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