and ladies amateurs won by the dynamic
duo Dan and Lucie Turner, and pro Ladies
by Rosanna Jury.
Early Sunday morning most competitors
were awoken by torrential rain as their
vans and tents were swayed by the strong
winds. An early briefing had been called for
9:30am which was attended by a handful of
riders. It was announced that competition
would start asap due to the dropping wind
forecast. The wind and sea state hadn’t
gone unnoticed by anyone - winds well in
excess of 30mph and big shore dump - it
was clear the conditions were going to be a
real game changer.
The pros were the first to start, and it’s fair
to say that the heats were very tentative,
with not much more than the simplest of
handle-passes being scored. After the first
round of Pro’s were completed, my 3rd
round heat was up against Kev Matthey.
We both started fairly slow, landing some
basic moves in the huge shore dump, until
Kev landed a Blind judge on the way in. I
tried to reply with a 313, but lost control of
the bar on landing. I landed a few more low
scoring moves in the difficult conditions,
but wasn’t sure they would be enough (and
they weren’t! :))
As the results came in, I saw Kev had
pipped me in the horrendous conditions
and all props to him for doing so. It gave
me the chance to sit back and watch the
rest of the competition; the highlight for me
was the semi-final between Lewis Crathern
and Oli Sweeney. Oli totally shone in the
gloomy conditions, as if handle-passing
in 6 foot shore dump was routine for him,
landing everything he attempted with a real
swagger - tricking through the waves with
ease as if they weren’t there at all.