English National Surfing Championships 2023

2023 Caravan and Motorhome Club English National Surfing Championships

Nearly 140 surfers from around the country competed at Watergate Bay for the chance to win junior and senior age-group national titles across 14 age groups in shortboard and bodyboard.

The conditions were perfect on Saturday morning for the under 12s to kick off the competition with waves increasing up to head height as the U14s, U16s, U18s and Kahuna categories took to the water.

The glorious weather brought hundreds of beachgoers down, bringing a buzz of excitement with them and creating a fantastic atmosphere. The event was enhanced by beach volleyball, chalk art and beach cleaning activities from our headline sponsors, the Caravan and Motorhome Club. Tote bags were given out to competitors at check-in and winners of the event all received a club membership.

On Sunday, 4ft waves rolled throughout the day providing epic conditions for the finals.

The Girls

The junior ladies ripped on the Sunday, a tight final in the U12s saw local Ellie Hickie rise above her competitors and the U14 girls final was a particularly tight heat, all girls dropping some stellar waves, swapping in and out of the lead, Coco Arthur winning before the buzzer.

Another close final in the U16s, Eva Blackford winning and Team England athlete Georgie-May Hicks won the U18 Girls just ahead of Lauren Sandland, who had recently claimed the 2023 Women’s Open title, just four weeks prior. Performances amongst these girls were epic, and we are proud to witness such progression in English junior surfing.

The Boys

For the boys, there were more rounds to progress through, making Sunday’s finals not only a test of surfing ability but also a test of endurance. Joshi James stormed through the rounds to claim the National title and repeat his success from the 2022 national surfing event.

For the U14 boys, scores in the final were close, Seb Whiteley took the win. Lukas Skinner followed on from his recent victory at the U16 Grom Search World Championships, cleaning up the U16 boys final and dropping some of the competitions highest scores. Noah Davis took the U18 boys titles, clinching first by 0.27 points above rival Fynn Gillespie.

A huge thank you to all surfers, supporters, media team, judges, and event team for being a part of this epic weekend. It was an unbelievable weekend for English surfing, and we cannot wait for the next one!