What happened
Surfing England held its under-12 and under-14 national championships at The Wave in Bristol on 29 October, the first time the junior titles have been decided at an inland lake. Surfers qualified through the Junior Surf Series or a wildcard, and the wave settings got harder each round, finishing on the steepest expert setting.
- Cassius Woudberg (U14 boys) and Bella Llewellyn (U14 girls) took the older titles.
- Casper Kershaw (U12 boys) and Tegen Harvey (U12 girls) won the younger divisions.
- Woudberg posted the three best single-wave scores: 9.50, 9.40 and 9.30.
The Swell Otter take
Running junior titles in a pool takes the lottery out of it. Every kid gets the same waves, so the best surfing wins rather than the luckiest heat draw. That is fair, and it makes for a cracking day out for parents who have driven to Croyde or Widemouth for a contest only to watch it go flat.
The catch is that the ocean is a different exam. Reading a shifting peak, timing a set and dealing with current are skills a lake can't teach, so the best groms will be the ones who keep surfing the real thing all winter. If yours caught the bug at The Wave, autumn is the sweet spot: water still around 13 to 14C in the south west and a run of clean groundswells. Check Croyde before the weekend.
Breaks in this story
How we write the news: we read the original story, sum it up in our own words and add our view. The facts are theirs, so please read the full piece at the source. Spotted a mistake? Email hello@swellotter.com.
Tom Otto
Tom Otto built Swell Otter, the free surf forecast for the UK, and writes its spot guides. Every guide is checked against years of wave, wind and sea temperature history for the break, so the advice matches the numbers and not just the postcards.
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