Competing with a record number of men’s (25) and women’s crews (11), Portreath based rowers held their own in challenging three-foot choppy surf, with the Portreath Piranhas winning an impressive bronze medal in the ladies championship. The final race witnessed an awesome line-up of the six fastest women’s crews in the country. After rounding the halfway turning buoy, the Piranhas were unable to maintain a slender lead, setting up a thrilling finish that saw three Cornish crews ride the same wave to the beach. The Piranhas finished strongly to claim a comfortable third behind crews from Perranporth and Bude.

More akin to surfing than traditional rowing, surfboat racing is one of the region’s fastest growing and exciting sports. Evolved from Australian beach rescue craft, the eight metre four-man glassfibre boats are designed to take-on huge breaking waves straight from the beach. Competing crews race round separate turning buoys before catching a wave and surfing the boats back to shore.

The Portreath Wreckers picked up another bronze in the men’s competition, charging through the heats and semi-final with four straight wins. After racing against the top men’s surfboat clubs in the UK along and several guest still-water crews, a powerful performance was rewarded with third place from the original field of 25 boats.

In their first competitive season the Portreath Rockets fought courageously through some tough heats but missed the semi-final cut by a single point.
In only it’s second year, the UK Open Surfboat Championships has become the biggest event of its kind ever held in this country, despite the presence of surfboats on our shores since the late 1960’s. The sport of surfboat racing is exploding in popularity with the traditional surf lifesaving clubs being challenged by still-water crews from London and Bristol, among others.

This rise in popularity is mirrored by a large expansion of rowing at Portreath, who fielded a total of 16 rowers in the UK championships. Coach and Sweep (cox) Dan Berriman said after the event:
“I’m really proud of all our rowers this year, we have more people involved in the sport than ever before and these results really show the hard work that’s been done by everyone. We were the only club to win medals in both the men’s and women’s competitions. This is the first step towards our goal of becoming the strongest surf-rowing club in the country.”

Portreath Surf Lifesaving Club have received so mush interest in this fast growing sport, they are currently seeking sponsorship to fund a second surfboat. “We now have over 30 people wanting to row, but the boat only has 4 seats!” The crews are next in action at Perranporth in the Cornish Championships on Saturday 11th August and hope to take part in the inaugural European Championships in Hossegeor, France in November. Anyone interested in sponsorship should contact: danberriman@tiscali.co.uk.

Finally check out the UK Surf Rowers League website for some great photo's - www.uksrl.co.uk