Success at Fat Face night surf UK pro surf tour 2007
photography: Lucia Griggi
The Fat Face Night Surf, part of the Fat Face Night Series Tour and the second leg of the UK Pro Surf Tour, took place on the weekend of the 22nd -24th of June at Lusty Glaze. With the conditions proving to be most challenging, all 3 events were run including the Men’s, Women’s and Longboard as well as the Grom tour on Sunday and of course the relentless money manoeuvre- the best floater!.
Friday greeted the large crowds with 1-2 foot onshore swell in which all surfers made the most out of these challenging conditions. In addition to the surfing the crowds were treated to a great party both Friday and Saturday nights, featuring live music acts, volleyball competitions and of course the Barbie! A great display was also seen by the Red Arrows which attracted large crowds down to the beach from all over. Displaying one of the most spectacular air shows ever seen down in Cornwall the show was a great success.
Saturday greeted the surfers with similar conditions, surfing went on throughout the day with standouts including Russell Winter, ‘Skippy’ Skilton and Jarred Sulliven. Great surfing ability was seen by Mark ‘Egor’ Harris who showed off some excellent surfing in the most challenging conditions seen yet on the tour this year. Mark swept through his heats securing a place in the final alongside England’s top surfer, Russell winter, Porthtowan’s, Shaun Skilton, and international competitor Jarrad Sulliven from Australia.
With Russell not yet being defeated on a UK Pro Surf Tour event, an interesting final was to be seen with the whole beach lit up with spectators from all over the country flooding down to watch the final heat of the day. Jarrad selected the better waves coming through with great skill and judgement allowing him to provide bigger and better manoeuvres. Unfortunately for Russell, he only managed to select waves that opened up for one manoeuvre and this was not enough to topple of the Australian. So close after coming out of injury, Russell did not go away empty handed winning the ‘Relentless money manoeuvre’ for best floater seen over the duration of the weekend winning a neat little cheque of £250.
Winner, Jarrad Sulliven spoke “Thanks to all the sponsors for a great event and thanks to Dave Reed, contest director, and the team for a great opportunity in competing within the Uk Pro Tour and I hope to continue competing in other upcoming events within the tour”.
Also seen on Saturday was the women’s division with Newquay based Holly Donnelly now leading the woman’s tour, despite being 15 years of age, her win preceded in putting her into the lead. With the conditions being small, Holly was at a huge advantage and as a result taking home the title in the woman’s division, beating last years title holder, Nicole Morgan from Ireland. Holly also secured second place in the under 16 girls division held on Sunday. In the Longboard division Chris Thompson of Newquay defeated challengers from all over the country to take the title.
Sunday resulted in similar conditions running the under 12’s, under 16’s girls and boys. Newquay based grom Harry Timson showed off some spectacular surfing maintaining his title and holding leadership on the tour for what could be seen the second year running. Harry has won both events this year and is yet to express fantastic surfing ability throughout the year.
Harry stated, “I had a great final although the conditions were challenging. The sets were pretty inconsistent but I made the most of what was there by picking the better set waves,”
photography: Lucia Griggi
Further results were Gwen Spurlock, winning the under 16’s division, securing her title for another year. Gwen showed off some better manoeuvres of the day making the most of the set waves coming through. Stuart Campbell took the under 16’s boys title beating Tom Good, Toby Donachie and Lewis Clinton in the finals.
Dave Reed contest director spoke, “this is the 7th annual Fat Face night series event and it was a great success. We managed to live stream the whole event which has never been done before, giving us vast coverage all over the world. The conditions were most challenging, however, all surfers excelled themselves and have furthermore shown how competitive and professional surfing has become in the UK. A big thanks to the red Arrows for their support of the event and hope to see them back in our future tournaments.
A big thanks to skinners ale for coming onboard this year alongside relentless energy drink in supporting the tour and providing the money manoeuvre prize. The next leg of the tour will be the ‘Hot Tuna Open’, August bank holiday.
photography: Lucia Griggi
