Eye of the storm

A little look into some of the interviews conducted at the tynemouth longboard classic. Where contestants from round the country participated to tale the title of being brittish no.1 longboarder.

Elliot Dudley @elliotmdudley

#1st place

My first surfing memory is probably nosediving on my uncle's 9'6" Hobie when I was about 5. That put me off for a little while, but I was back pestering my parents for a surfboard before long. Surfing was such a draw growing up. My uncle had all of these amazing stories from Indonesia, Australia and Sri Lanka and I used to just read surf mags in awe. Surfing is definitely addictive. The more you surf, the more you need to surf. It's a mix of trying to avoid fomo (more prominent these days with social media), the connection with nature and the unbeatable feeling of riding waves. Surfing makes me feel stoked. Content. I can deal with anything if I've had a surf. It is life affirming at its best, infinitely frustrating at its worst. All my favourite memories revolve around good waves with good friends. When there's minimal crowds and good vibes it's always better. I've been fortunate enough to go on a few boat trips before Indo got completely over exposed and had some epic times.

Likewise, I've had some memorable surfs at home with just my wife when it's 2ft and empty.

I've been doing the BLU events since I was about 12 or 13 so when I found out there was only one event this year I had to make the effort. I've always had great waves in the NE so that was an added attraction. Coming from south Wales there's a lot of commonalities with the NE. Working class, industrial areas are always the most friendly and welcoming and Tynemouth was no different. I really felt at home. The water colour up north is the same as home so that's one similarity, but I think the waves up north have more power. There's more raw, open ocean power than the Bristol channel where are waves are a little more groomed and longboard friendly.

I think longboard culture is way more laid back. After all it's all based around a retro movement, the boards and styles of the 60s with a modern flair. Plus, longboards allow you to get more waves more often so there's less of the urgency to get the best set waves etc. I'm much more content with chatting and catching a few waves here and there. If the waves are pumping and overhead high, I'm on a shortboard every time. But that doesn't happen very often at home, so a longboard is my go-to. I go through phases in the winter when I'm completely bored of longboarding, but then we have a sunny, 2ft clean day and I can't wait to get the log back out.

Evan rogers (@saltburnsurfshop)

#2nd place

I drove up early Saturday morning, surf was beautiful 2ft clean, ideal for longboarding. I was in the last heat, so went for a freesurf beforehand to get used to my longboard as I'd just got back from shortboarding in France and Spain for 10 days. Waves in my heat were really good, but all lefts, which is backhand for me (would prefer rights) It was a close heat with Charlie Unsworth, but I managed to get a good last wave, which put me in 1st. Got to skip round 2 and had the last heat of the day in Round 3. Again, perfect waves for longboarding, lefts again, but managed to get some good waves and again managed to win the heat. Had a few beers in the Copperfield that night, nice to catch up with all the guys who I only really get to see at the comps. The Sunday provided big wobbly 6ft surf which isn't ideal for longboarding, but I actually quite enjoy surfing big waves on a longboard. I managed to win my first heat of the day, getting to the semi-finals.

I had abit of a shocker in the semi-finals, not really finding any good waves, but luckily Blake Jones only had one good wave and couldn't find another one, so I managed to squeak through to the final in 2nd, behind local charger Louis Thomas-Hudson. Had a quick 10 min break, then straight back out for the final. I was pretty tired at this point, surfing heats really takes it out of, especially when it's 6ft+, although the conditions had got better for the final. It was great to surf a final with 3 of us from the East Coast, me from Scarborough, local lad Louis Thomas-Hudson and my really good mate, Tom Cross from Scarborough. I felt like I was surfing pretty well in the final, but I kept falling off my last turn. I did get some good waves, but had no idea how I was doing as I had my ear plugs in. I just assumed Elliott Dudley was winning as he always does.

I got out the sea with him and he told me I was currently winning, but they hadn't scored his last wave yet, he reckoned he didn't get the score, but after abit of nail biting, the score came thru, he needed a 7.4 and got an 8.33, so he got the score. In all honesty I was actually pretty gutted as he caught that wave in the last 30 seconds, so I was 30 seconds away from being British Longboard Champion, which has been a dream of mine for years. However, after reflecting on, it, I'm still super happy with 2nd and if anything, it just makes me more hungry to get the title next year. The whole weekend was absolutely amazing, the guys at Tynemouth Surf Co put on an amazing event, along with Phil Williams and the British Longboard Union. So great to have a major British event only an hour up the road from where I live as I normally have to drive to Cornwall.

Tynemouth surf co (Louie Hudson)

3rd place

After checking the surf forecast every day for 2 weeks beforehand, we were delighted to be able to call the Tynemouth Longboard Classic on. We had approx. 45 entries from all over the UK. Competitors started arriving on the Thursday beforehand and the surf was pumping on the Friday, giving plenty of opportunity for the Cornish, Welsh and Irish to sample our perfect waves. The surf held out and the competition started at 9am on the Saturday morning. The standard of longboarding was very high and epic to watch. Several people commented on what a friendly vibe there was at the comp. The surf increased quite a lot in size by the Sunday when we ran the women’s finals and men’s quarters, semis and finals. The conditions made it exciting to watch and James Cummings commentary explained everything clearly to the crowd of spectators. It was fantastic to be able to showcase the surf and wonderful surf community in Tynemouth. It was also special to hear one of the well-known surfers say