Myself & Sam Sunshine were both invited to compete against some of the best surfers in the UK at the Spring Classic Invitational in Woolacombe, Devon, riding vintage, retro, collectable surfboards and being scored on style, flow and fun! - Our kind of contest!
The Spring Classic sponsored by Reef / Gotcha / White claw / Mystic
On Saturday morning, we headed down to the contest area, giving big hugs to friends we hadn't seen in too long and meeting some new awesome people.
The atmosphere was great, the skies were blue, the sun was blazing and although the surf wasn't pumping, we had beautiful waist high peelers running into the beach, perfect for riding elephant heavy 10'6ft boards and other retro surf craft.
Izzy Henshall & Nina Brooke ready to jump in
The 15 female and 25 male surfers were split into five-person heats. Surfers were assigned a board at random, going into their heats with no idea what they were in for!
The heats were going off! - With the women and men doing some impressive nose riding, reverse take offs, head stands, coffin rides and just generally styling it out on boards from the 1960's.
UK Pro tour surfer Emily Currie: “This was easily one of the most fun contests I’ve had the pleasure to be a part of,”
Samantha Sunshine & Emily Currie having fun! / Photo Bella Bunce
Sam enjoys competing and is currently ranked #2 in the UK on the BLU Longboarding tour, whereas I personally stopped competing around 8 years ago because I found that it was taking the joy away from my surfing, but I have to say, I really enjoyed putting a jersey back on and was totally surprised to take 3rd place on the podium!
Spring Classic Surf Invitational Results
Men’s
Mike Lay
Ashley Braunton
Jack Unsworth
Women’s
Emily Currie
Izzy Henshall
Allannah Brown
We cant wait for next year!