Season’s Finale

Season’s Finale

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Our last session of the summer is always a bitter/sweet event. We can feel the summer slipping into cooler days, but we are reluctant to call an end to our joyful surfing Saturdays. However, as previous years have taught us, we always manage to go out on a high. And this day was no exception. It was a very wet affair, both for the surfers and for the parents and others watching on the beach. There were few breaks from the driving rain, so our picture count of the contest is low, and there was no opportunity to catch the last nippers sessions on camera. As the hooter sounded on the final heat of the day everyone retired to the clubhouse to dry out and to learn the results of the contest and to share out the celebratory medals and the group accolades of 2025. The BBQ was already sizzling away on the balcony, a heady end-of-term brewing.

Our intrepid judges deserve medals themselves!

The clubhouse ceremony started with our St. Ives Surf School coaches reviewing their group progress for the year and making the tricky selections of prizewinners among their charges. There were celebratory medals for all participants and group photos after each summation. The chart below has the details:

Nemo – ages 4 to 5

Most Improved: Edie

Most Dedicated: Howie

Surfer of the Summer: Oscar

Dory – Ages 6 to 8

Most Improved: Mila

Most Dedicated: Otis

Surfer of the Summer: Josie

Swordfish – Ages 8 to 11

Most Improved: Emily

Most Dedicated: Lottie

Surfer of the Summer: Rosie

Dolphins – Ages 11 to 16 – Improvers

Most Improved: Dennick siblings – Noah, Ben and Anna

Most Dedicated: Joe

Surfer of the Summer: Solomon

Sharks – Ages 11 to 16 – Advanced

Most Improved: Jimmy

Most Dedicated: Reuben

Surfer of the Summer: Jude

And then our heroic contest judges, who had spent over two hours in the rain at the water’s edge scrutinising heat after heat, stepped forward to read the results of the Girls Final and the Open Final.

Elyse took the Girls gold with Lottie and Anne bringing in the silver and bronze. The Open Final was taken with a buzzer-beater of a wave by Bobby to deny Elyse a double success with Reuben and Joe in the minor placings.

Our thanks for the day’s event goes to St. Ives Surf School and their magnificent coaches, to our judges Steve, Joely, Teddy and Head Judge Jonny who steered the contest smoothly through a drizzly dank morning with humour and flair to give our novice surfers a taste of competitive surfing. To our BBQ wizards, who could ace any TV chef for enthusiasm, and to Tregenna Castle who supplied the bangers and rolls on the day. More generally, our season relied on The St. Ives Surf School for it’s booking system and coaches and it’s willingness to bring the joy of surfing to the children of the town who are lucky enough to grow up by the sea. Thanks also to those parents and helpers ( Are they secretly called ‘Penguins’ by the surfers and coaches? ) who keep everything rolling, battle the parking wars at Porthmeor Car Park on summer Saturdays and create that club vibe with their camps on the day. We offer our thanks, as always, to the RNLI lifeguards whose co-operation has been a welcome prop to our days from the very beginning of our club. We derive the greatest satisfaction when we see some of our alumni graduate to lifeguarding or becoming surf coaches at the school – in a small way we are giving back for their investment in us as youngsters in earlier days! Porthmeor Beach management continue to encourage and help us and we are ever grateful for their support.

So it’s ‘See you next year!’ when we can do it all over again. It’s been a blast!

Playing Away

Playing Away

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While there was no Saturday Surf Club at Porthmeor for our juniors last weekend, that didn’t stop some of our keenest Sharks from testing themselves on a wider playing field. The ‘No Pro’ event at Gwithian is always a highlight of the Autumn calendar locally and Saints Boardriders have enjoyed some success there in past years. This time we are delighted to see both Scout Foreman and Bobby Smith help themselves to prizes and continue that tradition. Scout won the Girls Under-14 event, while Bobby finished second in the Boys Under 14s. Our banner picture shows them weighing their bags of swag post-presentation.

On the Sunday we were represented on the national stage by three juniors in the Surfing England Junior Surf Series at Great Western Beach in Newquay. This third round of the tour saw Elyse Venables get a taste of competing in the Under 14 girls and Jude Rogers surf in the Under 14 Boys division. There was no podium finish for either of them this time, but I’m sure the experience at this elite level will stand them in good stead for future events. Bobby Smith was also up there and blitzed through the quarters and semi final en route to a third place finish in the final itself in the Under 12 Boys division. An excellent result! There are some budding stars nationally in this age group and it is a great credit to Bobby that he is establishing himself in that company. The picture below shows the four finalist from that division. Both pictures by Diane Smith.

So, all-in-all a successful weekend for our surfers, our club and our coaches. Just the final Saturday Session to go for most of our juniors now, but perhaps the more intrepid might be looking to find competition further afield over the coming months!

Unbroken Spell

Unbroken Spell

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Our good fortune with both the weather and the waves that greet us whenever we meet for Junior Surf Club continued last Saturday, encouraging a large crew of surfers to gather for the penultimate session of 2025. The Nemo and Dory groups stroked in to some gentle runners at the West end of the beach while the more advanced surfers had a broad field in the middle of the beach to do their stuff. Fingers crossed for waves and a fine day as we close with the final nippers coaching, comp, presentation and BBQ planned for the 20th September. See you there!

Adios August

Adios August

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Our last Junior Surf Club in August followed the same pattern as recent outings. Fine weather, tempting little waves and lots of smiling faces as we watched the tide drop off the bank as we prepared for another session. It also presented the best surfing conditions to the early session again, as those getting in at 10 o’clock found fewer opportunities to ride long waves compared to the nippers in the first hour. Nevertheless there was plenty of action and satisfaction to be had across the board. Porthmeor on a balmy summer day is a joy to experience!

Endless Summer

Endless Summer

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We welcomed another fine day in this endless summer on Saturday morning and gathered on Porthmeor Beach for another Junior Surf Club. The surf conditions were as favourable as the weather and brought a big turn out of surfers for the day. Even our very youngest now know what is expected of them and it’s a treat to witness the confidence with which they tackle their rides now. Our fortunate run of friendly Saturday morning surf has really helped them to progress this season.

Porthmeor Delivering

Porthmeor Delivering

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The 9 o’clock session served up some great waves for our three junior groups this week. There were smiles all round as our surfers were pushed into some chunky runners delivering long rides or wipeouts in equal measure. Both results delivered increased confidence in our yearlings and a determination to get back out for another wave as quickly as possible. The Swordfish group were showing an improved ability to catch green waves unaided and to trim and turn with more control. The second hour saw the Dolphin and Shark groups out back gaining valuable experience in choosing better waves – often by going over the falls on a poorly chosen one! All in all it was a very successful morning enjoying prime surf school conditions and some expert tuition from our coaches. Many thanks to them and to the parents and helpers in the water today.

Pushing On

Pushing On

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Another fine morning and another session that would favour our younger groups as the ocean served up thigh-high runners for Junior Surf Club. Even as our regular crew are perfecting their pop-ups and polishing their stances, we are still welcoming new young surfers to the sessions. And with the school holidays just beginning, there will be ample opportunities to make good progress for our locals at Porthmeor in the coming weeks! Here are some pics from this latest session:

Into July

Into July

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Well the heatwave failed us just short of another Junior Surf Club Saturday and we experienced cold Westerly winds and showers of horizontal rain during our two hours down the beach today. Nevertheless, these conditions did bring challenging waves and lots of moving water to deal with. There was an encouraging number of surfers participating, including a few newbies who were thrown in to this unseasonal weather and came through smiling and full of anticipation for next week’s session. The banner shows Jude dropping into a green wave out back, going on to smash a couple of strong turns and a completion of the close-out. The best effort I saw all day! Here are some more pictures from the day – though fewer than I would like as the camera struggled in the rain and poor light!

Jeopardy

Jeopardy

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Another Saturday morning – another eye on the weather. This time it was distant thunder and lightning threatening to visit us as we readied ourselves for another Junior Surf Club. Nevertheless, the largest attendance of the season to date made it’s way down the beach and we were soon into our routines and finding the waves very enjoyable. The Nemos and Dorys were perfectly matched to the swell size and were bagging loads of waves. Further along the beach the Swordfish group were tackling slightly bigger waves and racking up their wave-count. Of course, the second session for the seniors was more of a struggle in these small conditions, but with an impromptu raft-running session for the Dolphins and an intriguing tag team challenge for the Sharks the time passed in great high spirits and satisfactory time was had by all!

Fickle Weather Forecast

Fickle Weather Forecast

General Club News Groms St. Ives Surf School events Surf Club Events

Going into the weekend we felt we had to send an advisory to our Junior Surf Club and it’s parents in view of a forecast of strong onshore winds and a prediction of some large unruly surf. It’s hard to gauge the tone of such an announcement and we tend to err on the side of caution. In the event we suggested that conditions would be too raw for the Nemos and that nervous kids or parents should give it a miss. Saturday morning was thankfully an improvement on the forecast and we got the session away with an enthusiastic team with a particularly large Dolphins group who thrived in the conditions. Some pictures below.

Meanwhile, over the border in Devon, Bobby Smith of our Sharks group was tackling the Rip Curl Grom Search at Croyde. This is an annual national event with the division winners earning a place in the Eurropean finals later in the season. While not taking the European ticket, Bobby had a fine weekend making the podium with a third place finish. We are so proud of you Bobby and encourage you to continue competing and pushing your surfing. Go Bobby!