Our damp summer continued this weekend with a rain-sodden surf session for our junior surfers last Saturday morning. The waves, at least, were plentiful and encouraged some good surfing from the participants, but the rain defeated my camera long before the end of the second session so there were few opportunities to capture pictures of the Dolphins and Sharks in action. Here are some action shots I did manage, and we might hope for dryer conditions for our next outing on 3rd August!
Well, we are still waiting for summer to commence this year, and we issued an advisory prior to Saturday’s surf club that conditions were forecast to be quite lumpy with an onshore wind. Maybe a little off-putting for a novice surfer or a weak swimmer. However, our turnout was a healthy number of juniors keen to test themselves and we had fun challenging the short windblown waves and the washy conditions on the inside. Outback, our advanced surfers had problems to solve to find rippable waves and also to get out again to the green waves through the succession of broken waves faced from the inside. All-in-all it was a valuable morning coming to terms with conditions that were less than ideal, conditions that surfers often face when finding time to get in for a couple of hours! Here are some pictures of the session, and a list of forthcoming dates below .
July 20th
August 3rd
August 17th
August 31st
Sept. 14th
Sept. 28th
Our second outing of the new season was served some very indifferent waves at Porthmeor on Saturday but found these young chargers determined to make the best of the conditions on offer. Scratching in to ‘so so’ surf is a necessary skill if one is to enjoy the sport whenever time allows, and there seems to have been plenty to entertain our participants here! The numbers in attendance suggest we are in for a bumper season and those who came new to the club quickly got into the groove. It was a very encouraging morning and the pictures below catch a few of our surfers in action.
A Sunday afternoon surf is one of life’s enduring pleasures and our young chargers had the chance to experience it for themselves at our final Kids Club session of the 2023 season. The weather was kind and the waves were friendly – the water as warm as we are likely to find at Porthmeor. Our banner picture shows most of those who came to make this a fitting send-off and was taken as a prelude to the afternoon activities. Our youngest crew had a session with their coaches while the Sharks and Dolphins held a competition further down the beach.
Those coloured rash vests certainly brought out the competitive element in our advanced surfers. We witnessed a couple of interference calls which scotched hopes of winning a heat and the judges followed the full rules protocol to guarantee fairness and to educated these newbies in the game.
And then it was back under the awning for the distribution of prizes and compliments to our high achievers. There were commemorative medals for all participants in Kids Club 2023, and then came the group awards in three categories: Most improved surfer, Most committed surfer and Surfer of the summer. Our coaches found these selections as difficult as always, all youngsters showing distinct improvement over the course of the summer. We then came to the results of the main competition and the time-honoured tease of announcing the result in reverse order. Bobby Smith triumphed in the boys event, while in the girls section Leila retained the crown she won last year. Congratulation to both of them, and to all our competitors for their participation.
The conclusion of the awards was the signal for the committee members to demonstrate their skills at twizzling, balancing and splashing the sauce as we fired up the barbie to share a Sunday Sausage Sizzle among family and friends to toast another fine season of surfing for Saints Boardriders Kids Club ( Super sibilant sentence structure seen there! ). We acknowledge the great support of Tregenna Castle in providing both the food and the beer, while also thanking Porthmeor Beach for chips and hot drinks for all the kids. We feel a depth of love and gratitude to Harris and the surf instructors for their unstinting support, to the check-in crew and administration for another summer of supervision, and Porthmeor lifeguards for another safe season. Our judges this afternoon were Tassie Swallow, Jayce Robinson and Josh Martindale, with Johnny Fryer co-ordinating. Thanks to you all, and to our parents and helpers who made our Saturday mornings tick like clockwork despite the usual car park congestion. We finish with a picture of Jack in a pinny. We haven’t seen enough of him this summer but the day will shortly come when his girls will want to join surf club! NB: Ben on quality control – We never let our standards slip!
It has been five years since we enjoyed the St. Ives Cup, an Autumn handicap competition between local surfers that was so well-received by the community. Towards the end of last week Harris looked at the surf chart, checked that the tides were favourable and put out the call ” Who fancies it?” On Friday afternoon it was called ‘On’ for 8.30 Saturday morning and around forty competitors checked in for “The Porthmeor Cup”, a new incarnation of that fabled beast. There was a generous support of families and friends on a warm late-September day as the battle began in challenging chest-high surf that tested even the highly ranked chargers and created a thrilling spectacle for everyone on the beach.
I fear we didn’t capture all the action, or even all the competitors, on camera over the day, but here are a few more of them and a couple of beach scenes to round out what was recorded by our reporters on the day.
Our thanks are due to Harris and the Surf School crew for running such an ace competition flawlessly. Our gratitude also to Porthmeor lifeguards for their help and support, to Porthmeor Beach for feeding the competitors and to St. Ives Brewery for their refreshing ales. We also recognise the support of our community, particularly the families and partners of our competitors for sharing them with us for a precious day among friends. Thanks too to Barry Walker for the action shots of the surfing and to those competitors who took a spell in the judging chair during the day. Congratulations to all our surfers, and particularly to our champion, and first holder of the Porthmeor Cup, Johnny Fryer!
September’s bounty continued to deliver as we experienced another perfect Saturday morning for Kids Club, albeit that the waves were a tad smaller than last week! A well-attended session enjoyed an hour of peelers that were easy to stroke in to with time to trim and fashion turns to impress the coaches. Most satisfactory! There is one more session due next Saturday before the Grande Finale, which has been moved from the announced date of 9am on Saturday 30th September to the following day, Sunday 1st of October at the later time of 3pm to incorporate a regular session for the youngest surfers, a contest for the more competent older surfers, then end-of-season prize-giving and a club BBQ to complete the day and the season. Something to look forward to – but don’t forget that we meet for a 9am session next Saturday to polish those moves in readiness for that final exam! See you there.
We got a second look at our new season’s chargers last Saturday. There was a friendly wave which could suit all abilities and an early summer warmth to the morning which offered the prospect of a long family day at the beach. The new recruits to the Dolphins were having to sharpen their game in the company of more experienced surfers, and similarly the new arrivals in the Nemos were facing a brand-new learning challenge in moving from prone to a standing position on a surf board. We have a whole summer ahead of us to work things out. Bring it on!
Next session is at 9am on July 1st.
Our traditional Christmas Day morning bash is increasingly well supported with each passing year. In their eagerness to get into the chest-high waves, many of the participants dropped down the steps at Porthmeor West, missing the gathering at St. Ives Surf School, which is where my camera caught those members and supporters in the pictures below. The banner picture shows Katy and Bruce in full festive regalia bringing that seasonal spirit to the beach. Saints Boardriders wishes all our members and the wider community a Happy New Year and we look forward to seeing you on Porthmeor Beach in 2023.
We held the postponed end-of-season finale last Saturday in pumping waves under a clear blue sky. We could not ask for better conditions, and a large turn-out was guaranteed to witness the competition to be club champion 2022, the post-season presentations and enjoy the promised ” sausage sizzle” afterwards.
There were regular group sessions for the juniors to enjoy, offering a last chance to impress the coaches and maybe claim ‘surfer of the summer’ in the group.
Over in the competition area some keenly fought heats saw a final four boys emerge to contest their final, after five girls had contested their own final.
And then it was up to the clubhouse to learn who the winners would be, and to honour all our young chargers for their efforts this summer. A packed room cheered the awards as our groups acknowledged winners in three categories: surfer of the summer, most committed surfer and most improved surfer. There were medals for all juniors to commemorate the season, and then the contest surfers received their medals in reverse order, leaving Leila and Teddy as our champions for 2022.
And then it was back out onto the putting green for a “sausage sizzle” in the late-summer sunshine. What a day!
Well that was a most satisfactory way to complete our season. Nature’s elements combined to offer us a perfect day to say farewell to summer 2022.
Many thanks to Tesco St. Ives for their generous support to the BBQ. Thanks to St. Ives Brewery ( again!) for their support on every event day. Thanks also to the contest judges and thank you to the club committee for a fine day, and a fine season. Our gratitude to Porthmeor Beach management and to Porthmeor Beach RNLI lifeguards for their support and encouragement over the season. St. Ives Surf School is the rock on which our Kids Club is built and we owe Harris and his crew a debt we can never hope to repay for their unstinting efforts. And, finally, a word of praise for those Dolphin surfers who gave their Saturday mornings to helping the younger groups into waves: Kaz, Ollie, Marley, Kaitlyn and Bridget are names that readily spring to mind!
To all children and parents who participated over the summer – We have relished your company. ” Thank you ” and we look forward to seeing you all again in 2023!
As we bid farewell to the month, we can reflect on the generous supply of waves Porthmeor has given us in August. Our final session of the school holidays was again blessed with plenty, and our young chargers had a fun hour lapping them up! Here are a few pictures of the action:
