackled the punchiest surf of the season so far! Our banner picture shows Josh Martindale executing Simon’s instruction to “Hit the lip” to perfection. There were several candidates for ‘wave of the day’ among the Sharks group on Saturday, but Josh takes the biscuit this time.
Surfer turn out was above 100 again this week, so we should be grateful to the twenty plus coaches, helpers and admin who make it possible to teach such numbers on a weekly basis. One of our pictures this week features two of those volunteers – Tony and Adam Bayfield. You guys are legends! There’s also a picture capturing Harris’s novel ‘wheelbarrow race’ warm-up routine. Don’t expect to see that at a surf comp near you anytime soon!
The hour long sessions seem to fly by – so it’s vital to concentrate to the full to get the best out of your time in the water. There were lots of examples I could find of members giving their best in that department. Here are a few below:
And there is joy and satisfaction for both surfer and the helping hands when the pop-up leads to a good ride. Our final few pictures for this week capture some of those moments when that teamwork is in evidence!
