Three days of double peak surfing action took place at Watergate Bay over the weekend at England’s most prestige surfing contest.
Over 155 surfers came to compete at the 2022 Caravan and Motorhome Club English National Surfing Championships.
This was the battle for 2022 champion titles - read on to see how the event unfolded.
The 2022 Caravan and Motorhome Club English National Surfing Championships returned to its historic home of Watergate Bay at the weekend, with over 155 surfers in the event, competing in 16 different divisions, a total of nearly 190 entries (next year, we’re charging for 200+).
Year on year, the Championships are gaining in prestige as the standard of surfing in England is developing, and the talent coming through the ranks is so exciting, as well as the talent staying within the sport, the Men’s Seniors (28+) and Kahuna’s (45+) showing really impressive displays of surfing.
Throughout the weekend, scores dropped live onto LiveHeats keeping everyone on the edge of their seats.
Friday kicked off with some challenging conditions for the Groms. The waves were small.
Still, the event was called on by Pauly Jeffrey, our incredibly experienced Contest Director, with conditions reasonable enough to be contestable.
Even with this, the U12s, 14s, and 16s put in a serious shift making the most of what was on offer.
When you watch these juniors, you really get the scope of the talent in the surfing world.
Swift snaps were on show, and the most points were scored from the open faces of the waves as the surfers charged to gain the best scores.
We hit pause at lunchtime as the surf deteriorated.
Saturday was a different story, as we turned up to the beach to see the cliffs draped in fog but some bigger surf rolling through and a much cleaner wave.
With 39 surfers in the Men’s Open shortboard, we started at 8am, and the sea lit up with spray as surfers showed some serious power in their surfing.
The Women’s Shortboard was also absolutely inspiring to watch, as was all the surfing that ran through as we completed a staggering 56 heats of surfing.
The longboarding provided a mesmerizing watch, as usual, with surfers showcasing neat footwork to maneuver to maximize scoring potential on the waves.
Throughout the day, the Groms were also keeping energy levels high, getting in plenty of heats and, for those into finals, some training time.
After an epic Saturday, the whole Event Team and Surfers came to the beach with excitement on Sunday morning and high anticipation in the air as we got cracking to complete the Event and award titles.
The sun was basking the shoreline, and the waves were the tastiest looking we’d seen all weekend.
We knew the forecast was shifting, so we charged on starting before 8am to wrap up by lunchtime.
Eight heats of semi-finals set the tone for the day, with crowds roaring and supporters at the shoreline.
Sixteen heats of finals ran back-to-back, with surfers being patient for set waves to come through to maximize scores.
The tension was high, and some of the placings were incredibly close.
When it came to the crunch, in the Men’s Longboard, Ben Skinner claimed the champion spot for a consecutive year.
Luke Dillon, in the shortboard, made his intentions clear from the start.
He was recently back from a QS event in Portugal and won Men’s Shortboard Champion for the third year running.
Over into the Women's, Emily Currie took champion sport for Women’s Longboard for another year running, and Alys Barton came out on top in the Women’s Shortboard in a busy final with lots of set waves making the difference.
Alys also took the double with U18 Girl’s Champion title.
Full Results:
U12 Boys Shortboard: Joshi James
U12 Girls Shortboard: Lila Skinner
U14 Boys Shortboard: Lukas Skinner
U14 Girls Shortboard: Taylor Jett Miller
U16 Boys Shortboard: Arthur Randell
U16 Girls Shortboard: Belle Betteridge
U18 Boys Shortboard: Beau Betteridge
U18 Girls Shortboard: Alys Barton
U18 Boys Longboard: Arthur Randell
U18 Girls Longboard: Lola Bleakley
Men’s Seniors Shortboard (28+): Khan Thorne
Men’s Kahunas Shortboard (45+): Paul Kirby
Men’s Open Longboard: Ben Skinner
Women’s Open Longboard: Emily Currie
Men’s Open Shortboard: Luke Dillon
Women’s Open Shortboard: Alys Barton
