Open waters | The Wave Project
Ian Bennet, adaptive surf lead at surf-therapy charity The Wave Project tells us about the growing demand for adaptive surfing, and why The Wave Project is set on opening up the water for everyone.
Read moreEnglish National Surf Championships
The English National Surf Championships returns to Watergate Bay for a one day event on the 18 May. One of the highlights of the UK surfing calendar. We've been home to the Surfing Nationals for many years and are always happy to welcome the annual event back to our shoreline. This event will see the U12's, U14's and Stand up paddle surfers competing on the Watergate Bay waves.
Women's and men's shortboard open championships
The women's and men's shortboard open titles went ahead at Fistral beach over the weekend 15-16 April, clean 3-4ft waves rolled through. Lauren Sandland and Luke Dillon stormed to take champion titles.
Watch the 2022 film
2022 report
Spectators watched the action from the shoreline as it unfolded in the waves. This year over 155 surfers battled for champion titles in 16 different divisions, from Under 12’s through to the 45+ kahunas.
The weekend of back-to-back heats brought surfers together from all over the country to compete to claim an English Champion title. Performances amongst the waves were a real spectacle for those watching from the beach.
With three days of double peak surfing action, Friday kicked off with some challenging conditions for the Grom’s, waves were small, but the Event was on, with the surf deteriorating at lunchtime.
Saturday was a different story, with fog rolling into the bay bringing with it some bigger surf and a much cleaner wave.
The beach came alive with excitement on Sunday morning after a great show of talent on Saturday. The sun was basking on the shoreline with 16 heats of finals running back-to-back. The tension was high and some of the placings were incredibly close…
When it came to the crunch, Ben Skinner claimed the Champion spot for a consecutive year in the Men’s Longboard. Luke Dillon won for the third year running, retaining his title of Men’s Shortboard Champion.
Emily Currie took the Champion title for Women’s Longboard for another year running, and Alys Barton came out on top in the Women’s Shortboard after placing second last year.
Results - 2022
Mens Seniors Shortboard (28+): 1 Khan Thorne 2 Matty Bowling 3 Jean Bromfield 4 Matt Harwood
Mens Kahunas Shortboard (45+): 1 Paul Kirby 2 Joel Gray 3 Rob Watson 4 Roger Knight
Womens Open Longboard: 1 Emily Currie 2 Beth Leighfield 3 Sylvie Puddiphatt 4 Tina Beresford
Mens Open Longboard: 1 Ben Skinner 2 Sam Bleakley 3 Ashley Braunton 4 Jack Gregorius
Women’s Open Shortboard: 1 Alys Barton 2 Vittoria Farmer 3 Charlotte Mulley 4 Lucy Campbell
Mens Open Shortboard: 1 Luke Dillon 2 Liam Murray Strout 3 Barnaby cox 4 Miles Lee-Hargreaves
Junior Division
Under 12
Girls Shortboard: 1 Lila skinner 2 Hazel Bennett 3 Coco Arthur
Boys Shortboard: 1 Joshi James 2 Harvey Waters 3 Seb Whitely 4 Evan Dakin
Under 14
Girls Shortboard: 1 Taylor Jett Miller 2 Harlyn Sykes 3 Sunny Ingram 4 Willow Smith
Boys Shortboard: 1 Lukas Skinner 2 Jago Tasker 3 Heath Gillespie 4 Isaac Friend
Under 16
Girls Shortboard: 1 Belle Betteridge 2 Eva Blackford 3 Mia Olivia 4 Boe Howell
Boys Shortboard: 1 Arthur Randell 2 Fynn Gillespie 3 Reen Bowden-Inoue 4 Malakai Hagley
Under 18 Shortboard
Girls: 1 Alys Barton 2 Tegan Blackford 3 Charlotte Mulley 4 Eva Moorcraft-Holland
Boys: 1 Beau Betteridge 2 Alex Townsend 3 Sam Hearn 4 Kieron Smith
Under 18 Longboard
Girls: 1 Lola Bleakley 2 Sylvie Puddiphatt 3 Mali Harbour 4 Tegan Blackford
Boys Longboard: 1 Arthur Randell 2 Ted Pearson 3 Noah Strike 4 Syd Randell
36 surfers competed and the final four charged through the rounds in an endurance test on Saturday. Luke Dillon eventually took the men's champion title in a competitive final on Sunday.
After three days of heats, it was Groms Alys Barton who placed 2nd and Lauren Sandland at just 15 years old, who took the women's champion title.
Renowned multi-disciplined surfer Emily Currie, became the women's longboard champion continuing her victory as Boardmaster's Longboard Champion in August.
Experienced competitors, Ben Skinner and Sam Bleakley battled it out for the men's longboard chamption until the last wave of the heat where Ben took the top spot. Ben is currently 5th in the world for longboarding and has the WSL Longboard Champ title in his sights.
Junior Division
The boys’ categories saw a great turn out and for some of the U12s, after no competition last year.
The U14s, U16s, and U18s heats for boys and girls lit up the beach on Friday, in arguably the best conditions of the weekend with clean lines at Watergate Bay. Aerials were on show from Lucas Skinner and Stanley Norman, whilst the other groms look on to learn these skills. Fierce cutbacks and amplifying amounts of spray were powered from quick turns, showing the judges the high calibre of surfing.
Over 180 surfers battled for champion titles in 20 different divisions, from Under 12’s through to the 45+ kahunas.
U12 Boys Shortboard
1 Isaac Friend 2 Noah Renaud 3 Sebastian Connolly 4 Harvey James Waters
U12 Girls Shortboard
1 Bethan Davies 2 Sunny Ingram 3 Harlyn Sykes 4 Hazel Bennett
U14 Boys Shortboard
1 Lukas Skinner 2 Reen Bowden-Inoue 3 Finley Donovan 4 Sammy Woolf
U14 Girls Shortboard
1 Eva Blackford 2 Boe Howell 3 Lilly Issberner
U16 Boys Shortboard
1 Arthur Randell 2 Elliot Barton 3 Otis Perry 4 Ishka Thres
U16 Girls Shortboard
1 Belle Betteridge 2 Lauren Sandland 3 Eva Moorcraft-Holland 4 Rosie Thomas
U18 Boys Shortboard
1 Stanley Norman 2 Sam Hearn 3 Keiron Smith 4 Beau Betteridge
U18 Girls Shortboard
1 Alys Barton 2 Tegan Blackford 3 Asha Sykes 4 Sofia Louise Gooding
U18 Boys Longboard
1 Arthur Randell 2 Gwillym King 3 Syd Randell 4 Jacob Morrall
Men’s Masters (35+)
1 Joss Ash 2 Joel Gray 3 Matt Harwood 4 Simon Nicholson
Men’s Kahunas (45+)
1 Roger Knight 2 Lee Griffin 3 Paul Kirby 4 Ian Peter Warkick
Women’s Open Longboard
1 Emily Currie 2 Tina Beresford 3 Beth Leighfield 4 Jennifer Pendlebury
Men’s Open Longboard
1 Ben Skinner 2 Sam Bleakly 3 Jack Gregorius 4 Ashley Braunton
Women’s Open Shortboard
1 Lauren Sandland 2 Alys Barton 3 Lucy Campbell 4 Emily Currie
Men’s Open Shortboard
1 Luke Dillon 2 Stanley Norman 3 Joss Ash 4 Beau Bromham
Watch the 2021 film
English National Surfing Championships 2018
The 2018 Kings and Queens of the waves have been crowned. The UK’s top surfers gathered at Watergate Bay over Bank Holiday weekend, Saturday 5 – Monday 7 May 2018 to compete for national titles.
With consistent swell predicted over the course of the weekend – The longest-running surfing contest in the country welcomed the UK’s top surfers to Watergate Bay. Although the coastline had been engulfed in thick sea fog, sunshine was just visible through the mist and the surfers rose to the challenge to compete for National titles.
Bank holiday vibes were in full force over the weekend. Event partners provided the relaxed competition areas with DJ’s for entertainment and watchers of the sport could kick back and relax in deck chairs, while chatting to friendly surfers. The event provided an excellent excuse for members of the community to come together and engage with the teams involved and enjoy the opportunity to celebrate the sport.
Devon local, Lucy Campbell fought off competitors to retain her title. The men’s open final was described by some after as one of the most progressive, high quality and electrifying finals to come out of England in decades. As Reubyn Ash took to the air, Will Bailey power hacked, Luke Dillon chucked buckets and Miles Lee-Hargreaves rotated above the lip to the joy of all watching, the judges had non stop action to officiate over. In the end Reubyn took the win to retain his champion title.
With 170+ entries across 19 divisions, from 8 years old to mid 50’s, shortboard to longboard, the champions have been announced.
English National Surfing Championship Final 2018 Results
Under 12 Boys sponsored by 110% Surfing Techniques
1 Lukas Skinner
2 Heath Giilespie
3 Nikita Petrov
4 Arthur Randell
Under 12 Girls sponsored by 110% Surfing Techniques
1 Lauren Sandland
2 Eva Blackford
3 Belle Betteridge
4 Sienna Morison
Under 14 Girls
1 Tegan Blackford
2 Asha Sykes
Under 14 Boys
1 Sam Hearn
2 Max Miller Cooley
3 Alex Townsend
4 Kieron Smith
Boys Longboard Under 18 sponsored by Gul
1 Jordan Zervas
2 Lloyd Stein
3 Barnaby Innes
4 Arthur Randell
Girls Longboard Under 18 sponsored by Gul
1 Emily Wells
2 Stella Briggs
3 Tegan Blackford
4 Annie Young
Womens Masters
1 Jenny Pendlebury
2 Andrea Lawrence
3 Ingrid Morrison
Mens Masters
1 Rob Watson
2 Sam Smart
3 Joel Gray
4 Andrew Stone
Womens Open Longboard sponsored by Gul
1 Emily Currie
2 Beth Leighfield
3 Jenny Briant
4 Tina Beresford
Mens Open Longboard sponsored by Gul
1 Adam Griffiths
2 Sam Bleakley
3 Ben Howey
4 Lewis Stritch
Under 16 Girls sponsored by O’neill
1 Francesca Sayer
2 Bonita Whitelock
3 Iris Tanner
4 Esmee Gregorius
5 Bo Niblett
Under 16 Boys sponsored by O’neill
1 Will Masterman
2 Maximilian Hudson
3 Sol Hawkins
4 Noah Capps
Veterans Open
1 Mike Young
2 Roger Knight
3 David Gander
4 Darren Burrett
Mens Seniors
1 Josh Ward
2 Joss Ash
3 Luke Embleton
4 Adam Alexander Parkinson
Under 18 Girls sponsored by O’neill
1 Lily Pierce
2 Amy Dyer
3 Mischa Maguire
4 Lily Mandeville
Under 18 Boys sponsored by O’neill
1 Seth Morris
2 Will Gale
3 Stanley Norman
4 Kamron Matthews
Womens Open sponsored by Jolly Brown
1 Lucy Campbell
2 Ellen Harding
3 Emily Currie
4 Tassy Swallow
Mens Open sponsored by Stance
1 Reubyn Ash
2 Luke Dillon
3 Will Bailey
4 Miles Lee-Hargreaves
Watch the 2018 film
Thank you
Thank you to Surfing England for bringing the action to Watergate Bay.
Caravan Motorhome Club, Red Bull,Nick Hounsfield at The Wave, Korev lager, Decathlon, dryrobe, Surfdome and media partners Panoptic Motion.
See you next year!
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