The inaugural European Surf Rowing Championships were held in 2007 at Hossegor beach SW France and at Grande Plage, Biarritz in 2008. The european surf rowing championships are now part of the annual surf rowing calendar and play an important role in the development surf rowing.

Belgium, Spain and Portugal also have surfboats and it is hoped that these nations will affiliate to the European Surf Rowing Federation ESRF.

On Saturday the 5th September the 3rd European Surf Rowing Championships were held on Tolcarne Beach, Newquay, Cornwall and attracted crews from France, Holland and the UK. Surf conditions were perfect with a 3 - 4ft wave giving crews the chance of a good soaking on the way out as they rowed through the surf and also the opportunity to catch a race winning wave upon their return to shore.

As the mens crews lined up for the three round robin races it became evident that some crews had attracted some big guns to give their boats extra fire power. Surfboat Holland (NED) had Athens Olympian and Oxford - Cambridge boat race winner Gerrit Jan Eggenkamp in their crew. The Molesey Marauders crew included oarsmen Tom Stallard - Beijing Silver medallist and from Germany, Sydney / Athens Olympian Jan Herzog.

The three round robins allowed the 15 mens crews to accrue points with the top 10 pointscoring crews going forward to the elimination stage in the two semi finals of five crews per semi. The top three crews from each semi go forward to a six boat final. None of the french crews from Biarritz, Bordeaux and Mimizan made it past the round robin stage and Holland did not make it past the 2nd semi final finishing fifth with the Perranporth Desperados in 4th.

Spectators lined up to watch a thrilling final with 2007-08 European Champions, 2009 UK Champions and current leaders of the Summer Series pointscore Porthtowan Blue Bali firm favourites to win the title in alley 2. The Barracudas in alley 1, Twickenham Tridents alley 3, Porthtowan Blue Betty alley 4, Llantwit Major Crocodiles alley 5 and The Molesey Marauders in alley 6.

At the start Porthtowan Blue Bali and Llantwit Major Crocodiles took up the lead being closely chased by the other crews, at the bouys Blue Bali turned first and it looked to be all over. Mark Bannister sweep of The Barracudas had other ideas and on the way back came the command “Get me on to this wave or……you are all dead men ! “……..The crew rose to the challenge and drew up alongside Porthtowan Blue Bali.

As the boats touched the beach the bowmen have to leap from the surfboat and sprint 20m to thier own finishing flag.

Who had anything left in their legs ?.

In one of the closest finishes of the day The Barracudas from bristol, rowing for Bude Surfboat Club pipped Porthtowan Blue Bali to win the Mens 2009 European Surf Rowing title with Porthtowan Blue Betty in 3rd, Llantwit Major Crocodiles 4th, Twickenham Tridents 5th and The Molesey Marauders 6th.

In the Womens event six crews including Brut le Fleur (FRA) from Mimizan started in the round robin, four crews lined up for the final:- 2007 european winners The Bude Runners, 2008 european winners Perranporth Rebel Angels and the fast improving UK Summer Series leaders Porthtowan Blue Belles and Porthtowan Blue Blaize. No one was laying any bets on the outcome as all four crews are very evenly matched. Once again it came down to a thrilling finish with all four boats on the same wave and the sprinters deciding the final outcome. Porthtowan Blue Belles winning the Womens European Surf Rowing title from The Bude Runners in 2nd and Porthtowan Blue Blaize 3rd and The Perranporth Rebel Angels 4th.

European winning medals were presented by Olympians, Tom Stallard, Jan Herzog and Gerrit Jan Eggenkamp and a trophy was also presented by the Tolcarne beach owners to the highest combined mens and womens club pointscore - 1st Porthtowan 51pts, 2nd Perranporth 50pts and third Bude

Thanks must go to Kate Briant - Tolcarne beach owners, to Spike and her brilliant band of surfboat officials, to the work party and the RNLI / Perranporth SLSC for the provision of lifeguard safety cover

EUROPEAN FINAL RESULTS

Mens
1st The Barracudas - Chris Sparrow, Russell Crofts, Martin Downey, Dominic Hall - Sweep Mark Bannister
2nd Porthtowan Blue Bali - Nic Healey, Mladin Maranovil, Tim Bracey, Tom Hanna - Sweep Gary Walters
3rd Porthtowan Blue Betty - Pete Hill, Ed Boyns, Ed Hartgill, George Hartgill - Sweep John Richards
4th Llantwit Major Crocodiles - Gethin Edwards, James Edwards, Josh Edwards, Ben Thomas - Sweep Marc Scarborough
5th Twickenham Tridents - Mike Dowell, Scott Smith, Adam Ellis, Estevao Pape - Sweep Richard Meadmore
6th Molesey Marauder - Tom Stallard, Angus Warner, Jan Herzog, Gavin Weeks - Sweep Peter Gaisford

Womens
1st Porthtowan Blue Belles - Phil Plester, Louise Gapp, Collette Hartgill, Kim Marie Clothier - Sweep Gary Walters
2nd The Bude Runners - Jessica Lynnes, Louise Paton, Emma Bartrop, Sue Roper - Sweep Mark Bannister
3rd Porthtowan Blue Blaize - Annika Ryberg, Yvette Stevens, Samanths Williams, Lowenna Bradley - Sweep John Richards
4th Perranporth Rebel Angels - Liz Tremayne, Shelley Hardwick, Karen Hardwick, Alex Pearson - Sweep Peter Gaisford

Dear ESRF members, surf boat rowers and those interested in this high adrenalin sport,

It is that time of year again and here is your invitation to this year’s AGM of the ESRF.

This year, to make life a little easier and get more people involved, the Annual General Meeting will be held after the Surf Rowing European Championships in Newquay.

Our ESRF Statutes need some changes as discussed at the last AGM, so we will conduct an Extra-ordinary General Meeting before the AGM to address these changes.

Agenda:
18.00 Extra-ordinary General Meeting – Vote of the new ESRF Statutes
18.30 Annual General Meeting – vote of the Executive Committee
18.45 Open General Meeting about 2010
19.30 End of meeting

ESRF members and anyone interested in this sport can be present at these meetings.

Anyone is welcome to attend the meeting and participate in the discussions, however only current members of the ESRF will be allowed to vote. We would like to see as many of you there as possible to have your say, vote and contribute to more positive developments in Surf Rowing.

Positions to be voted:
President, Vice-Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer,
National Association Delegates to ratify

If you are interested in taking on a role in the ESRF, please send an email to the ESRF Secretary Kelly Brennan at esrfsecretary@live.fr before the 22nd August.

I look forward to seeing you all at the AGM to review the year that has passed and make plans for future developments!

Yours sincerely,
Kelly Brennan

At the beginning of May the European Surf Rowing Federation asked for bids to host the European Surf Rowing Championships 2009. Only France and the UK responded. At a ESRF Management meeting held on Sunday 16th May, the UK was chosen to host the event. Please find links (soon) to Entry Forms / Inscription Formulaire and Agreement Release Forms ( and Individual)/ and  Accomodation and Flight details.

The European Surf Rowing Championships will take place on Tolcarne Beach, Newquay, Cornwall on 5th / 6th September

www.tolcarnebeach.co.uk/

May I begin by wishing you a very Happy New Year!

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to some changes to the committee this year. I would like to thank Corinne Meadmore and Simon Elsy for their work over the last year as President and Treasurer respectively, Corinne is staying with us and has taken up the role of Vice President whilst Simon has headed off to pastures new in Australia.

I have taken over the role of President from Corinne and have got a job ahead of me to live up to the precedent that Corinne has set. I look forward to taking surf rowing forward in Europe.

The ESRF has established membership criteria which we are publishing imminently on the website along with eligibility criteria for the European Championships which will once again be conducted alongside the Ocean Thunder Europe World Surf Rowing Championships this year in Biarritz in September.

It is my aim that the European Championship will become a surf rowing competition in it’s own right in the future but the timeline for this is as yet not determined. Work is being done to grow the sport in Europe to a point where the level of participation is high enough to sustain our own European Championship. I ask you to support us in this aim by raising the profile of our sport in your own countries and we will get there sooner. At this stage there are no timelines for this development but a plan is in the pipeline.

Over the coming months you will see our website start to develop with some new pages, I ask for your patience with this process and if you have any ideas or comments we would be very grateful for your feedback.

I would like to wish you all the very best over the coming months with your training and preparations for the forthcoming season and I look forward to seeing you all on the beach.

Ed Boyns

President