Christian Surfers United Kingdom

Jesus Surf Classic Part 2 sees sun and surf for second attempt

The weekend of October 17th and 18th was a huge challenge for Christian Surfers UK, as they were holding both of the ‘Jesus Surf Series’ events on the same weekend around 60 miles apart ( Croyde and Polzeath ).

With well over 160 competitors of the UK’s top competitors, the surfing this weekend was always going to be

of the highest calibre.

For more details of the highly successful ‘Jesus Longboard Series’ this will be covered in full in a story to follow.

Christian Surfers United Kingdom: LongBoard

The week running up to the Jesus Surf Series Classic Part 2 saw some fantastic swell pushing into Croyde Bay, so expectations were high for the second part to the Jesus Surf Classic 2009. By the time Saturday came the swell had dropped but the sets where still pretty consistent. With a smaller field of competitors left to run ( As three of the categories had been run on a previous weekend ) the decision was always going to be whether to finish on Saturday night or wait for the possibility of slightly better waves on Sunday.

As the waves kept on rolling through, the decision was taken to run the whole contest on Saturday. The sun was setting as the Open final entered the water, on a day which had seen some great action in challenging waves.

In part one of the Jesus Surf Classic during the weekend of September 12-13 Tassy Swallow took the women’s under 18, Patrick Daniel took the Cadet title and Harry de Roth won the Youth division.

With some of the traditional top names in UK surfing scene not making an appearance this year , due to the date change, the title was wide open. The sun shone all day, and as the tide pushed in the sets were consistent, but the small conditions were always going to be a challenge.

The Juniors were the first in the water and made the most of the small conditions, with Woolacombes Stuart Campbell, who was the stand out of the contest taking the Junior title. Toby Donachie was second, with Newquays George Picking and Josh Piper taking third and fourth.
With some of the top ladies choosing to compete in the students, there was an opportunity for a new name on the very large women’s trophy.

Despite a stand out performance in the semi finals from Zoe Sheath, it was Tassy Swallow who took the win. A great performance from Jemima Knight saw her take second, Zoe Sheath came third and new comer, Allyssa Podessa ( Porthcawl ) came in fourth.

The Masters final, was taken clearly by Bideford's Michael Plackett, with Simon Twitchen coming in second after some consistent surfing. Paul Barlow and Craig Burrows struggled to find the better waves taking third and fourth.

The Open title was wide open this year and it was the younger guys that came out on top. As well as taking the junior title, Stuart Campbell made it a double by winning the open after some great surfing throughout the contest. Josh Piper struggled to back up a great wave, coming in second, closely followed by Toby Donachie in Third. After some blistering surfing in the quarters and semis Gary Wells came unstuck in final and finished fourth.

Throughout the weekend at both of the ‘Jesus’ series events, funds were being raised to support the work of ‘Shelterbox’ and ‘Holidays with a purpose’ as they continue to assist the areas so desperately affected by the recent Tsunami in Somoa, and earthquake in Sumatra, leaving thousands dead and tens of thousands in need of shelter and medical assistance.

For a full report of the 3rd Jesus Longboard Classic, see other press release, but it was a very successful contest with over 80 entries, held at the Tubestation in Polzeath.

Polzeath Surfers Church , Tubestation

The main winners were :
Open Longboard – Ben Skinner Women’s Longboard – Dominique Kent
Masters - Mark Goodwright Junior Longboard – Mike Lay

Christian Surfers UK would like to thank in particular all the Christian Surfers volunteers from around the country, Parkdene Holidays, Baggy Surf Lodge, the RNLI, the surfers of Croyde for sharing the waves during the weekend, and God for again providing the small but consistent waves, which saw the event completed in the evening sunset.

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