SST: Matt, can you tell us how you feel being crowned 2013 Champ?

MR: No words can describe it. I actually think that the SST is the rebel tour that there were rumours of on the WCT a few years back!

Matt Renshaw - Lord of the Dance, King of the Jagerbomb, Retro Sports Professional and your 2013 Champion

Mens:

1st - Matt Renshaw

In the long and illustrious history of the Student Surf Tour, never before has there been such a closely fought battle over first place. With both Matt Renshaw (Swansea) and Sam Coad (Plymouth) tying on 200 points after 3 events, we decided to make them fight to the death. It was quickly pointed out that they live in different cities and Coad will only leave Newquay in an emergency, so based on the fact that Renshaw not only competed in all 3 events but also took the 'Show Up and Blow Up' at Croyde, a panel of experts agreed on crowning Renshaw SST 2013 Champion, with Coad taking a very honourable second place.

Womens:

1st - Sophie Hellyer

With consistent form both in the sea and at the afterparty, Plymouth's Sophie Hellyer is the undisputed Womens champion for 2013. Taking 1st place in all 3 of this years SST events, Sophie finished over 100 points ahead of second place.

Both champions have won themselves a highly limited edition and collectible prize, a custom beechwood trophy that's been created by talented artist Kathy Evans.

University:

Depsite a stirling effort from AUCB, Plymouth took the overall title with an impressive 1080 points. They bankrupted the surf club in the process, but it was all worth it to retain the title!

For a full breakdown of SST 2012/13 results, hit the link:

http://www.studentsurftour.co.uk/p/201213-results-universities.html

It's a great shame that we weren't able to finish the year off with one final SST competition, but situations conspired against us, and the tides were wrong, and the weather was bad, and we have full time jobs and other excuses, but we'll be putting together a 'Best of SST' in the next few weeks to remind you of all the good times.

Thanks everyone for your support in 2012/13, huge shout outs must go to (in no particular order):

Globe / for seeing our vision and enjoying what we do
Anything Surf / for having great banter, being a great shop and a supportive sponsor
Star Surf Camps / for providing awesome holidays in France
Rest Bay Lifeguards / for keeping us healthy and safe and then joining us to party
Porthcawl Surf School / because Hugh is a legend, a real gent, very understanding and patient!
The Welsh Surf Federation / Stu and the guys do a brilliant job and are supportive of the SST, even when we have no budget and arrive late
Malc's Cafe / for keeping us fed and watered for another year
Park Dean / for hosting the SST in Wales and Croyde... We're not allowed back but we still love you
Reef Surf Lodge / for giving us somewhere to stay in the cold month of February
ERA Water Safety / for buzzing around on a jet ski making sure everyone was safe, in freezing gales
The Thatch Croyde / for being the best apres surf piss up venue in the country
All our judges / Liam Dennis Green particularly, you all made this possible

If we've forgotten anything, we're really sorry...

What's happening to SST next year?

More info coming soon.

Renshaw, smashing it in Wales (Pic Tim Borrow)

Pro surfer and amusing writer Glenn 'Micro' Hall is out the water for 6 weeks following an injury sustained at Fiji.

Get well soon Micro:

"Around 7 minutes remaining the perfect looking wave marches towards the reef. It's still 50 meters away and Jordy asked 'are you going bru?' (I'm not really sure if he said bru but he's South African so he probably did) My reply 'fucking oath!' We were right at the top of the reef where coral heads poke out of the water basically just to try and screw with your head. They pop up and say 'hey look at me, I'm sharp as fuck so don't fall off'. Plan A to get the 8.8 was to takeoff at the top of the reef and get barreled along the whole first section, through the second section and get a 10. At a wave like Restaurants this isn't wishful thinking. On the right wave out there you can barreled for an hour and a half, Fijian time.  This wave approaching looked like the exact wave I was waiting for, the perfect line,the perfect size, no chops up the face. This was my first chance at posting a real score..."

Read the rest of Glenn's blog entry here:

http://www.microsurf.com.au/#!blog---fiji-1--micro-0/cv3j

Now company owners Nick Hounsfield and Tobin Coles have identified land at Washingpool Farm in Easter Compton and Over Court Farm in Almondsbury as the new site for the project.

Mr Hounsfield and Mr Coles say they are confident the operation will open towards the end of next summer, creating between 40 and 50 new jobs.


At 40 acres, the new site is considerably bigger than the initial project.

It would accommodate a surfing lake measuring 300 metres long by 150 metres wide, which would be built using technology developed by a Spanish company.

The lake is almost twice the size of the one proposed for the Portway site and has pushed the cost of the project to £6.2 million – an increase of £1.2 million.


The open-air development would create perfect waves up to 1.6 metres high at a rate of 120 waves per hour, allowing experienced surfers to enjoy a 20 second ride.

The lake would not be floodlit but could be lit by underwater lighting and the company says its operation is silent. Surfing sessions would be restricted to daylight hours.

Father-of-three Mr Coles, 40, said a "sizeable" amount of the money needed had already been secured and that they had "identified the main investors".

The larger lake will have three separate areas for beginners (Bays), experts (Reef) and surf schools (Harbour).

Two people will be able to use the reef area at a time, with up to 30 able to use the bay areas.

An entrance fee of £5 would be paid to use the site, which would include parking, with charges to surf of about £15 for an hour.

People would be able to walk, cycle or use a solar-powered electric cart to take them to the The Wave: Bristol site, approximately 300 yards from the car park.

Mr Hounsfield, 39, who lives in St Andrews with his wife and three children, said: "We want people to have the feeling of leaving technology behind and going into nature – that fits with our ethos."

He added that the development would have no effect on the Volksfest that takes place at Washingpool Farm each year and said the presence of MoJo Active Outdoor Activity Centre nearby made the prospects of planning permission more likely.

"The rest of the land will be landscaped sensitively, with a sense of both gardens and an arboretum," he added. "We want people to feel like they are entering woodland."

Also on site will be a large timber structure housing a cafe, changing rooms and an education centre.

The car park is likely to be able to hold 250 vehicles but people must book if they are using their car.

The Wave: Bristol team have spoken to planners and have been "encouraged to move to full application".

The company would not reveal whether it had bought or was planning to lease the site.

Mr Coles, 40, of St Andrews, said: "We are very confident and excited – this is the one we have been looking for.

"We are very close to the city but still able to create something with an outdoor feel. It really ticks all the boxes."

Mr Hounsfield, an osteopath, added that they were now consulting with local parish councils and residents about the plans.

"Now that we have the land agreed we are working up our plans for the site," he said.

"We have had preliminary discussions with South Gloucestershire Council and will soon be talking to local residents and people more widely in South Gloucestershire and Bristol, to gather feedback on our proposed plans.

"We have sent a letter to residents and are talking to local elected representatives to explain our proposals. We will be contacting them in the coming weeks about how they can get involved and have their say."

The project has also received the backing of Business West.

Executive director James Durie said: "It is fantastic that the team behind The Wave: Bristol has secured a site close to the city. We are right behind this exciting project, which not only will bring surfing to Bristol and the surrounding area but will also give local people of all ages and abilities the opportunity to be outdoors, have fun and get in touch with nature.

"Surfing is so much part of the life in the south west and this project is great news for local and the visitors we attract."

To help with the project, The Wave: Bristol has enlisted Chris Hines MBE, founder of Surfers Against Sewage and the director of sustainability at the Eden Project for more than five years. Also on board are horticultural consultants Sue Minter – former President of the institute of Horticulture – and Jekka McVicar, the current President of the Herb Society.

For more information, visit www.the-wave.co.uk

We're going to be selling our mobile events HQ this summer, it's fully road legal and everything works. 

(we have nowhere to store it and staff all going abroad from July onwards)

Anyone fancy it or know anyone that might?

It's perfect for use as a mobile office for a surf school or events company, the oven/sink has been removed and replaced with a working/desk area and the shower/toilet is now a surfboard rack. 2 x double beds which fold down from ample seating areas, and there's a whole bunch of built in storage. It has 2 brand new tyres and the spare is in great condition.

It's a 1993 caravan in sound condition, the graphics have been wrapped professionally by Perran Signs.

Offers around £1500 for the caravan

(the car is for sale as well, 2005 Mondeo Estate with tow hitch, 2.2TDCi in the highest spec including cruise control, privacy glass, full leather, 124k, full service history... Averages 48mpg but have seen 66mpg, will still return 36mpg when towing the caravan and is faster up hills WITH the caravan on the back than a Hyundai i20 with 2 people in it, as we discovered during the convoy to Croyde)

All enquries to joe@studentsurftour.co.uk

It's all banter and jokes when we get drunk and claim to be the best thing in UK surfing, but it's a bit different when someone else says it.

Pretty uplifting article to read after a long Easter Sunday, we at SST were pretty stoked to see this nugget in our Facebook news feed

(note - this genuinely isnt written by SST staff!):

http://groundswelluk.wix.com/gsuk#!all-that-is-right-about-the-sst/c1h1m

"The SST keeps me connected with regular updates interspersed with genuinely amusing anecdotes and the regular-ish photo of Alana Blanchard…"

Great to hear our social media marketing strategy is working...!

What is Facebook coming to...?

Pretty sure within a year or so Facebook will just be a clutter of businesses using 3rd party apps to post and chat to each other, judging by the amount of companies in our news feed offering 'automated facebook posting services'...

Hopefully these automated businesses can sit and chat to each other on facebook all day long and those of us that are still real, genuine, warm, feeling, living, breathing human beans will have shut down our FB accounts and be on beaches drinking coconut juice and going surfing whilst those human beans that are cold and numb and brain dead will continue to click Like on automated facebook posts, sharing pointless images to win stock that doesn't exist whilst selling mobile phones or car insurance or working in banks or in PR.

Until then, why not take a look at our France trip? 

It's going to be wickedbad fun and you won't be able to get on Facebook so you'll be forced to actually live life and have real fun (not just Facebook fun such as clicking like and share) because everyone knows Facebook friends aren't real friends and Facebook fun doesn't count.

You won't want to click Like or Share because you'll be in a pine forest in Southern France with real friends and real sunshine and real beers and having real fun, that you can like and share in real life with real people.

There is nothing automated about any of our posts, they're always from the heart, and if we say you're going to win a free T Shirt, you probably will... Except Kieran, because we still haven't got around to posting it yet and have run out of Large T Shirts, sorry buddy, we will make it up to you somehow...!

Big love kids, big love.

https://www.facebook.com/events/100648266785868/?fref=ts

Someone has real fun whilst Tim Borrow has fun capturing the fun on Camera so it can go on Facebook and be turned into fake fun for everyone to Like and Share and pretend they were there, but really only Tim and the surfer were there, and only the surfer was in the barrel... this could be you.

The following are all shot by Matt H-B of AUCB:

Joaquin Munoz (Plymouth) We know that because we recognise the board...

Alex Johnston, maybe? And possible Matt Renshaw?

Matt Renshaw? Anyone know?

The surfer in Orange is winning in the 'get closest to the shore' battle. Sadly the judges don't use this criteria anymore

Joaquin Munoz (Plymouth)

Who's this? Can you get a bright spray on your board for the next event please?

Joaquin  'I've got a bright orange board' Munoz AKA Pigeon (Plymouth)

Josh Cleaver (Plymouth), who also has a bright surfboard

Grab rail barrel much?! Who's this? Blue rash vest, Semi Final?

Slotted

Josh Cleaver (Plymouth)

Pigeon... Again

Matt Renshaw (Swansea) dropping in and...

Getting pitted, so pitted

BOSH!

First ever surfing competition! Disqualified for having the rash vest inside out... Only joking, our sponsors pulled out becuase they're broke, so we don't mind!

AUCB Surf

Who's that, Pigeon again..? Cleaver? We reckon it's Pigeon

Looks like Alex Johnson, and Matt Renshaw, and someone else...

AUCB Surf

This is a Student Surf Tour Guest Contribution:

Mens:

1. 1. Joaquin ' Pigeon' Munoz (Plymouth)
2. 2. Matt Renshaw (Swansea)
3. 3. Josh Cleaver (Plymouth)
4. 4. Alex Johnston (AUCB)

Womens:

1. 1. Sophie Hellyer (Plymouth)
2. 2. Gabi Rowe (Falmouth)
3. 3. Ellen Raymond (Bath)
4. 4. Ioan Kathryn-Evans (Swansea)

Log/Retro:

1. 1. Andy 'strip down' Pennock
2. 2. Elliot 'old man' Withers

SST Joaquin Munoz (Plymouth) and Sophie Hellyer (Plymouth)