St Ives Bay Open Surf Competition

The St Ives Bay surf competition was on the 7^th of April and the weather wasn’t very nice and the surf wasn’t very good either! Check in was from 8:00 – 8:30 and then we had the safety brief. I was entered in the Junior Long and Short and the Open Long and Short. A couple of people didn’t turn up because of a car breaking down so the first heat was cancelled and we started with the 2^nd heat. I was in the 4^th heat which was the Junior Short final combined with a heat of the Open Short. I had a couple of good waves in it and then I had a set back about ¾ of the way through the heat and I didn’t have any waves after that. I hadn’t thought that I had done very well so I was pleasantly surprised when I looked at the heat results and found that I had won it! So I was through to the quarter finals. I had a couple of heats before my next one which was the Junior Long Final combined with a heat of the Open Long so I grabbed a bite to eat and helped judge a heat.

When the competition first started the tide was fairly well in but by the time my second heat came on the tide had gone out fairly far and the surf was not looking very pleasant! I hadn’t been out in my long boat since the last comp. so I wasn’t sure how this heat would go for me. But I felt that it wasn’t going too badly when I got out there and I had a few good scoring waves and came second. This meant that I was through to the semi finals which was great as that was the first time I had got through to them. My next heat was a long way off and was a Long semi final so I helped out with the judging and got pretty cold! The weather was windy and not very pleasant to be out in.

My next heat came around and the tide was far out and the surf was fairly small. Again I had a couple of good waves and I won it! so I was through to the final of the Open Long for the first time. I was shortly going to be in the quarter final of the Open Short and the tide was even further out now and the surf wasn’t very good at all but I had a couple of good rides and came second. So I was through to the semi final of the Open Short. I was feeling very cheerful at this point as I had done the best I have ever done in a comp. before. I had never managed to get to the semi finals of either the Open Long or the Open Short before and so far I was in the final of the Open Long and a semi final of the Open Short!

My next heat was the Open Long final and I had some nice rides but I had no idea of how well I had done compared to the others. Next I was in a semi final for the Open Short and I had some rides that I didn’t think were too bad but then I got a pain in my upper right arm and I came in before the heat had ended. Thinking that I hadn’t done well enough to get into the final I started moving both my boats up to the cliff path. Then someone came down and said that I had come second and was in the final if I felt that I was feeling up to it. I decided that I was OK as the pain in my arm had passed so I grabbed some food and a hot drink before my next heat.

The Open Short final was the last heat of the day, I went down to the beach and asked someone from the heat before to give me a push off the sand so I didn’t hurt my arm. I took it easy all through the heat as I was starting to get cramp in my legs as well. After the heat I got both my boats up and got changed and warmed up just in time for the prize giving.

I came 1^st in the Junior Long, 1^st in the Junior Short, 1^st in the Open Long and 3^rd in the Open Short!

A very satisfactory competition! I now have a new boat to get used to before the next competition, which is in two weeks and is being held in Bude.

JTG