surf boat racing

 Porthtowan  Surf Life saving Club has a long tradition of surfboat racing and regularly fields men’s and women’s crews that compete locally, nationally and internationally. 

A bit of history …

In 1965 the Surfboat was introduced to the UK when the Australian surf club, Palm Beach SLSC, presented Atlantic College in South Wales with the “Cabbage Tree II”. This early boat from Australia was followed by several more in the 1970’s and soon Surf Boat racing in the U.K. was born.

The U.K. League was set up in 1999, all-be-it fairly informally. Crews from Bude, Tolcarne, Perranporth, Porthtowan and Portreath (all from Cornwall) got together and organized their own races to supplement those of the Surf Life-Saving Association of G.B. This proved to be a great success and crews enjoyed the fact that they were able to race a number of times in quick succession, rather than waiting around all weekend for 1 race, as was often the case with Association events.

Soon the S.L.S.A. of G.B. were looking to UKSRL for guidance and suggestions on how to run Surf Boat races. The inclusion of more races for Men and Women crews, as well as Mixed and Masters races at the National Championships, were a direct result of our efforts. However, our sport still has so much more potential. As more people become involved in Surfboats, competitors, clubs and spectators are realizing everything this unique sport has to offer.

For more information on Surfboat Rowing in the UK check out the UK Surf Rowers League.

The Porthtowan Blue Bali Mens crew - Nick Healey, Ed Hartgill, Mladen Maranovil, Tom Hanna and Sweep Gary Walters won the gold medal at The World Surfboat Championships 2014 in Montpellier, France. In a closely fought final in flat no surf conditions they held off a strong challenge by the french crews from Hossegor Sauvetage Cotier in silver and Biarritz SC taking the bronze, 4th Porthtowan ION Boys, 5th Llantwit Major SLSC, 6th Piha SLSC (NZ)