Monday 4 October 2010

Done and Dusted!

Evening everyone,


Well that's the Gathering of the Clans done and dusted for another year, and I'd like to say a huge thanks to everyone who turned up, helped out and basically allowed the event to happen.

It was a real tough call, there was a chart for waves but of questionable quality and duration. A few phone calls later with the possibility of the event not running if it was postponed we decided to give the event the green light and go for it.

I left Thurso early and arrived in Fraserburgh just before seven am watched a few sets and decided that it was at least worth a paddle before things kicked off.

It's been a while since I've had to paddle out through any surf and just after my feet left the sand I thought that I was going to be challenged to say the least before I saw any breaking waves. It didn't take long though and it was actually quite easy to get out there, staying in the right spot was a completely different story! Forty minutes later and four waves I was back on the beach getting ready to set up.

In all honesty I have to say a big thanks to the Broch surf club who really pulled out the stops, arranging access to the beach viewing room which made for a fantastic judging, prize giving and general focal point throughout the event and helping massively throughout the day.

The sun shone all day, there were some challenging conditions but the waves held good shape and consistency all day. Due to the conditions in the morning it was decided to run the open first and extend the heat length to forty minutes to give competitors a fair chance of getting waves.

Next to run was the seniors, longboards and ladies. Once the first rounds were completed it was decided that it was still a little too much for the juniors to contend with at that point so it was onto the finals.

By this time the surf was beginning to shape up well and the wind calming down, all of the finals were closely fought, even though it was the finals and everyone wanted to win as much as the next there was a good atmosphere in the water and a fair bit of joking around if I was to be truthful.

With the day drawing to a close the swell had died down to just overhead and was looking good for the juniors, after a quick chat with them they were eager to get out there and give it a go. All of the juniors gave it a good dig and it was a real inspiration to see so many juniors competing and enjoying the day in general.

At the end of the day it was the Fraserburgh team who won the event, although I would say that it wasn't all their way as the Aberdeen team were hot on their heels and narrowly missed out.

I was going to say below is a full rundown of results from all of the divisions and the overall team placing, however I forgot the sheet with the full listings and i'm offshore now. I'll post the team placings and winners from each catagory instead for now and post the rest later.

Once again huge thanks to everyone and sponsors Staunch who provided prizes for the winners of each division. Hope that everyone had a great day and we can see you again next year at the Scottish nationals in the spring.

Team placing:

1st  Fraserburgh
2nd Aberdeen
3rd Belhaven
4th Banff

Catagory winners:

Open: Lester Cruickshank
Senior: George Noble
Longboard: Iain Masson
Ladies: Dee Ripol
Junior: Louie Chadwick

Congratulations to all...
Thanks
Chris

Thursday 30 September 2010

Clans is On!

Everyone,

Well we finally made a decision, and the Clans is a go for this weekend.

We have had a few folks keen on entering and there are a few teams. If you are looking to enter but don't have a team please email me and I'll try to sort it out before the weekend for you.

Check in will be at 8am Saturday the 2nd of October down the beach at Fraserburgh.

Cost: £5 per team member.

Hope to see you there,

Thanks
Chris

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Clans Update

Hey Everyone,

We will be posting a final decision on whether the event will run this weekend tomorrow evening after looking at the chart again.

Thanks for your patience
Chris

Saturday 25 September 2010

Clans Update

Morning everyone,

Time's marching on now and the Clans is almost upon us. We will be looking to make a final call on Wednesday the 29th of September on the event location. Basically its either going to be in Fraserburgh or Thurso although Fraserburgh is the primary location for the event.

I haven't heard from anyone about teams entering so if you could let me know that would be fantastic and help the event run smoother on the day. If you are looking to enter a team you can contact me at scottishwaveriders@gmail.com

Looking at the team for those of you who don't know, you can have up to ten people in a team. The team has to be from Scotland although the members from the team don't all need to be Scottish.

The divisions are as follows:

Open
Junior (U18)
Ladies
Senior (Over 30)
Longboard

Thanks
Chris

Boom!

Had to post this.... Even if only for the first wave!


Cloudbreak September 2010 from Surfing Life on Vimeo.

Wednesday 8 September 2010

Dates for the Gathering of the Clans '10

Hey everyone,

Sorry its been a while been pretty busy lately!

We finally managed to come to a decision regarding the date and place for the Gathering this year. We are looking to run on the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd in Fraserburgh. This is however dependant on the chart where if the chart is poor for Fraserburgh and it looks like there will be waves on the north coast we will be looking to move the event to the north coast.

More info to follow soon, but as always if you have any questions please feel free to mail me at scottishwaveriders@gmail.com

Thanks
Chris

Sunday 25 July 2010

O'Neill Surf Academy 2010 Rocks Scotlands!

Hey kids, ever fancied trying surfing? We’ll now here’s a chance and it’s absolutely free!


In the final week of July the O’Neill surf academy will arrive in Scotland armed with 60 boards, 60 wetsuits and 6 professional surf instructors. The surf academy hopes to give kids aged from 6 to 16 the opportunity to try surfing for the first time under professional supervision.

The academy kicks off in Thurso on the 28th and 29th of July then moves on to Fraserburgh where it will run open courses on the 31st of July and the 1st of August. Each day the surf academy hopes to attract up to 50 kids; the aim is to start at approx 09:30 am where each kid will receive professional beach instruction followed by hitting the water for the first surf lesson, lunch will be provided before heading off for a second surf lesson in the afternoon (conditions permitting).

The format per day is outlined below:

09.30 - 10.30 Inscription & registration

10.30 - 11.30 Welcome and introduction

11.30 - 13.00 Surfing

13.00 - 14.00 Lunch

14.30 - 16.30 Surfing

16.30 - 17.00 Material back in trailer

17.00 - 17.30 Award ceremony + autographs

The Academy is open to all kids aged 6 to 16 however due to limited availability spaces will be allocated on a first come first serve basis. Spaces can also be reserved up front by contacting the following email address: oneillgrommets@gmail.com and providing each potential participants name/ age/ parental contact number/ home address and preferred location/ dates (as specified above).

All equipment will be provided along with lunch and tuition is free just bring a towel!

Hope to see you there!

Thursday 27 May 2010

Now thats what I call surfing!

Here's a sick wee vid from Allyn Harper...


Slab Hunting in Scotland from Allyn Harper on Vimeo.

Wednesday 19 May 2010

Scottish Champs Teaser


Scottish Surfing Championships 2010 Teaser >>

Time flies.....

Hey Everyone,

Well sorry about the shortage of posts lately, guess that's how it goes eh?!

Plenty happening since my last post, had the QS on for a week before I went away last time. Yet again been blown away by the standard of surfing in waves we wouldn't look twice at, one of the highlights would have to have been the free surfing at the bowl when it was onshore mush one of the mornings halfway through the contest. It's also pretty amazing to see the airs that the guys were doing, not just in free surfing but in heats too!

Must say that they boys put up a good effort, Boydie had a good game plan and stuck with it throughout. His knowledge helped him to get quite a few good waves however he was out pointed on better set waves. Georgie had a tough heat with not many waves going his way, the waves he did get weren't really keen on cooperating. Scratch put in a fine effort, his experience from the past two events helped him prepare for his heat. Surfing well throughout his heat Scratch did himself proud unfortunately he found his roll of the dice not in his favour. He found himself in one of the highest scoring heats of the first round, even though he did not make it through his heat he could still walk up the reef with his head held high.


I'm sure that everyone seen the photos that have come from the event, I'm going to upload some of my favourites soon. The photo above is Scratch just before his heat and for me this is an outstanding photo. It really sums up the feelings and thoughts that go through your head just before a heat like this. In all honesty its not a very nice position to be in, sure you have all of the journalists calling and talking about how you are the wildcard, the chosen one. Here we have the warrior that the Scots have chosen to put forward as our best.

The ego boost that the journalists give soon subsides leaving the cold hard reality, you are about to surf against some of the best surfers in the world. This is their job, they surf heats every week, winning means continued support and a shot at the big time loosing isn't really an option. Here you are waiting for the countdown, thinking... All I want to do is my best, if I do the best I can and fail that's OK I've done my best. The other option is to surf badly, make the wrong decisions, pick the wrong waves, fall, get stuck inside, it could go flat and I won't get any waves. There are more things can go wrong than right.

Then you have the walk back up the reef, that in itself is a daunting thing. If anyone knows anything about the guys who are at the top of their game it's that they HATE loosing. On the other hand if you win, the world is your oyster all smiles and life is good. winning means living up to the expectation, all the hype from the journalists, the support of the guys on the reef.  Loosing is something that you have to deal with and I think that some handle it better than others. Whichever way you look at it it's a long walk with your head bowed.


Anyway I'm getting sidetracked, as you can see from this photo here Scratch surfed well and as far as I'm concerned he did enough to walk up the reef with his head held high.

Later
Chris


Sunday 11 April 2010

Better late than never!

Evening everyone...

Well I have to say a big sorry to Martina and James as I've been so long at posting about the great work they did during the weekend of the Scottish. I've uploaded a selection of shots that they forwarded onto me but if you would like to see mroe please visit...

http://surfingnorth.wordpress.com/

and

http://www.jamesgunn.co.uk/page80.html

As for me, I'm going to be hanging out watching the 'QS. Boydie sneaked up today to try and get a wee bit of practice in before the event, said that he had a fun surf out at the bowl with twenty seven other guys. One things for sure.. he'll be looking forward to his heat so that there are only three other guys out there with him!

Later
Chris

Friday 12 March 2010

Scottish Surfing Federation Scottish National Championships 2010

The SSF Scottish Surfing Championships sponsored by Staunch was held on the weekend of the 6th & 7th March, at Scotland’s most famed wave, Thurso-East. Attracting competitors from all over Scotland to compete against one another for the prestigious title of Scottish Champion, and for the opportunity to represent Scotland in the forthcoming ASP WQS event, the O’Neil Cold Water Classic, and compete for a share of the $145,000 prize purse. The finalists of this year's open competition would also qualify for the Scottish National Surfing Team.

'The Scottish' saw competitors compete in five different divisions: Open, Seniors, Longboard, Ladies & Juniors. Testing conditions greeted competitors on Saturday; head high waves and 15 mph on-shores challenged competitors as a full day of surfing ensued. The 1st round of the open ran, followed by the Seniors semi-finals, Juniors, Ladies, and Longboard finals, all with fine displays of surfing.

The junior event was an exciting man on man final heat - both competitors surfing for their first time on Thurso-East's heavy lipped waves. Louie Chadwick came out on top after catching a high scoring set wave. Both juniors showed great confidence taking on the barelling right handers of Thurso-East on a day that was by no means small and proved to everyone that the future of Scottish surfing is in good hands.

The ladies also surfed with great confidence, this time Fraserburgh's Jill Noble taking the title after catching the best waves and stylishly carving her way to the channel.

The longboard final faced difficult conditions, bumpy faces and fast walls. This year Scottish Longboard Champ, Sam Christopherson had a worthy challenger - Simon Parkinson. Simon was ripping powerfully and stylishly on his 9 footer as if it was a shortboard, and combining traditional nose riding on steep sections of the wave in all his heats. Longboard favourite, Sam, picked off a bomb mid way through the final and rode the tube to secure his title for the second consecutive year, although it was obvious to everyone that Simon has the repertoire to be a contender for the title next year.

You could hardly have asked for a better day on Sunday; over-head world class waves, light off-shores, and even a little sunshine! The remaining heats of the Open promptly beginning at 9am with all competitors and spectators absolutely frothing over the conditions. Surfers were exchanging long barrels, huge floaters and heavy hacks on Thurso Easts flawless copper walls.

Standouts in early rounds of the Open were Mark 'Scratch' Cameron, Chris Noble, Mark 'Boydie' Boyd, Georgie 'Slater' Watt, Russel Cruikshank and Alex Sutherland.

Regardless of conditions Scratch picked off the best waves and surfed them with textbook style to the highest standard. Scratch dominated his heats throughout the competition until he met Chris Noble in the semis, where Chris' tuberiding skills put him on top.

Winner of the Staunch Eagle for highest scoring wave of the competition was the Thurso local, Chris Noble; taking a perfect throaty right with two long deep barrels in the ¼’s, scoring unanimous 10’s from the judges. Thurso-East resident Alex Sutherland had the second highest scoring barrel and was a threatening competitor in the tubing conditions.

Russel Cruikshank was looking strong early on in the contest, throwing buckets of spray on his backhand until an unfortunate wipeout whilst pig-dogging his way into the tube in the semis resulted in a broken thumb.

Mark Boyd and George Watt who both had podium places in the 2009 championships were feeling confident and looking strong early on. Georgie was surfing progressively with a variety of manoeuvres such as reverses and even a layback snap on a lefthander in early rounds. Boydie's backhand attack is always dangerous, although he surfed reservedly in early heats - not the usual radical surfing he is capable of. His tactical knowledge came into play in a tough semi final where a fierce paddle battle ensued with George Noble for a set wave in the dying minutes in the heat for Boydie to protect his lead. Boydie and Georgie Watt both progressed through the semis and into the final for the second consecutive year.

It would be Cameron, Noble, Boyd and Watt who made the final - the experienced regular footers against the youthful goofy footers; Cameron, Boyd and Watt all had podium places in 2009 and Cameron and Noble were both ex champion therefore all finalists were hungry to take the title this time round.

Conditions slightly deteriorated for the Open final, with the wind swinging onshore and the swell pulsing with a lesser frequency than in earlier heats. Event favourites Mark ‘Scratch’ Cameron and Chris Noble were looking tired having surfed their semis and senior final immediately prior. UKPST surfers, Mark Boyd and George Watt were looking strong, but with them both surfing on their backhand against the two favoured, yet tired regular-footers, on Thurso’s reeling rights... who would take the championship title and the WQS wildcard was anyone’s guess.

All four finalists surfed with commitment, control and confidence in the heavy and challenging conditions, but nobody could stop reigning champ, Scratch, from finishing first and retaining his title. Chris Noble came a close second with Boyd and Watt taking 3rd and 4th respectively. It proved to be another close battle between Scratch and Chris who are 10 years older than the other finalists Boydie and Georgie. The rivalry the Scottish Championships has witnessed over the years between Cameron and Noble is sure to be mirrored in future years by the two promising young guns Boyd and Watt, keeping the SSF Scottish Surfing Championships as exciting as ever!

A big thanks to the organisers, the Scottish Surfing Federation, the competitors and all the spectators for making this such a great event. Particular thanks to Andy Bain and Grant Coghill, the head and assistant judges for the weekend, Peter Fenwick the beach marshall and Staunch Industries the competition sponsor.

RESULTS:

OPEN

Mark 'Scratch' Cameron
Chris Noble
Mark 'Boydie' Boyd
Georgie Watt

LADIES

Jill Noble
Lizzy Sutherland
Dianne Ripoll
Angie Fraser

LONGBOARD

Sam Christopherson
Simon Parkinson
Boydie
Angus

JUNIORS

Louie Chadwick
Max Ferguson-Hook

SENIORS

Mark 'Scratch' Cameron
Sam Christopherson
Jason Burnett
Chris Noble

Words by Simon Parkinson & Mark Boyd

Monday 8 March 2010

Done and dusted!

Well that's it for another year...

Pretty successful and eventful all round I reckon. There were some good waves, some not so good waves, a few injuries and aching bodies the next day but most importantly some pretty good surfing in all of the divisions!

Sunday had to be the highlight, Scratch took the Open title again this year and set out his intentions right from the hooter in the first heat of the day. His first wave for the heat on Sunday pretty much sealing his heat win leaving him the rest of the heat to find a back up wave which of course he had no problems in doing.

Conditions throughout the morning were some of the best we've seen for a contest in quite a few years, I must say I enjoyed my heats, the waves allowed mostly everyone to have a fair crack at a couple of nice ones and I'm sure that there were some happy campers on the way home on Sunday evening.

Another good turn out from everyone, stoked to see the longboard and Senior division's becomming bigger at the event too.

Big thanks to everyone for turning up and helping out especially Grant and Andy for Judging, Pete, running the beach marshall for the two days, Boydie for his first efforts at Contest Director and again thanks to everyone who picked up a clipboard and judged a heat or two.

Anyway I have to get going just now, full results to follow soon, I'm away just now so once I can get it organised I'll get them posted.

Thanks
Chris

Wednesday 3 March 2010

Scottish champs '10

Hi Everyone,

Well we've decided to call the Scottish on for this weekend (6th & 7th) at Thurso. With a reasonable chart we're hoping for a few waves over the weekend. Check in will be 8am at Thurso East car park.

There is also the AGM planned for the evening of the 6th. This will start at 7pm at Tempest surf cafe.

If you would like to see the agenda please follow the link to the side.

Cheers
Chris

Friday 26 February 2010

Have you been injured whilst surfing/body boarding/knee boarding?

Hi all,

I am a Masters student currently studying an MSc in Sport and Exercise Medicine at Glasgow University. For my thesis I am undertaking a research project on injuries related to surfing. As a keen surfer (knee boarder) who has spent over 25 years in the water I have suffered, as well as seen many various injuries whilst out in the water. Therefore, I am keen to see if the choice of what type of surfing you participate in (stand-up/body board/knee board) can predispose you to certain types of injuries.

Many previous studies in this area have mainly looked at stand-up surfing, but as stated above, I am keen to see if your choice of surf craft can lead to particular types of injury. The injuries that I am looking for can range from the most minor cut or scrape, to more serious forms of injury. No injury is too small or too large. However, the injury that I am asking you to report must have happened during the year 2009 or early 2010. All that I ask is that you click on the link provided and answer the on-line questionnaire (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CY8S59Y). It is completely anonymous, and please be as honest as possible.

Also, if you know of any other surfer who may have been injured, or they know of any other surfer who may have been injured, could you please forward the link onto them? They do not have to be Scottish! As the more respondents to the survey, the better understanding of the risks associated with the choice of board you ride.

If you require more information please feel free to email me on b.ferrier@napier.ac.uk and thank you for your time.

Brendon Ferrier
MSc Sport and Exercise Medicine
Glasgow University

Thursday 18 February 2010

Staunch supports the Scottish champs

Hi All,

Just had a really exciting call from the guys at Staunch clothing, turns out that they're super stoked on the event and would like to support the SSF this year! If you've never heard of them they're an up and coming clothing brand made in Scotland by Scots for Scots, if you'd like to know more check out http://www.staunchindustries.co.uk/

There was a wee bit of confusion from some of you regarding my last post so just to clarify, our dates that we would love to run the contest is going to be the 6th and 7th of March. Obviously this will depend largely on Huey!

Hopefully the event runs and we will be able to hold the 2010 SSF AGM on the evening of the 6th, I'm still working on the venue but will update everyone once that's finalised. A copy of the agenda will be available soon for anyone who would like a copy, Also if you would like to see anything on the agenda please feel free to email me at scottishwaveriders@gmail.com.

As always there will be a final call made around Wednesday the week of the contest, if everything goes belly up there is a back up date for the start of April but keep your fingers crossed and prey to Huey!

See you there...

Chris

Saturday 6 February 2010

Dates for the Scottish

Evening all,

Sorry it's taken a wee bit of time to get these to you, things have been a bit hetic on my end however I'm hoping that you'll have enough time to get ready for this years Scottish.

The first date we are looking at is a bit earlier than usual on the 6th and 7th of March with a back up date of the 3rd and 4th of April.

Once again we will be looking at running the event in Thurso.

A final call will be made around the start of March so that you know what's happening.

On a similar note, we are still working on dates for this years Gathering. Hopefully I can confirm them soon!

Thanks
Chris

RESULT!

Coastal Car Parking Charges not going ahead

After discussions within the administration group- it was decided not to progress with Coastal Car Parking Charges

Budget papers are now available for the meeting on Tuesday- link attachedhttp://cmis.eastlothian.gov.uk/cmiswebpublic/

Labour and Tory Groups have both proposed to proceed with charging, however the administration councillors form the majority of councillors and charging will not go ahead

Difficult decisions however had to be made throughout the budget

Cllr Paul McLellan

Paul has also ensured that there will be no futher charges for the period they continue to be in administration (2 yrs)
 
So looks like you can still turn up and surf for free!

Friday 22 January 2010

How good is your duck dive?

All,

Please see below from a student who is studying the art of the duck dive...

I am a keen surfer and a 4th year Sports Science student at the University of Edinburgh. For my thesis I am undertaking a research project on the biomechanics of the surfing duck dive technique. As a surfer I am sure you will appreciate the importance of duck diving, an effective duck dive allows a surfer to get out back more quickly, reducing fatigue and increasing time spent catching waves.

The purpose of this research is to analyse the technique in order to identify the movement patterns required to perform it successfully. This will provide information on how the technique can be improved and which muscles can be trained to make duck diving as effective as possible.

The research is taking place at the University of Edinburgh Centre for Aquatics Research, which has cameras placed both above and below water, providing detailed three dimensional analysis. There is very little research on surfing and nothing published in this area at all, making the results of this project potentially very interesting.

I am planning on getting started with the project in the next few weeks and I am hoping to find some surfers who may be interested in taking part. It would require performing a few duck dives in the University pool, allowing for the performance to be filmed. This would only take an afternoon and should be interesting to take part in because immediate feedback of the performance is available so a participant can watch themselves duck dive, and see how they could improve their own technique.

This project is completely reliant on volunteers being willing to take part and I would greatly appreciate anyone who is willing to come along and participate.

If you think you might be interested in participating, please email me at s0673892@sms.ed.ac.uk and I will be happy to give you some more information.

Kind Regards,
Robert Kupris
4th year Sports Science Student
University of Edinburgh

Monday 11 January 2010

Well hello there!

Hi Everyone,

Sorry it's been a while since I posted anything, I had some major computer problems over the last couple of months. So there goes my first shout out... Cheers Santa! Old Saint Nick didn't fail me this year, he delivered a nice shiny new lap top so we should have a few more updates coming soon.

On the email front, thanks to everyone who has been in touch, I'll do my best this time I'm home to catch up with everything and get back to you, If I don't get back to you in the next couple of weeks feel free to mail me back and call me slack! ;o)

On the wave front it's been a really poor season up north with only a couple of days here and there, no real swells of note. However I've been lead to believe that the East coast has had a good run of waves since Christmas, if you've braved to freezing temperatures and really bad driving conditions to get a couple good on you. I reckon you earned them...

One last note, the East Lothian Council want to introduce parking charges at ALL beaches in the county. This was rejected once already but they are trying again. If you value your beach access please sign the petition and pass on to as many as possible. The decision is being taken at a finance meeting on 9th Feb - the Council seem to think this will rescue them from their budget deficit! http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/33265.html

Thanks
Chris