Article on the 2004 St Ives Bay Open surf kayaking contest (published CKUK, Paddles & Canoest)

St Ives Bay Open 2004

By Stephen Bowens & Jason Birt
Photos by Jason Birt


St Ives Bay Open 2004

By Jason Birt and Steve Bowens
Photos by Jason Birt

Whilst fog blighted other parts of the north Cornish coast on an otherwise fine end to the Whitsun break, it merely provided a passing inconvenience for the inaugural St Ives Bay Surf Kayak Open at Gwithian, sponsored by Balin Surf Hardware. Proceedings were delayed on the Saturday but once underway the two feet and clean conditions provided the stage for some fine performances in the opening heats of all classes, with a world-class line-up including Simon Hammond, Darren Bason, Dave Jaggs and Pete Blenkinsop. As the tide dropped so did the surf. By 1pm, with the fog making an unwelcome reappearance, the competition was suspended for two hours. After the enforced intermission, the plastic class completed all remaining contests culminating in the eventual finalists of Dan Sollom, James Uren, Gary Williams and Andy Hambley. Fine performances by all resulted in victory for Andy Hambley. Michael Early achieved the best newcomer award.

(The emphasis for this event was not to have an elitist surf kayak event only for those with specialised kayaks but to encourage those from the local clubs to become involved. To achieve this we had a separate class for plastic and prises for best newcomer).

The decision to delay the remainder of the semi-finals and finals to the Sunday was a wise one. An absence of fog and clean three to four feet surf produced some excellent performances with Andy Hambley, Steve Bowens, Darren Bason, Alison Taylor, Pete Blenkinsop, Paul Hurrell and Dave Jaggs all making the semi-finals of the Open class. Simon Hammond unfortunately had to pull out due to wotk commitments. Alison Taylor impressed all with her committed lightning fast runs taking several pummellings in the close out section towards the end of the ladies/juniors final.

Throughout the competition there was a variety of styles from Simon Hammond’s smooth and fast caving turns and pristine execution of traditional surfing manoeuvres to Darren Basen’s “new S