Quiksilver Welsh Nationals

Welsh Surfing Federation
Freshwater Pembroke, Wales
2 - 4 May 2009

Lloyd Cole & Beth Mason nab Quiksilver Welsh Nationals

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 24 May, 2009 : - - Swansea’s Lloyd Cole and Beth Mason both took home their respective titles in this year’s QUIKSILVER Welsh Nationals. In the Women’s final Beth Mason lead the way and surfed some critical lefthanders to take the title. In the Open, Lloyd’s surfing had flowed throughout the event and this continued in the final with him nailing two big scores making the Open title his for the 3rd time.

After last year’s amazing weather and waves all at WSF headquarters were bracing themselves this year for a weekend of howling onshore gales and rain. Surely we had cashed in ‘luck’ vouchers last year …. hadn’t we? Maybe not……someone had had a word with somebody somewhere because once again forecasts for both weather and waves looked fantastic …. well, at least for Saturday and Sunday… !

Saturday dawned with a chill in the air but the predicted swell had arrived at Freshwater West right on cue with solid 4-5ft, glassy waves breaking into Middle Bay. The contest kicked off at 9.00am with the ten 1st round Open heats running on twin peaks simultaneously sharing the Middle Bay arena for an electric start to the contest.

As is so often the case when the swell is overhead at Fresh West the paddle-out is long and un-forgiving. This no doubt contributed to a few early round upsets as no one was exempt from Fresh's fury as we saw last years finalists and favourites Greg Owen and Harry Cromwell eliminated early, leaving the door open for some new faces to enter the fold.

With the tide pushing in and the swell continuing to build Middle Bay provided the Open surfers with solid walls in which to perform and a natural amphitheatre offering spectators a ring side ticket to all the action. Llantwit’s Steve Phillips was turning heads with his new school approach, whilst Pembroke's Ryan Thomas was in giant killing mode beating Owen, Cole and Kibblewhite on route to the quarters.

Pre-heat smile : photo Liam O’Shea

With the Open given a well earned breather it was the Juniors turn to showcase their skills with local lad Jack Crisp leading the charge with some committed surfing along with Josh Hughes who was certainly looking like the man to beat. Attention shifted from the youngsters to the Women's event, so often over looked when the waves are pumping in favour of the men, director Bateman was keen to put our girls through their paces and test their metal in proper waves.

To their great credit the girls put in plenty of effort, Olivia Jones typifying the commitment leaving the water bloodied and shaken and forced to retired hurt. Once again it was British Champ Jo Dennison and Beth Mason who led the charge with typical gutsy displays. Open Round 3 hit the water late on in the day.

What seemed like some of the best waves of the day saw current champ Cole came up against Vaughan and Newquay based Welsh Grom Josh Hughes, who was surfing in his 5th heat of the day! The guys went to town taking apart the left handers on their forehands with a series of high scoring waves that saw Cole and Vaughan progress at the expense of Hughes who only narrowly missed out. A fitting end to an action packed day of good surfing.

Sunday began as Saturday finished. Fine sunny weather and good waves at Freshwater West, although the north-west breeze was taking the edge off temperatures reminding us all it was still early May.

Having studied the charts it was clear that Monday offered little in the way of quality waves and certainly the potential for heavy rain making the 3ft sets on offer on Sunday all the more appealing. The call was made to complete the event by running two peaks for most of the day, which although hard graft for the officials certainly made "surf" sense. 

Early morning scene : photo Liam O’Shea

Nine other categories had their first taster of competition, with the very young and the very old all keen to stake claims as title contenders. With so many heats happening at the same time it’s almost impossible to recall all the action. Standouts include Ryan Tomas, Luke Cromwell, Max Payne, Tom Good and Rob Webster Blyth but everyone can be proud of their performances in the testing conditions at Freshwater.

 A fitting moment to the whole contest perhaps was when the Groms U12 final paddled out on the north peak as the Masters final paddled out on the south peak. With only 50yards or so separating 50 years of surfing experience all the hard work over the weekend seemed very worthwhile.

For one young lady this year’s event was a particularly special moment. Having missed last years event due to "that head injury" as well as missing the European Championships, Gwen Spurlock was more determined than ever to prove she was back to her best which she did in spectacular style taking out the Girls U18 title.

The U18 Boys had been some what of a headache from the start with only the slightest margins separating one from the other. With Schofield, Tucker, Reimnitz, Crisp, Good and Hughes all pushing the performance bar up with every heat, it was a right old tussle. In the end it was Josh Hughes who out performed the rest with his powerful style suited perfectly to the head high lefts.

 The Women's final saw a three pronged Pembs shot at the title from last years champ Jo Dennison, Siwan Rees and Joanne McHugh hoping to see off lone Swansea lass Beth Mason. The low tide sand bars of middle bay was serving up some sucky long walls to the South ideal for the goofy footed Dennison and Mason to go about smashing with their powerful styles.

Rees and McHugh opted for the North rights which proved their undoing as Mason and Dennison picked up the consistently higher scores. In the final few minutes Mason picked up a left that allowed her to perform a series of solid turns completed by a final re-entry that saw her wrestle the crown from Dennison.

 
Finalists : photo  Liam O’Shea

The Open final followed a similar pattern to that of the Women, with Cole and Vaughan opting to sit further south and Morris and Phillips heading north. Vaughanie got off to a flyer smashing a long left with trade mark gouges which he quickly backed up with another similar ride. Morris and Phillips also started strongly whipping the crowd into frenzy with some smart surfing, before Cole joined the party opting to take the cleaner inside runners. As the final progressed Phillips just couldn't find another to keep his momentum going and finished up 4th.

Morris perhaps had the greatest opportunity to snatch the title picking off a bomb that clearly caught him in two minds. Having failed to fully capitalize on the first section a short tube followed; he then went for broke with a big close out re-entry but unfortunately Rhys failed to complete. Vaughanie having got off to a quick start went and sat patiently out the back hoping to build upon his tally, but it wasn't to be as the set he'd been waiting for caught him out of position and out of the running. In the end it was Cole's smarter approach, flowing surfing and committed turns that sealed the deal.

Having started slowly, Cole snuck into a tasty one right under the nose of Vaughan taking it to the cleaners with a final close-out reo landed right at the feet of the judges ensuring the title remains in the Cole household for another year.

The award presentation began as twilight descended upon another stunning weekend at Freshwater West. The local resident sea otter even decided to join the crowd to witness the crowning of this year’s champions.

Cutback : photo Liam O'Shea

Amongst the champions two special trophies were awarded, first up was the Matthew Dyson ‘Surfer of the Contest’ award. Rhys Morris of Swansea took this home and seemed a very popular choice judging by the massive cheer and applause from the crowd.

Legend Fluff, Shane Thomas and Jude Ryder from Pembrokeshire Surf Club awarded the Paul Ryder trophy to local surfer, Jack Crisp. Fluff gave a very stirring speech about the legend that is Paul Ryder who sadly passed away last year. The trophy is a fitting reminder to an amazing surfer and a great personality who is missed by everyone involved in Welsh surfing. 

As the sun finally set all that was left to do was to thank all those who helped to make the event possible with special mention to Quiksilver – Liam O’Shea and Meena Rajput. The National Trust and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park for the use of the beach. The WSF’s Eryl Mason, Stuart Bentley, Tom Anderson, Mark Vaughan, Lloyd Cole, Alison and Dave Williams.

 All of our judges  and those who mucked in to assist with the second peak, with special thanks to Tony Sampson and Head Judge Bob Freshwater. And finally contest director Jamie Bateman who once again gave up hours of his time for everyone else when he’d rather have been surfing.

Mens finalists : photo Liam O'Shea

Results

OPEN     
1. Lloyd Cole  
2. Mark Vaughan  
3. Rhys Morris   
4. Steve Phillips   

WOMEN
1. Beth Mason
2. Jo Dennison
3. Siwan Rees
4. Joanne McHugh

SENIORS    
1. Greg Owen   
2. Chris Seage   
3. Tom Anderson  
4. Lee Morgan    

MASTERS
1. Simon Tucker
2. Brad Hockridge
3. Colin Bright
4. Andrew Pelosi

BODYBOARD   
1. Mark Griffiths   
2. Jack Hughes   
3. James McGregor  
4. Tom Hammett  

 LONGBOARD
1. Elliott Dudley
2. Huw Bentley
3. Martin John
4. Rob Webster-Blythe
5. Steve Horn

JUNIOR U18    
1. Josh Hughes   
2. Tom Good   
3. Jack Crisp   
4. Adam Reimnitz

GIRLS U18
1. Gwen Spurlock
2. Olivia Jones
3. Mali James
4. Grace Roberts

LONGBOARD U18   
1. Huw Bentley  
2. Rhys Poulton   
3. Will Pountney   
4. Owain Bancroft

CADET U16
1. Tom Good
2. Max Tucker
3. Josh Hammett

YOUTH U14    
1. Jack Davies   
2. Dan Bresnan  
3. Nathaniel James 
4. Will Pountney   

GROM U12
1. Max Payne
2. Aaron Bright
3. Ceiran Hughes
4. Owen Alexander 

- Advertisement -

www.welshsurfingfederation.org.uk

What's your take on this?
Post your thoughts: SV Forum

New Survey: Map Surfing’s future 

New! B2B News ASBE-Surf   |  Receive News-Alerts

  Updated & Revised European Surforecasts
  More European surfing news available here

Mark Vaughan

Contests - Surfersvillage