16th Jesus Longboard Classic – a fantastic day of competition

Due to tricky surf predictions for the Sunday, and after much discussion, the whole event was held on one longer day on Saturday, as opposed to the two originally planned. 

The Christian Surfers crew gathered on Friday night to set up the venue and were back on site at 7am on Saturday morning ready to go with the hot drinks and breakfast which were free to competitors and well received.

Around 60 longboarders across six categories, ranging from Under 18s to 60+, checked in to the Tubestation in Polzeath at 8 am on Saturday morning for a real fun and community-based day.

It’s fair to say that the beach-based officials had their work cut out with some spells of strong rain, but the good news was that the wind was offshore all day, the swell cleaned up nicely, and once the tide turned there was some excellent longboard waves pushing through right the way up to the final heat. All of which meant that all twenty-eight heats were run by 5.15pm.

There was great surfing in all divisions, and when it came to the finals all the heats were pretty stacked.

The award ceremony took place in a packed Tubestation and the presentation started with a few moments of silence and a prayer remembering three special people who sadly passed away in the last year: local Polzeath resident and Tubestation stalwart Libby Taylor; North Devon’s great longboarder and friend to many, Shaun Marlow; and much loved CS member Sabina Edwards, who had judged and competed at the event last year. 

Each of the winners received a stunning trophy designed by CS member Chris Clark, and great prizes supplied by Christian Surfers UK and other key sponsors. Ashley Braunton, the Men’s Open champion, gave a lovely winning speech at the presentation, explaining that his first ever contest on a longboard was at the Jesus Surf classic in Croyde when he was aged 15 (over 20 years ago) and that inspired him to start competing – what a great story. 

Even though the contest finished on Saturday, the Surfers Blessing was still held as planned on Sunday with a number of the competitors and volunteers attending; a time of reflection to start the day and a blessing with sea water for those who so wished. It was a great time of fellowship and sharing stories from the day before with the regular  Tubestation church crew.

A massive thanks to all involved in putting on this really successful event: all of the surfers who competed; the beach-based CS volunteers; and everybody involved with running the event and the hospitality back at Tubestation. Era Adventures also did a great job of providing water safety.

Without sponsors this event could not happen, so a huge thank you to returning sponsors Finisterre, George’s Surf School, 10 Over Surf Shop, Kosin, and Ocean Frog, and a big welcome to new sponsors Surfs Up, Wavehunters, and Waveland. It was also great to have Julie, from ear plug provider Wave Ear plugs, offering free ear checks and moulds; a great service which many of the surfers and volunteers took up.

Also a big thanks to British Longboard Union, and Hotdoggers for ongoing support, and Jamie at Surfline, for great up to date surf forecasts.

The event forms the first part of the Jesus Surf Series, with the second part taking place in Croyde over the weekend of 21-22 September with the 32nd Jesus Surf Classic.

Action and presentation photos attached from Andy Holter www.andyholterphotography.com