St. Ives Cup – Inaugural Edition!

St. Ives Cup – Inaugural Edition!

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

Friday 19th October saw a new addition to the local surfing calendar, courtesy of St. Ives Surf School. An open competition for St. Ives surfers was held at Porthmeor Beach in front of a sizeable crowd of surfers and surf fans. It was heartening to see how many good surfers we have in the town – and there are quite a few more who were unable to make this comp at such short notice! Held under international judging rules, but with each surfer having been awarded a handicap according to their ability – the event was designed to give everyone an opportunity to advance through their heat, and thus encourage everyone to push his surfing to the limit.

It was a rapid-fire event as the 4pm start left little time to complete proceedings before dark. Six-man heats and not a moment lost between heats led us to a four man final as the light faded. The judges re-located to the waters edge to get a close-up on a thrillingly tight climax to the day.

Here are some of the faces on show- my apologies to those competitors my lens missed!

There was a nerve-wracking interlude as the judges checked and re-checked their scores from the final. The result was clearly a close-run affair!

 

And then we were ready. First trophy to be decided was Kook of the Day. Giacomo took the honours on this one for running over a grom during his heat. Here he is receiving his award from Teddy.

 

Next up was, perhaps a little more coveted – Move of the Day! Jayce took this for the most outrageous of the several airs that were landed during the contest. Here he is receiving his trophy from Caz!

 

And so to the winner and first holders of the St. Ives Cup. Harry De Roth claimed the prize, from Adam Bayfield in second, Jayce third and the evergreen veteran Tim Whitefield fourth.

Well done Harry!

Senara and Millie give the prize to Harry

Below are our finalists taking a bow. And before we go, we must thank Harris and St. Ives Surf School for another great occasion. This will, I’m sure, be the start of a new tradition in the town. The St. Ives Cup is here to stay. YAY!

Adam, Tim, Jayce and Harry. Our finalists.

 

All the Elements

All the Elements

by Nog General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

There was an Autumnal feel to the air for Kids Club this week. A chilly Westerly and some chunkier waves out back brought a challenge to our more advanced surfers, while the Nemos and Dorys kept to the inside, smaller waves to continue their own concentration on techniques required for pop-ups, trimming and turning. There was a chance before the session began to gather our volunteer coaches and some of the other members who make Kids Club happen – here’s a photo tribute to you guys!

And there are others who were busy on check-in duties and other ancillary stuff who didn’t make this photo call but also deserve our thanks for their contributions to the Saturday morning vibe!

When we got down to the surfing business, there were three elements of the session that are manifest in the picture gallery below. CONCENTRATION, LEARNING and FUN. We had a great time, coaches and surfers all. And that is what a club is about!

Higher Education

Higher Education

by Nog General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

The fine summer continued throughout the end of school term and we again found ourselves with balmy weather and a small wave for the club on 14th July. It was a further opportunity to work with the coaches on trimming along the wave and on speeding up and slowing down.

 

 

The following week saw the first break in the weather with a cold, wet start to the 9 o’clock session.  Harris led the Nemos with an exposition of how to finish a wave as the section closes out. It was a tall order for some of those little tackers to take on, but they gamely gave it a go. There’s another skill to practise in the school holidays! The pictures below are from that most recent session.

 

 

Videographer, Greg Dennis was also on hand shooting a couple of interviews with some of our members for a video section to support the club’s fundraising effort on the JustGiving website. You can donate, or just check it out here.   All help is gratefully received!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!

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

And so, finally, after a frustrating four months delay, our clubhouse project springs back to life! We won’t rake over the litany of negotiations regarding warranties, legal charges, car park charges and the mere time that these things take. Instead we’ll celebrate the fact that we are on site and things are happening. The picture below shows the first steps in the process as the toilet block is demolished.

By the day’s end there remained a pile of rubble to be removed and recycled. An information board has been erected at the site to bring the community abreast of what’s happening – see the proposed layout below

 

 

 

It was a particular pleasure to gather together at the end of the first day on site many of the people and organisations who are instrumental in making it happen. This final picture by Susie Excell of Tregenna Castle shows some of those build partners .

From left to right are: John Navin (Saints Boardriders), Katy Spencer (The Wave Project), Vanessa Luckwell (Cornwall Council), Joshua Martindale (Saints Boardriders), Shaun Paisley (Saints Boardriders), Tristan Easterbrook (Painting & Decorating), Harris Rothschild (St Ives Surf School & Saints Boardriders), Steve Hewlett (Tregenna Castle Resort & Saints Boardriders), Rebecca Martindale (Saints Boardriders), Emma Jarvis (Saints Boardriders), Neal Peek (Tregenna Castle Resort), Ray Renalls (Jewson), Nigel Smitheram (Jewson), Tom Dodd (Frame Homes UK), David Stephens (Ace Engineering), Alan Woodward (Saints Boardriders).
Not present in the picture, but equally deserving of our thanks are:

 MV Clatworthy, C.I.B. Lello Plant Hire Ltd, Summit Roofing, BBN Electrical, Country Carpets, Stevens Scaffolding, A and P Williams, Cornwall Aluminium Windows, Bu-Mar Skip Hire, Porthmeor Beach management and Christian Simmons, architect at CASA Studio Ltd.
saints boardriders committee members who were unavailable for the photo are Ray Trebilcock, Flavio Favero, Luciana Bueno Favero and Simon Trebilcock.
 

 

 
 

 

 

It’s Christmas!!! – loud like Noddy Holder!

It’s Christmas!!! – loud like Noddy Holder!

by Nog General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

Our traditional Christmas Day bash saw it’s largest ever attendance. There was a friendly wave for those taking to the water and a welcoming array of beverages both hot and alcoholic – and sometimes both – for those enjoying the gathering on dry land. There were a few of our Saturday club nippers answering the call as well as a strong contingent of St. Ives surfers who might swell our adult membership once the lure of the clubhouse is available. Construction there has been delayed due to as yet unresolved issues around what builders warranties are required, but we are still expecting to complete in time for summer 2018. More news when we have it! There’s a gallery below of some of those in attendance on Christmas Day, my apologies to anyone I have missed with my roving lens.

Enthusiasm!

Enthusiasm!

by Nog General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

I think most participants on Saturday morning would have shared my thoughts on seeing Mother Meor from the top of Porthmeor Hill on arrival: “pretty small today”. And, like me, they would have been surprised and then delighted that the waves were bigger than expected when we got down to the water, and grew during our sessions into a punchy chest-high out back during the morning. Our junior surfers took to their tasks with great enthusiasm and displayed no little skill. Well done everyone!

Swellboard Shootout 2017

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:

Coming next : The parade.

 

Super Sunday Swell Sparks Swelly Session

Super Sunday Swell Sparks Swelly Session

by Nog General Club News Top Shots

After an interminable wait, Porthmeor finally enjoyed a little bump in the ocean on Sunday morning. There were several Saturday kids out catching waves and a goodly number of adults took to the water on swellys or logs to sate their appetites after the recent flat spell. Here’s a few pics of the grown-ups!

Rainy Day Videos

Rainy Day Videos

by Nog General Club News Surf Video

Winter brings us a little more downtime as far as saints boardriders goes, so here are a couple of videos featuring our leading competitors on the British scene. Both were shot at the Thurso Surf Festival at the end of last season by Mr. B Productions. The first covers the whole event in all divisions and offers a measure of what it takes to surf at the highest level on the national  scene. The second features our own Jayce Robinson finding some nuggets in his free-surfing sessions away from the comp site.

Fill your cup with your favourite hot drink, grab a packet of biscuits, click on the image and enjoy!

Our thanks to Mr. B Productions, the UK Pro Surf Tour and Vimeo for these gems.

 

 

British Interclubs 2016

British Interclubs 2016

by Nog Competition news General Club News Groms Surf Club Events

There were some notable absentees from our final Saturday session of the season. Saints boardriders decided to dip it’s toes in the waters of competitive surfing and entered a team into the 2016 edition of the Interclubs competition, held at Fistral Beach Newquay over the weekend.

Our Junior team was Joshua Martindale, Taylor Bairds, Dev Parsons and Harry de Roth.

Our Open team was Steve Hewlett, Simon Trebilcock, Harry de Roth, Joshua Martindale and Taylor Bairds.

We did not have a ladies team, something to aim for next year!

The junior team was a maximum of 4 surfers, with the mens open being a minimum of 4 and maximum of 6. Each surfer would surf 1 heat per day in each division entered.

The heats were in a 4 man format with first place scoring 10 points, second place scoring 8 points, 3rd place scoring 6 points and 4th place scoring 4 points. The total of all scores was then added up with the highest scoring team winning.

Day 1 saw a good size swell running with fairly strong NW Wind making tricky conditions. The Juniors took to the water first with Josh up in the first heat against some seasoned competitors to take 4th place, followed by Taylor for another 4th, then it was Harry to get our first 1st place of the day, Dev then surfed well to get a 3rd.

Taylor opened up for us in the mens to get a well earned 2nd, Steve Hewlett a 3rd, Josh a 4th, Simon a 3rd and Harry another 1st!

Day 2 was a lot smaller in the waist to chest high region with light onshores. Juniors were first in the water with what was probably the weakest conditions of the day on a dropping tide. Results were Taylor & Dev 4th, Josh a 3rd and Harry a 1st!

The mens open was on after lunch at low tide and a slightly increased swell. Harry and Simon were both up first and both got 1st’s, Steve got a 2nd, Josh 4th and Taylor 3rd.

Overall we came mid placed amongst the other clubs. Newquay A were the strongest and won the Open and the overall competition, made up of points in all divisions.

All the members of our team put in great performances and had a great weekend. It gave some of us our first ever taste of national competition surfing. We are looking forward to building on this and getting more members involved next year!