Jarrad Howse : photo Poullenot/ASP Europe

O’Neill Highland Open
Presented by Swatch

ASP 6 Star Prime WQS Mens Event
Thurso, Scotland
22 - 30 April  2008

Live Coverage  |  Results/Photos/Videos etc

O’Neill Highland Open - Only The Serious Need Apply

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 13 February, 2008 : - - The world’s coldest professional surfing contest returns to Scotland in spring 2008. O’Neill has confirmed that the Highland Open, its signature event, will be staged on Scotland’s frigid North Shore for the third year running. O’Neill’s first two pioneering contests have revolutionised European surfing, putting the icy barrels of Scotland on the world surfing map, but this April’s event looks set to be even bigger and better than its predecessors.

The O’Neill Highland Open by Swatch is the must-see surfing contest in Europe, and no wonder. It’s a contest with a difference: it’s run by surfers, for surfers, at the world-class breaks that lie along Scotland’s North Shore. It’s based at the legendary reef of Thurso East, where the water temperature is a mind-and-body numbing 4 degrees Celsius.

At 59 degrees north, Thurso East is more hospitable to polar bears than humans, but for a growing number of top-quality surfers, the cold is an irrelevance. What matters is the awesome quality of the waves delivered by Arctic swells onto Thurso’s reef – long, clean, immense right-handers that rival the perfection of Hawaii’s own, rather warmer North Shore. Here, in Scotland, boardshorts aren’t an option. Only the serious need apply.

The O’Neill Highland Open by Swatch is a mobile event, meaning that the best waves from a total of six venues along Scotland’s North Shore are accessible. If necessary, the contest will re-locate from its base at Thurso to other top quality breaks such as Brims Ness, Murkle West, Nothing Left, Point of Ness and Strathy.

        
Brim Ness Graveyard                                                  Ben Bourgeois      

        
Justin Mujica                                                            Brim Ness

      
Brim Ness site                                                            Drew Courtney

The event is also a top-graded World Qualifying Series (WQS) event: at Prime 6-stars, and with a prize purse of US$135,000, the O’Neill Highland Openby Swatch will draw the serious contenders on the WQS. The quality of surfing will be unrivalled in Britain for 2008, as the likes of Britain’s own Russell Winter – the winner in 2006 – and the 2007 victor, Australian Nathan Hedge, vie with Brazilians, Hawaiians, South Africans and Californians – not to mention a guaranteed Scottish wildcard entry - to wield the coveted Highland Open sword.

There’s more: the first and second-placed surfers win a berth on the O’Neill The Mission France 2008. This unique, fully mobile event explores the French coast from Brittany to the Basque Country, with options for a detour to the Mediterranean Sea. Ten of the world’s best surfers are invited on The Mission. They judge each other - and the winner takes home US$25,000.

O’Neill is also 100% committed to continuing the company’s other mission, one that has been a constant since its formation over 50 years ago: to raise ecological awareness and safeguard the environment. For the 2008 Highland Open, O’Neill welcomes Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) as one the key event partners.

The Highland Open is supported by EventScotland, the national organisation for sports and cultural events. Paul Bush, Chief Operating Officer of EventScotland said: “With its dramatic coastline, the North of Scotland is recognised as one of the finest surfing destinations in Northern Europe and places Thurso on the world surfing map, alongside the likes of Australia and Hawaii.”

The O’Neill Highland Open runs from 23 to 30 April. It’s not for the faint-hearted - but it is the place where you’ll see the best surfing in Britain this year.

Check it out at:  www.oneilleurope.com/highlandopen

The History of the O’Neill Highland Open by Swatch

The Highland Open was first staged in April 2006. Thurso had long been known to hardcore UK surfers as the home of one of the most serious and demanding waves in Europe, but it took O’Neill’s decision to stage a major WQS contest to put the town on the world surfing map.

In 2007, the Highland Open again proved a massive hit among WQS surfers – not to mention the people of Thurso. But as well as the location, its success owes much to the O’Neill philosophy. As O’Neill event director Bernhard Ritzer puts it: “We aim to provide everyone - from surfers right through to event staff - with an authentic taste of life on Scotland’s North Shore.

The event is integrated as much as possible into the town of Thurso, so that everyone mixes freely with the local community. We’ve also experienced a number of classic Scottish traditions including a whiskey tour and tasting session at Old Pulteney Distillery, and a fantastic dinner at Ackergill Tower Castle. And as each year goes by, we get to know more of the local characters and diehard surfers – the people who help to make this remote town so special.”

Legends of the Highland Open – Sam Lamiroy

Sam Lamiroy is one of the UK’s top pro surfers. Brought up surfing in Tynemouth, former British champion Lamiroy has been surfing Thurso East for as long as he can remember. “In surfing terms this place has iconic status,” says the powerfully-built Geordie. “It’s a world class break.”

Lamiroy speaks five languages, has a degree in Oceanography and is at the vanguard of the UK tow-surfing scene. He will be making daily live webcasts throughout the O’Neill Highland Open. For Lamiroy, “surfing permeates everything I do.” It’s also something that he chooses to do sans gloves and hood - even at Thurso, where blocks of ice can be found in the water during winter.

     
Jarrad Howse                                                       Nathan Hedge

     
Local tunes                                                           Brim Ness 

The O’Neill Story: From Ocean Beach to the Highland Open

Jack O’Neill created O’Neill in 1952, after he had moved to San Francisco and discovered the cold-water joys of surfing Ocean Beach. As much a sailor, hot air balloon pilot and serial inventor as a surfer, Jack always knew instinctively what his fellow ocean lovers were looking for. Among many other innovations, Jack’s pioneering development of the wetsuit meant that before long surfers were riding more waves, and riding them better, in large measure because they could enjoy longer sessions in cold water.

By 1980, Jack’s shop, which began as the classic surfer’s garage outfit, had metamorphosed into a leading global surfing company. Remarkably, even now - at the age of 84 - Jack’s energy and passion for the ocean continue to define O’Neill. The company’s ethos is born of its Northern California roots, as Jack continues his mission to pursue and popularise the environmental projects that have become synonymous with O’Neill.

Chief among them is the O’Neill Sea Odyssey programme, begun in 1996. In the US, this is a free, educational cruise aboard the Team O’Neill catamaran that acquaints children with the microbiology of the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary. For as Jack says: “The best thing I have ever done in my life was to bring those kids to the ocean.”

Swatch

Swatch, kicked off in 1982 by Nicolas G. Hayek, today is a leading Swiss watch and jewelry maker and one of the world’s most fashionable brands. The first SWATCH watch appeared on the Swiss market in 1983, surprising everyone with its provocative spirit, spirited design and enormous success.

Always at the forefront of popular fashion, SWATCH continues to innovate and surprise with four annual collections (Spring Summer, Summer Sport, Fall Winter, Winter Sport), Art Specials, a Seasons Collection (Xmas), and Specials for Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. The brand has also established a strong presence in the world of sports with its ongoing support for extreme sports (FMX, Surf, Snowboarding, Free Skiing, BMX) and beach volleyball.

EventScotland

EventScotland is the national organisation for sports and cultural events and co-ordinates the delivery of the Major Events Strategy published by the Scottish Executive in November 2002. The strategy is designed to maximise the benefits of existing events, to attract new events, to showcase Scotland’s assets and to encourage more people to visit Scotland to experience at first hand major sporting and cultural events being staged in the country.

O'Neill Europe

O’Neill Europe began started hosting WQS events in off-the-beaten track locations back in 2000 when they staged the first ever professional surfing contest in Nias, Sumatra with the ‘Deep Jungle Open’. A year on, in 2001, O’Neill introduced professional surfing to the Island paradise of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and enjoyed five successive years of perfect, tropical waves at the ‘Deep Blue Open’. The Highland Open is simply another chapter in O’Neill’s unwavering commitment to providing perfect and diverse locations for the world’s best surfers to prove their worth.

Previous reports:
# 1 : Coming soon
# 2 : Coming soon
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

www.oneilltv.com
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www.eventscotland.org
www.oneilleurope.com/highlandopen

                                                                             
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