16^th January 2020

2020 WELSH NATIONALS – IMPORTANT NEWS!!!!

Dear WSF member / Welsh surfer,

Please be aware that this year’s 2020 Welsh Nationals will run over the Easter bank holiday weekend of the 10^th, 11^th, 12^th & 13^th April.

As per the BSurf agreement, the Nationals has been moved to provide Welsh surfers with an opportunity to qualify for the Welsh team to compete at the 2020 British Cup – Thurso, Scotland which runs the following weekend of the 18^th and 19^th April.

Results at the Welsh Nationals will determine selection for the British Cup, with the team consisting of:

4 x Open Women

4 x Open Men

4 x U18 Girls

4 x U18 Boys*

The British Cup is now the only qualification method to compete for Great Britain at the 2020 ISA World Games in El Salvador (May 9^th – 17^th at El Sunzal and La Bocana), which is the final chance for surfers around the world to qualify for the 2020 Japan – Olympic Games!

In addition, the 2020 Welsh Nationals will be used to select the Welsh Junior Team to compete at this year’s Junior Euro Surf – Santa Cruz Portugal – 11^th to 19^th July and the British Masters in Jersey this Autumn.

Welsh National’s entry and membership details will be released mid-March.

Please also note that the WSF’s 2020 – Wilkinson Sword – Welsh Interclubs are schedule to take place on the 7th or 8th March 2020 at Langland Bay, Swansea.

Entry and membership forms will be released in the coming weeks.

For further information please email [email protected] or visit www.wsf.wales

Mark Vaughan

Welsh Surfing Federation

* Eligibility and WSF selection rules apply.

___________________________________________________

26^th November 2019

Subject: British Surfing Announcements

Dear WSF member,

Please be aware of the recent British Surfing press release providing notification of the British Team Coach and Manager roles that are now available and the updated British Team selection policy.

British Surfing: Coach and Manager roles link:

https://britishsurfingteam.com/News/files/British-Team-Manager-Coach.html

British Surfing: Selection Policy link:

https://britishsurfingteam.com/News/files/british-team-selection-2020.html

Mark Vaughan

Welsh Surfing Federation

The WSF will be holding our 2019 AGM at our Porthcawl office on Sunday 20th October at 6pm. A full agenda will be made available closer to the time. WSF members are invited to attend.

2019 BILLABONG MIPOST

WELSH NATIONALS

Highlight Reel – By Jack Abbott

A Highlights Reel, captured by local film maker Jack Abbot, summarising

some of the weekends three days of action.

Link to Live Heat Scores – 2019 Billabong MiPost Welsh Nationals.

Keep up to date with all the latest scores and results this weekend by clicking on the below link:

www.surfscores.com/GBR/2019/welshnat

SUPER GROM ENTRY FORMS NOW AVAILABLE!!!
2019 BILLABONG MIPOST WELSH NATIONALS

Please visit the Online Forms tab on our website to download the relevant documents. Please also note the new registration and payment method for 2019.

Should you have any queries please email: [email protected]

We look forward to seeing you at Welsh Nationals over the 4th, 5th & 6th May bank holiday weekend!

ENTRY FORMS NOW AVAILABLE!!!
2019 BILLABONG MIPOST WELSH NATIONALS

Please note that entry forms for the 2019 Billabong MiPost Welsh Nationals along with our individual membership forms (for those not affiliated through their local surf club) are now available.

Unfortunately our new event and membership system will not be available in suffincent time to use on this occasion. Therefore please visit the Online Forms tab on our website to download the relevant documents. Please also note the new registration and payment method for 2019.

Should you have any queries please email: [email protected]

We look forward to seeing you at Welsh Nationals over the 4th, 5th & 6th May bank holiday weekend!

Billabong MiPost Welsh National Surfing Championships 2019

The Welsh Surfing Federation is delighted to announce the very generous support of both Billabong (through Cove distribution) and MiPost Mailing Solutions, Cardiff of the 2019 Welsh National Surfing Championships.

Huw John – WSF President:

“Securing financial support for the Nationals is key to staffing and continually improving the event year on year. The previous two years brought a highlights video from local film maker Jack Abbott along with improved judging facilities. This year the WSF have acquired Tim Aylett’s ‘Refresh’ digital scoring system, that should further improve both the officiating and competitor experience

Having Billabong as one of the world’s most recognized sporting brands and MiPost as a committed supported of sport in Wales onboard is testament to the hard work put in by the WSF team and the quality of surfing by our competitors. I’d like to offer our sincere gratitude to both Chris Seage (Cove distribution) and Ken Vaughan (Mipost) for their generosity and commitment to surfing in Wales.

The Billabong MiPost Welsh Nationals is scheduled to take place over the May Bank holiday weekend of 4th, 5th & 6th May at the usual venue of Freshwater West, Pembrokeshire with Broadhaven South an exciting backup venue!

The contest is the most prestigious Welsh surfing event of the year, bringing together competitors of all ages to compete for one of 12 National titles and a gateway to Olympic qualification and financial funding! To explain; following the inclusion of surfing in the Olympics for Japan 2020, this year’s (and future) Welsh Nationals will be the only route available for our athletes to qualify for a British Team place. The top four Women and Men surfers in both the Open and U18’s from this year’s event will qualify to compete at the British Nationals being held in Jersey at the end of May, where they will surf against The Channel Islands, England’s and Scotland’s equivalent to make The GB team.

If this wasn’t enough, places for this year’s senior European competition in Portugal are also up for grabs! Making the Nationals more competitive and crucial than ever!

Looking back, 2018’s event produced small but highly competitive conditions, not to mention a weekend of blazing sunshine and plenty of burnt beaks!

For a reminder of past event highlights see the WSF’s official videographer Jack Abbott’s teaser clip attached!

Whilst officials and fans will all be hoping for a repeat of last year’s weather, competitors will be hoping for waves of a little more significance in order to showcase their talents.

Looking towards the Women’s Open, Pembroke’s Jo Dennison has ruled for the past two years, expect her to focussed on making it a Hat-trick. It won’t be easy for Jo as Emily Williams has been in fine form over the past competitive year and has been putting in some serious training in the off season ready to offer a strong title challenge. If the swell is solid, watch out for local lass Georgina Lewtas, whilst Porthcawl’s Briege Lawrence has always found form at the Nationals. With plenty of new and familiar faces expected to compete, this year’s Women’s event should be hotly contested!

The men’s division will see Swansea’s Patrick Langdon Dark defend his maiden open title. The exciting goofy foot had a fine competitive 2018 and has looked sharp in the off season but defending a title at Freshwater is always challenging, especially given the competition! Jo Morris and Logan Nicol headline Pat’s new school challengers. Alex Morris, Ryan Thomas and Harry Cromwell the local threat. Outside of The Shire, Rhys Barfield, Jay Quin and Max Payne are all former champs to mention but a few.

Given decent waves expect to see some exceptionally high-performance surfing action.

The WSF would like to wish all our competitors and officials alike the very best of luck at the event and pass on thanks to the National Trust and Pembrokeshire Parks for allowing us to use Freshwater West once again.

The WSF are currently working on an online entry and payment facility which we hope to have up and running in time to register!

The 2019 Wilkinson Sword Welsh Interclubs

James Jones at Langland, Pic by Mark de’boer Lloyd

The “2019 Wilkinson Sword – Welsh Inter Clubs” is scheduled to take place at Langland Bay, Swansea on the single best days forecast over the 9th/10th March weekend. (Back up date 23rd/24th March).

Following last year’s defeat of multiple champions Channel Coast, LBR finally put an end to the Llantwit clubs dominance of this event and earnt the right to host this unique and prestigious club competition.

Langland Board Riders – James Jones

“Prising the sword away from Llantwit last year was a superb team performance. Now as reigning champions and hosts it’s our turn to benefit from local knowledge. Which quite clearly is the advantage that has helped Channel Coast to retain the Sword for so long!

We have nothing to fear from the competition this year. Channel Coast couldn’t beat us at home, even with their crazy currents! Porthcawl’s Welsh Coast have some talent, but they’ve no Pat Dark amongst them! In fact this year we expect our greatest challenge to come from Pembroke. If the Pembs crew were to pool resources we’d at least anticipate some half decent competition, something I very much doubt we’ll see from Llantwit or Porthcawl. I’ve little doubt the Sword will remain in Swansea once again this year.

In all seriousness, LBR are really looking forward to hosting this event and I think all the clubs are pleased for a change in venue. Hopefully we’ll get some great waves at Langland and continue the good competitive vibe this contest is known for. For me the Wilkinson Sword has always been about bringing the WSF’s clubs and their surfers together for a good catch up and exchanging plenty of good light hearted banter!

WSF’s Contest Director – Craig Burrows

“Langland has always been a great contest venue and will provide a much needed fresh feel to the event. The WSF have amended the team format slightly this year, in order to encourage a more competitive event. So as officials we’re looking forward to officiating some first class action.

Historically it’s been tuff for any visiting team to win at Langland. That being said, most years have seen the last heat of the day decide our champions and I anticipate 2019’s contest being no different. As always I’ll be looking forward to catching up with old friends and seeing how our junior surfers have developed over the winter break.”

A call will be made Thursday 7th (if not before) on what day we will run.

Clubs need to ensure their teams are registered as per the entry form attached and all memberships fees for 2019 are paid and up to date.

Entry forms here

We look forward to seeing you at Langland.

The 2018 Billabong MiPost Welsh National Surfing Championships

Huge Congrats to all our 2018 Welsh Champs – Writeup of the Billabong – MiPost Welsh Nationals by Martin John and full results here

Refreshed Format & qualification announced for the British Surfing Championships & British Cup

The home nation surfing bodies for Wales, Scotland, England and the Channel Islands proudly announce a refreshed and exciting format for the prestigious British title event and bring back the British Cup, with a new qualification process, providing opportunity and a future facing format.

Following the announcement in 2017 that the British Surfing Championships would rotate annually throughout each home nation, the inter-nation discussions have centred around modernising the event, its format and its qualification process. A vital approach at a progressive time in Surfing, with the rising stature of the ISA World Surfing Games and the build up to surfing’s Olympic debut in the 2020 Tokyo games. A collaborative and unified approach to ensure a sustainable event future and one that can cater for the changing landscape.

The British Surfing Championships & British Cup event will now mirror the exciting format of the ISA World Surfing Games, with each nations surfers competing for both individual surfer titles as well as a home nations team title (the British Cup).

The event will host four shortboard categories; Men’s Open (16 surfers), Women’s Open (16 surfers), Boys Under 18 (16 surfers) and Girls Under 18 (16 surfers). Qualification for the event will be given to 16 surfers in each division, made up on the top 4 surfers in each division in their respective home nations championship only. For example, the Men’s Open will comprise of the Wales top 4, Scotland top 4, Channel Islands top 4 and England’s top 4 surfers from each home nations championship, making up the 16 man draw. The country code of each surfer will be used to identify their representation (WAL, SCO, CI & ENG). Each surfer will be vying for the British Champion individual title, whilst points for finished placing at the event will be given to each surfer and combined to identify a home nations British Cup team champion.

The event will provide a high level competition platform, which in turn will drive standards of the surfers and judging and officiating levels across the home nations with each country having representation on the judging panel. The event also provides an opportunity for the nations to introduce and gain experience in any international competition developments.

The qualification process compliments the opportunities provided to many at at each nations respective home championships and provides increased motivation and prestige to the finalists in the qualifying divisions. However, should a surfer forfeit their qualification the respective home nation will maintain that position and pass the spot to the 5th placed surfer and so on proceeding through their results. A surfer can only enter the national championships of one country (for whom they must meet the eligibility requirements to compete for) to attempt to qualify for the event.

The event schedule is as follows;
– 2018 British Surfing Championships & British Cup. England (Fistral Beach, Cornwall – October 6th & 7th)
– 2019 British Surfing Championships & British Cup. Jersey, Channel Islands.
– 2020 British Surfing Championships & British Cup. Scotland
– 2021 British Surfing Championships & British Cup. Wales

For further information on the event in surfers can contact their respective surfing governing body.

For all sponsor opportunities please email: [email protected]

British Home Nations Olympic Statement March 2018

Background

In August 2016 the International Olympic Committee announced that Surfing would be included in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics as a demonstration sport.

On 16^th March 2018 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released to all the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) the approved qualification system for Surfing’s Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020.

The key elements of the qualification system are as follows:

20 men, 20 women.
Maximum of 2 surfers per gender per National Olympic Committee (NOC).
Qualification spots will be earned on an individual basis, by name.
In accordance with IOC guidelines, the qualification events have been determined in hierarchical order of qualification, as further explained below; If two surfers of a gender have qualified through the first hierarchical order, that NOC will not be able to qualify more surfers of that gender through qualifying events lower in hierarchical order.
All surfers selected by their respective National Federations for their national teams must participate in 2019 and 2020 ISA World Surfing Games in order to be eligible for Olympic qualification. The final details of the eligibility requirements are still under review by the ISA and the IOC.

The hierarchical order of qualification will be as follows:

2019 World Surf League Championship Tour: First 10 eligible men and first 8 eligible women.
2020 ISA World Surfing Games: First 4 eligible men and first 6 eligible women.
2019 ISA World Surfing Games: 4 men and 4 women selected based on their continent. Top finishing eligible surfer of each gender from Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania.
2019 Pan American Games: First eligible man and first eligible women in the surfing competitions.
Host nation slot: One man and one woman slot will be guaranteed for the host nation of Japan, unless already filled through the above hierarchies. Should athletes from Japan qualify regularly, their slots will be reallocated to the highest ranked eligible surfers from the 2020 World Surfing Games.

Channel Islands, England, Scotland and Wales athletes will represent Great Britain at the ISA World Games 2019 & 2020 and the Olympic Games if selected, please see excerpt from official ISA Statement below;

Country Representation for Athletes without an NOC

For events serving as official Qualifying Events for the Olympic Games, and in accordance with the Olympic Charter, surfers may only represent an ISA Member from territories with representation of a National Olympic Committee (NOC). ISA Members without NOC representation (Channel Islands, England, Hawaii, Scotland, Tahiti, Wales) will not be allowed to participate in Qualifying Events.

The surfers who have once competed for Member Federations without NOC representation will therefore be subject to selection for the National Team with NOC recognition of their territory (Channel Islands, England, Scotland, Wales: Great Britain; Tahiti: France; Hawaii: USA)

Athletes will return to represent the home nations at the ISA World Games after the Olympic Qualification events are completed. 2 out of every 4 ISA World Games could potentially become Olympic Qualification events should surfing also be included in subsequent Olympic Games.

In the meantime we can confirm that all surfers will be required to make themselves available to be part of Surfing Team GB for the 2019 and 2020 World Surfing Games, and if selected will be required to participate. Failure to meet this requirement will render the surfer ineligible for the Olympic Games. Information on the selection process for Team GB will be released in due course.

Funding

We have made submissions of funding requests and submission of all relevant data to UK Sport. On extensive analysis, UK Sport believe it is currently unlikely that currently any British surfer will win a medal in Tokyo 2020. UK Sport investment is wholly focused on medal winning performances to inspire our nation.

It is also yet to be confirmed if surfing will be in the 2024 and 2028 Olympics which also makes attracting investment into surfing a challenge. We will continue to collectively work to source performance funding.

We collectively recommend to all interested surfers that in order to attract funding from UK Sport, podium results in major international events needs to be achieved. Should podium performances be achieved, this would be clear evidence of medal potential at the Olympics and allow us to put forward a better case for UK Sport funding.

Collectively the Home Nation Federations will continue to monitor the status of the Olympic pathway and we are in close communication with all the relevant governing and decision-making bodies.

If you have any further questions, please contact your respective home nations body and for further information please visit their websites or the International Surfing Association website.

Scottish Surfing Federation

Surfing England

Welsh Surfing Federation

Channel Islands Surfing Federation

To view the complete Olympic Qualification System for Surfing in Tokyo 2020, click here.

Recent News

Langland Boardriders Claim 2018 Wilkinson Sword

The 2018 Welsh Interclubs aka the Wilkinson Sword is, and quite often has been the curtain raiser for the Welsh competitive season. Winter rusty competitors gathering to brush the dust off their 4/3’s; all hoping to kick start their competitive seasons and enjoy the camaraderie of surfing within a team environment. Make no mistake, this competition matters and always has. The Welsh are a patriotic and tribal bunch and surfing for your local club is tantamount to representing your community, your family and friends, and the opportunity to get one over on anybody who believes that their town is better than yours. The 2018 edition was no different. Llantwit Major’s Channel Coast Surf Club have dominated the event for years now, giving them somewhat of a superiority complex (perhaps justified) over the rest of Wales. But this year there was a determined effort to remove the sword from Vaughnie’s grasp…. I mean Llantwit Major is a lovely place but I think the rest of the competitive field were hoping that they’d be enjoying the blue water of Pembrokeshire next year, or the amphitheatre and variation of Langland…. or whatever is in Porthcawl these days…. Greg Owen? Either way Channel Coast had a target on their backs and would face a real fight to keep hold of the trophy they’ve probably begun to think of as their own. Competition began in earnest on Saturday morning; the surf was nice, in the 2ft and clean range with the promise of it getting better and better throughout the day. First in were the over 35s and it was an early win for...