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As the saying goes “good things come to those who wait” and The Realm Porthleven Challenge was no exception.  After 3 years of waiting and one false alarm, The Realm Porthleven Challenge was finally held, as Mole explains…….

The conceptual contest format was to break away from traditional contests which are usually held in 2 foot, onshore Fistral mush and showcase the cream of British surfers in the cream of British waves. 24 of the best tuberiders in the country were hand picked to compete only when the conditions became perfect. The invitees included some of the best surfers in  the country including Britain’s best ever surfer - Russell Winter, as well as ex Birtish and European champ Grishka Roberts, last year’s  BPSA champ Sam Lamiroy and ex British champions Mark Harris and Ben Baird. The initial brief was to hold the contest in surf of at least 6 feet. However, Porthleven is notoriously fickle and the required swell size failed to materialise even after a 3 year wait. So contest organisers, along with The Realm decided to reduce the requisite conditions. As long as the conditions were still clean and hollow spectators would still be treated to one hell of a show.

The weather charts were predicting ideal conditions for Sunday 15th December. As the invitees began to congregate in the small parking area, the excitement began to grow as solid 4-5 foot, glassy lines could just about be made out through the early morning darkness.

  

The first heat Comprised of Russell Winter, Lee Griffin, the Realm’s red hot goofy foot, Mike Young and Newquay/Irish Charger Tom Doidge-Harrison, who’d made the trip all the way over form the Emerald isle. The tide hit it’s “mid tide crisis” stage for heat 1 and the boys had to scratch around looking for the waves with scoring potential. Russell absolutely destroyed anything he took off on to take the win and Newquay’s Lee Griffin had a couple of nice turns and a decent cover up to take second place.

Heat number 2 saw Welsh ripper Rob Blythe take on ex English and British Champ Mark “Egor” Harris, the mighty Sam Lamiroy and local barrel-meister  “Sparky ” Richardson. Egor exited from a couple of sick barrels to take the win, closely followed by Sam Lamiroy. Rob took third and Sparky, suffering from the hangover from hell (it was the Porthleven Surf Club’s Xmas bash the previous night) took fourth place. Although placing fourth, Sparky still had the crowd roaring when he pulled, bolt upright into the “Backdoor Pipe closeout from hell” and got slammed into the shallow reef for his efforts.

Next was Newquay powerhouse Ben Baird was up against possibly the best tuberider ever to grace Porthleven’s shores- Aggie boy Robin Kent along with Wales’ Jem Evans and Croyde ripper “Nibbles”. Bairdys power gouges and Robin’s tuberiding skills proved too much for Jem and Nibbles who were sent packing with Bairdy and Robin taking 1st and 2nd respectively.

 

The waves were really starting to turn on as the tide went lower, with spitting a-frames all over the place. Heat 4 was Ex British and European champ Grishka Roberts verses pint sized Gwithian shredder Tyson Greenaway, another Aggie tuberider James Hendy and last minute stand in “Josh”. James’ Porthleven experience saw him take top spot with Grishka coming a close 2nd. Tyson tore into a few nice left handers but it wasn’t enough and he and Josh took 3rd and 4th respectively.  

Heat 5 was local dwarf “Mole” versus Aggie ripper Shaun “Skippy” Skilton, red hot Paignton goofyfoot Gary Wells and Porthleven style master “Doover” (who was also still in the stratosphere from the night before). A wind squall from the north made this a tricky one for the boys but Mole managed to bag a couple of pits to take the win over Gary Wells who was taming the roping right handers on his back hand. Skippy couldn’t find the waves and was sent packing as was Doover who didn’t know where, or who he was.

The final first round heat saw local piss-heads James Bowman and Fionn Crow-Howieson up against Irish Charger Fergal Smith and Aggie legend Steve England. Fergal was mixing it up on the lefts and the rights took the win. Despite being boozed out his tiny mind, still managed to do enough to squeeze past Fionn and Steve and into the quarter finals.

   

The first of 3 quarter finals proved the first major upset of the day. With Russell unable to find a decent backup score, he took fourth place. Bairdy also struggled and finished 3rd.Gary Wells was finding all the sets and taking them to pieces whilst Sam was ripping the back out of any wave that had the misfortune to stand in his way. Sam was 1st and Gary 2nd for sopts in the semis. Second quarter saw another upset when Grishka was given his marching orders by Egor harris and Irish Champ Fergal Smith who snagged two back to back smoking “Pig Dog” barrels. Lee Griffin also struggled and had to take an early shower. Aggie duo Robin Kent and James Hendy took 1st and 2nd spot in the last Quarter.

Despite pulling into a long winding barrel, Mole could find the exit and could only manage 3rd place. James Bowman put on a solid performance against some stiff competition but couldn’t do enough so it was home for a couple of Alka Seltzers for him. Fortunately for Mole, Robin had fatherly duties at his daughter’s birthday party and couldn’t make it for his semi so Mole got through by default. The tide was starting to push and the swell was pulsing. The wind had glassed right off and there were spitting barrels all over the place. Semi number 1 saw Sam Lamiroy get a perfect 10 point tube ride. He pulled in deep, rode it for a the whole length of the wave and exited in the channel. His back up ride was another cracking pit and he easily took the win. Egor was also surfing well and put and end to James Hendy’s campaign. The second semi was Mole versus Goofyfoot duo Fergal Smith and Gary Wells. Mole managed to string just enough turns together to take the win with Gary’s backhand attack doing enough to earn him the second berth in the final. Fergal put on a fantastic display throughout the day but it was back to Ireland for him for some more Winter tow-surfing shenanigans.

So the final comprised of Gary Wells, Sam Lamiroy, Mole and Egor Harris. Gary got off to a good start hammering a couple of lovely backhand hits and floaters. Half way through Sam bagged wave of the day. A solid set hit the reef perfectly and turned itself inside out. Sam pulled in deep, bolt upright, disappeared for the whole length of the wave appearing in the channel to the roar of the crowd - perfect 10 and £100 for “Best Barrel Award”. Mole and Egor were struggling to find the decent sets although Mole did pull into a gaper but got clipped at the end but failed to exit and get the score.  Sam’s backup score was yet another deep tube ride getting high 8’s from the judges.  Sam Lamiroy took the top spot in deserving fashion having surfed amazingly throughout the day. Gary took second and Egor did just enough to take third spot over Mole who made a nice tube but, alas was just after the hooter.    

It was a great day. The conditions turned out to be perfect. not massive but perfect. 3-5 feet and barrelling its tits off from dawn till dusk. The contest was, to quote Sam Lamiroy - the eventual winner, “quite simply the best contest he has ever surfed in this country”. This was a sentiment that was echoed by all the surfers that entered, myself included. The surf was amazing, the vibe in the water was really friendly and chilled. Friendships were forged and everyone got shacked off their head and several people went home considerably richer. Even the guys who got knocked out early including Russell Winter, Grishka Roberts and Ben Baird, said they were so stoked with the comp and even though the exited early, they “had a blast”.

  

The contest was a hit with the surfers, spectators and the sponsors alike. It was an event which succeeded in its aim to break from the traditional contest mould by showing that England does have fantastic surf and fantastic surfers.  It was a truly original event which will be talked about for years to come.

The Porthleven Surf club would like to give a huge thank you to Brad Hockeridge at The Realm for sponsoring the event. Also a massive thankyou to Etnies, Red Stripe Lager and Relentless energy for their support. 

Results:

1st Place - Sam Lamiroy                £500 + £100 for “Best Barrel Award”

2nd Place - Gary Wells                  £300

3rd Place - Mark “Egor” Harris    £200

4th Place - Dan “Mole” Joel         £100

Contest report by Mole.

 

Posted by Tim Salmon on December 15th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
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