Lords of the Boards 2025

Boardmasters Surf 2025 was one of my most favouriteists yet and it’s not just for personal reasons, such as working with an outstanding team (as always), but what helped was; the wall to wall sunshine, consistent north Cornwall summer surf that produced – everyday, and an old school vibe back into the ‘surf fans village’ that is built on Fistral car park every year. A few nuanced structural changes to the village built on last years big move of bringing the athletes area back into a central position, which  helped the ‘surf-feel’ of the village, as athletes came and went with boards, kit and (their gifted) Yeti bags and mixed with punters amongst the t-shirt, skateboard, sunglasses and food outlets. There was a ‘main square’ of stalls that was full of bbq type tables in front of the music stage and speaking as a idle person myself, a bench is always a nice place to visit.

Ophell Ah-Kouen

Adam Griffiths

Bearman 2

Ben Skinner

Skindog greets young fans with big vibes.

Fistral produced some classic breezy summer swell that was not ideal for the longboarders but  potentally providing plenty of ramps for the shortboarders. Enter stage right: The main focus of the contest has shifted to the WSL Qualifying Series, building on an epic final last year between two Brits (PLD and Lucas), the event has been upgraded to a 2 star, with $2,500 first place prize money but more importantly 2,000 qualifying points. The prize was increased and so was the standard of competition. The quarters were probably as deadly as the final last year, in that tiny mistakes; in priority, wave selection and maneouver choice were paper thin differences between the top sixteen surfers in Europe, anyone could have won it on their day but they were up against a force of nature.

This sequence: Sean Gunning (Spain), tail versus lip, Little Fistral. Photos Estpix.

Never before have the stars been so aligned for Lucas Skinner; he seems like such a well balanced and focused individual, and that is mainly because he is. Tactically he is astute as a WSL veteran, and couple that with an increasing blistering forehand top turn with an ever present and  seemingly, ‘on demand’ air game, he has all the attributes to go all the way. There, I said it. These two turns from the quarters on the same wave show that he has the potential.

Finish:

Photos Estpix.

All eyes now are on the 4star Pantin Classic, 26th – 31st August in Spain to see which 10 Europeans will make it onto the six stop Challenger series next year, with stops likely in Australia, South Africa, Portugal, Brazil and California.

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Other news: The 2026 Beautiful North Devon Calendar has just gone to the printers and is available now!