English Adaptive Surfing Open Success
The 2018 English National Adaptive Surfing Open came to a close with adaptive surfers from around the world taking to the crystal-clear Cornish waters for an unforgettable day of competition and celebration.
The event brought the surfing community together - a community defined as “the condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common”, and that is what adaptive surfing is – it’s a discipline of surfing that brings a group of likeminded individuals together to share the stoke and the wonderful joy that surfing brings, no matter the challenges that they may face. So, for Surfing England the focus of this event was to provide the opportunity and grow the impact it holds.
The first heat got underway with Melissa Reid catching the first wave of the event, with good speed, power and flow. This seemed to set the competitive tone and the afternoon ploughed on through heats, with divisions identified by a surfers’ functional ability to surf in either; standing, sitting/kneeling, prone, assisted, open or visually impaired divisions.
Surf competition is for some, but for others such as paraplegic athlete Darren Edwards the sport of surfing was an unknown challenge until this event gave him a taste of its power. With the support of the amazing volunteers Darren took to the ocean for the first time since an accident 18 months ago, and rode his first wave, to the jubilation of those on the beach. After the surf, he said:
"I can’t describe this feeling, it’s an overwhelming happiness but I want to cry with joy."
With the high tide rising and the finals commencing, the atmosphere was electric and the surfers delivered, much to the joy of the beach goers and supporters alike. As the sun began to set so came the time for prize giving and rewards. A unique event also calls for some unique prizes and Darren Edwards picked up an unexpected ‘Newest Frother’ title, followed by Laurent Marouf taking the ‘Biggest Frother’ award and fellow Frenchman Benoit Moreau earning ‘Highest scoring wave’ with a 7.2 – Spike Kane collected his Surfing England Global Ambassador Award given at the 2018 AGM and took the moment to thank everyone for growing the sport and rightly noted:
“It all just starts with you getting up in the morning and going surfing”.
All of the division results can be seen on the Surfing England website.
You can also watch a video on the 2018 English Adaptive Surfing Open below.
Credit: Surfing England
