Ashley Braunton

 

After the cancellation of the opening BLU event of the year the club took the opportunity of a clear weekend to run the second league event of the season.

With the beginning of a swell forecast to show through the day the decision to start at low tide paid off as the early morning 6 inch dribblers improved into some very contestable conditions.

Once again the strength of the clubs surfing was shown with WLT competitor Ben Skinner along with local surfers Ashley Braunton and Ben Haworth setting the standard for the day.  Early highlights included the highest heat score of the day (17.00 from 20) from current champion Ashley Braunton, Ben Skinners world class ability shown with unbelievable combinations of critical manoevres and Ben Haworth’s small wave prowess.

As the later rounds began the new swell struggled with the outgoing tide leaving smaller, less consistent conditions, this made for some close heats including the elimination of previous finalist Greg Norman by Cornwall based surfer Chris Brunt and Ben Skinner’s close scare against an in form Angus Murray who showed his potential with some fast surfing and vertical turns.

The finals were run in difficult conditions which were almost identical to the finals of the first event.  In the masters division it was Steve Carter who came from no-where to take a deserved win with some long rides and good wave selection, it was Karma Worthington in the ladies who after years of badgering to compete from the local surfers took the step over from her more favoured shortboard roots to take the win.  In the highly competitive junior division hot favourite Zack Lawton showed maturity beyond his years to control the heat from start to finish with a combination of smooth noseriding and progressive surfing.

The open final gave 3 local surfers the chance to go up against one of the world’s best longboarders in unfortunately deteriorating conditions.  Ben Haworth came out of the blocks quickest blitzing a wave to the beach to score a 9.0 in the opening minutes, the rest of the surfers were then put on the back foot, and when Haworth added a 6.0 the win was almost guaranteed.  The other surfers battled to find the best waves but just couldn’t put together enough to challenge Ben’s 15.00 heat score.  Second place was tighter than Greg Norman’s backside with a 2 wave countback putting Ben Skinner into second and Ashley Braunton in third, fellow local surfer Phil Hill was happy enough to take away fourth place after an injury blighted pre-season.

The result means Ben Haworth has closed the gap on Ashley Braunton in the race for the title with a strong pack of surfers following closely behind, with 3 results from 5 events counting there is sure to be more twists and turns as the year goes on.

Thanks must go to all the sponsors of the event (shown below) and the usual suspects, Norman ‘El Queso Grande’ Wright, Greg ‘bum muff’ Robinson, Bob ‘Kins’ Freshwater and many others who make the events so successful.

For more info check out the Hotdoggers website (www.hotdoggers.co.uk) or on facebook.

For more photos go to www.robtibbles.com

League Sponsors

Errant

Second Skin

Volkswagon

Dudley’s

Corduroy Lines

Full Results

OPEN

1^ST – ‘THE’ BEN HAWORTH

2^ND – BEN ‘SKINDOG’ SKINNER

3^RD – ASHLEY ‘BONGA’ BRAUNTON

4^TH – PHIL ‘BAYWATCH’ HILL

5^TH – ANGUS MURRAY

5^TH – GREG ROBINSON

7^TH – CHRIS WEBB

7^TH – ZACK LAWTON

JUNIORS

1^ST – ZACK LAWTON

2^ND – ALEX MADDOCKS

3^RD – ANGUS MURRAY

4^TH – LEWIS STRITCH

MASTERS

1^ST – STEVE CARTER

2^ND – RICH UNSWORTH

3^RD – ERIC DAVIES

4^TH – NORMAN WRIGHT

LADIES

1^ST – KARMA WORTHINGTON

2^ND – HAZELL IYLET

3^RD – REBECCA PEPPERAL

4^TH – FIONA BROWN

5^TH – VICKI