Greg Owen and Gemma Harris ensured The Welsh Surf Team returned from EuroSurf 2011 with two podium places. Greg finished a very respectable 4th in Masters division losing to top opposition from 4 x European Champion Paulo Rodriguez, Spanish super ripper Dani Garcia and Frenchman Salvaire Olivier. Having been one of the stand out performers in the division throughout the week, Greg found himself slightly out of sync in a final short on set waves and despite a late charge couldn’t quite manage to bridge the gap and improve his position. Never the less it was still a great performance by the Porthcawl man.
Gemma Harris managed to go one better than Greg with a 3rd place finish in the ladies Bodyboard. It could have been so much more for Gemma with just 0.55 separating her from winner Catarina Sousa of Portugal. Second place going to Ireland's own Ashleigh Smith. It was tough on Gemma, but having finished 4th at 2009’s EuroSurf she's moving in the right direction!
Held every two years, EuroSurf was hosted this year by Ireland and the waves of Bundoran, Donegal brought high hopes of quality surf and an improved placing for team Wales from their 7th placing last time.
The competition was preceded by the Teams parade through the streets of Bundoran, who were well received by the local and at times very vocal support! The team parade was followed by passionate speeches from MPs, councillors, chairman and presidents alike all of whom welcomed the teams and wished them good luck during the event.
With two podiums running for the first few days of competition (one at the Peak and one at Tullan) it was the Bodyboard and Open who really enjoyed the start to the event , as Podium One was held in near perfect 4ft conditions at the Peak whist competitors on Podium Two had to slug it out in thumping and rather unfriendly Tullan Strand. Some superb surfing was displayed on day one from our girls, Beth Mason and Gwen Spurlock in the Ladies, Senior Nick Reid and Longboard duo Tom Fisher and Nick Dowrick as well as the mighty Splinter in the bodyboard and Gareth Vaughan in the trickiest of first Open heats.
The following day brought more great waves at the peak and further solid surf with the Open team looking right at home in quality surf. Heat of the day belonged to Adam Jenkins who performed a miracle act to grab a last minute winner in the dying seconds of his third round heat to advance.
As the event unfolded, Adams slice of luck and those wishes of good fortune seemed to allude team Wales as a number of close calls went the other way, some of the team lost to last minute winners, some by the narrowest of margins, most notably Gareth Vaughan knocked out by just 0.03 having surfed the smartest and best of us all. Lloyd Cole went the furthest for Wales in the Open division, on reflection we Open surfers were left pondering what could have been. On another day it could have been better, but all the men proved that Welsh Open surfing is alive and well.
But it was far from doom and gloom, our girls led the charge with Gwen Spurlock and Beth Mason proving more than worthy opposition for Europe's finest. Beth in particular excelled in the pumping lefts off Bundorans peak on day five, with powerful and critical surfing that had it not been for poor wave selection would have given team Wales a third finalist. A case of lady luck once again shinning elsewhere.
As the week's competitors were whittled down to the final few, team Wales still held hope with longboard supremo Nick Dowrick looking a class act out at the peak and Nick Reid in the Senior also looking sharp. Both just one heat away from a final placing, surely we were due a little luck!?!? Yet it wasn't to be as once again good fortune smiled at us and looked away as first Reid with a final placing virtually assured, could only watch helplessly as Joncour Thomas scraped into a very ordinary wave in the last 30 seconds that suddenly decided to mutate from a close out to offer wave of the heat to the Frenchman, who ousted Reid’s final dream. Dowrick was equally close, having posted the highest scoring wave of the heat, he needed a modest score to progress only to come up just 0.10 short with his last throw of the dice.
Aside from our own finalists of Greg and Gemma, the last day saw some superb surfing action, firstly from Ben Skinner of the Channel Islands who dominated the Longboard final in an incredibly hard fought and emotional event and lastly from Pablo Gutierrez of Spain who'd surfed his way from repercharge round two to smash the Open final. Team Portugal wrapped up the Team Event thanks to finalists in every division, whilst Spain ousted reigning champions France to their worst placing in many a year of third. England deservedly finished 4th and will rue the missed opportunity to drop the French to 4th.
5th place (our goal) had looked game on for the Welsh going into the final day. Somehow results conspired against us as Wales finished 7th again, which although a little disappointing came down to Ireland and The Channel Islands finalists literally placing one higher than that of our own. On reflection a respectful performance none the less from Wales, especially when taking into consideration that the team were a man short due to a last minute injury in the men’s bodyboard. Yet despite this Wales improved upon the number of points obtained from the last EuroSurf as well as two finalists and return home with heads held high.
Team Wales would like to offer a massive thank you to our team kit sponsors ProSpray Wales, Guts Surfboards, SurfSide Cafe, TSM Ltd - Service Group as well as sponsors - BREO watches.
We'd also like to thank Mellow Cafe Bundoran and Driftwood Surf Lodge Bundoran for their incredible hospitality. Team managers Stuart Bentley and Craig Burrows for their Hard Work, Lloyd Cole for his efforts transporting our boards and all our well wishes and supporters especially Gary Man! Thank you all.
Mark Vaughan – WSF
