independent Cornish news and comment

Cornish Surfers On A Wave (sorry about the pun)

The 2005 British Kneeboard Surfing Championships took place on Sunday 9th October at Fistral Beach in Newquay. This event not only decides the British Men’s and British Women’s categories but also hosts an international section.


The contestants began arriving for the 8.30am check in and there was a buzz passing round the car park. The solid swell that had been predicted had arrived and large 5 foot waves were breaking out the back. This and the light winds made for perfect conditions. There was a good entry and the international section had drawn riders from Australia, South Africa and Portugal. The scene was set for a strong competition.

The standard was high and exciting surfing went down in all the categories. The women’s event saw Jodie Troth taking off on some bombs on the outside and she surfed some of the larger set waves to victory over Yolande Knight, who battled hard in the punishing conditions. When the open event reached the final, Richard Smith (UK), Mark McCloed (Aus), Scott Powell (UK) and Duncan Jones (UK) were the surfers left to challenge the hollow low tide waves that where pounding the sand bar. After some strong surfing from all Richard Smith emerged victorious - maybe it’s not only cricket we can beat the Aussies at.

Each year the contest provides a great opportunity to showcase the sport of kneeboarding on one of Cornwall’s most spectator friendly beaches, and this year was no exception. It showed the high level of kneeboard surfing in the UK and that our kneelos have a real chance of doing well in the 2006 world championships to be held at Santa Cruz in California.
The contest was jointly run by the BSA (British Surfing Association) and the BKC (British Kneelo Club). Chris Cockett and Tony Bonner at Kneeboard Surfing UK, the leading suppliers of kneeboards and accessories kindly put up the prize money for the event. To find out more about kneeboarding check out www.kneeboardsurfing.co.uk and www.kneelo.org.


British Championships
Men
1) Richard Smith (Polzeath)
2) Scott Powell (St. Agnes)
3) Duncan Jones (Hayle)
4) Richard Hewitt (St. Agnes)

Women

1) Jodie Troth (Newquay)
2) Yolande Knight (Landrake)





International

1) Mark McCloed (Australia)
2) Marc Crawford (South Africa)
3) Peter Deacon (South Africa)
4) Flavio Vianna (Portugal)

Overall

1) Richard Smith (UK)
2) Scott Powell (UK)
3) Mark McCloed (Australia)
4) Duncan Jones (UK)