Thanks to the Isle of Wight Surf Club for this report of their first Frostbite championships of 2011. Ed
2011 started with a bang with the January Frostbite series kicking off at 2ft super clean Hanover.
With an early start to coincide with the tide and a balmy two degrees air temperature only the brave and foolish turned out in the quest towards becoming the 2010/11 Frostbite Champion.
Junior event started the day
The day started off with Juniors. In a final short of consistent waves Robin Forrest managed to find a solid left wall to work and managed to win the heat.
In second place came Matt Townsend, just pipping his buddy and up and coming star Dom Arnold and in a respectable fourth came Dylan Hamlet who just needed to up his wave count to strengthen his assault on his opponents.
Plenty of talent in the Open
In the Open, despite the absence of title contenders and challengers Doug Richards, Andrew Tyrell, Luke Forrest and the Whittle brothers, this was easily the most stacked field of talent in the series so far.
Mark New and Josh Jupe back from Indonesia and James Ranson home from university it promised to be a cracking comp.
On to the semis
In the first semi Al Reed put together some excellent long smooth waves including a small cover up that caused the first upset of the day by just pipping James Ranson to the only final berth of the heat.
Despite James’ progressive approach he lost out by less than a point. In the second semi Joe Truman took total control of his home break and dominated his heat with super smooth rides and in the process eliminating Josh Jupe who had some awesome turns and reos but just could find the length of rides that Joe could.
Chris Mannion who came second in the last event struggled with the return to winter wetsuits and the cold after a recent trip to Oz. No doubt Manni will find his form for the remaining two comps.
In the third semi, Ollie Harvey made his intentions clear straight from the off with a big right hander as the heat started. Mark new immediately replied by catching his best wave of the heat a superb right with some aggressive and critical turns in the pocket.
Harwood’s patience steals the heat
However it was Matt Harwood who at the start of the heat struggled to find waves finally waited and caught a good size open faced right and went about putting three good hacks in all the way to the inside, then as he was paddling back out he took a smaller right and proceeded to complete a backside reverse and managed to steal the heat from Mark and Ollie.
The final went out in a diminishing swell of 1 to 2 ft. Joe unfortunately couldn’t find his earlier form, but it was tussle between Al and Matt who both pressured one another on taking set waves.
Harwood keeps the title
Again Al’s smooth approach impressed the judges but it was the dogged patience of Matt who waited and waited for a set wave and managed to snag a long right that connected and was able to put a couple of strong turns in.
Joe and Al reposted immediately both catching set waves, but both fell at crucial moments. So it was Matt who took the January title and continues to lead the frostbite series.
With only the competitors three best results counting And potentially three events still remaining (dependent on waves) the title chase is still wide open with anyone still able to claim the overall title!
Click on images for larger versions
Al Reed in blue, Joe Truman in green and Matt Harwood in white
Image: © Used with the kind permission of Paul Blackley of Wight Surf History
