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