British Longboard Union

The Watering Hole-Bathsheba Classic Longboard Competition

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 10 September, 2009 : - - The 5th stop of the BLU 2009 tour was held over the weekend of the 5th and 6th of September at Perranporth with The Watering Hole providing the base for the competition. Being the penultimate stop of the tour things were getting serious in terms of overall points and positions, a clash of dates with the opening contest of the European Longboard Tour also meant that a lot of the top names were missing from the Open division, including the three top placed competitors overall, Ben Skinner, Elliot Dudley and James Parry. This gave an opportunity for younger and lower placed surfers to make in-roads into their lead, and with good, contestable head high waves, the conditions were prime.

In the Open, despite some of the top names missing, neither semi-final looked enticing, with some promising juniors itching to score an upset. In the end it was Matt Travis from Sennen who did just that making his first Senior final to join seasoned campaigners, Ben Haworth, Ashley Braunton and Will Eastham proving the strength in depth of British longboarding. In the end it was the precise nose-rides and elegant cutbacks of Will Eastham that secured him with his first win this year and beat the powerful backhand attack of Ashley Braunton into second and Ben Haworth into third, with the top three all very close Matt Travis failed to find the waves he needed to display his true potential and came in 4th.

The Ladies Final probably had the best surf of the event with the fast incoming tide of Perranporth just hitting the right bank for the vital 20 minutes, providing the competitors with quality walling lefthanders. In the end current ratings leader and previous Ladies Champion Gracie Davies could only manage 4th place and Candice O’Donnell 3rd, leaving the door open for Nicola Bunt to claim 2nd and Becky Stanhope to take 1st throwing the title race wide open for the final contest at Gwithian on the 19th-20th September, with a host of Ladies capable of taking the crown.

The Junior division experienced such an influx of young blood for BLU #5 that contest director Minnow Green was persuaded into opening a new Under 16’s division. In a straight final Louis Mavor was the eventual winner and one to watch out for the future in what will remain a highly competitive division. In the Under 18’s Sennen made up for the absence of James Parry and Sam Bleakley with three surfers from Sennen in the Final up against local favourite and ratings leader Trev Garland. Mike Lay came out on top to win his first BLU with Trev Garland coming in 2nd and Matt Travis grabbing a 3rd to go with his 4th in the open. Jackson Higgs, in his very first contest, achieved an excellent 4th place.

The Masters division saw Stephen Stritch make the final at just the second time of asking, he came up against BLU stalwarts Adrian ‘Shag’ Howell, Ray Lee and Paul ‘Keeno’ Keenan, who achieved 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. Stephen Stritch could only manage 4th as ‘Shag’ manoeuvred his powerful frame to rip apart the unsuspecting Perranporth walls and come out on top.

The BLU bandwagon moves on to its 6th and final stop on the 19th-20th September at Gwithian. With all still to play for and a full contingent expected for the last round an exciting and competitive finale is firmly on the cards and, not wanting to jinx anything, the last few years have been pretty good down south in terms of waves…

Full results at www.british-longboard-union.co.uk

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Mike Lay

BLU Contests - Surfersvillage