A Highlights Reel, captured by local film maker Jack Abbot, summarising

some of the weekends three days of action.

The 2019 Billabong MiPost Welsh Nationals were held this past bank holiday weekend in challenging conditions with Jay Quinn and Joanne Dennison taking top honours in the Men’s and Women’s Open categories.

Mia Jenkins and Jed Wood were crowned U18 Girls and Boys champions, whilst Elliot Dudley continued his dominance in the Longboard.

The three-day event implemented Tim Aylett’s ‘Refresh’ live digital scoring system for the first time, bringing much improved officiating and experience. The conditions however weren’t quite as impressive as the new technology, as a contestable long distance 1 to 2ft pulse required competitors to display pure athleticism to milk every ounce of energy from what were, at times, highly challenging conditions. Two major positives were the mid tide bank which produced some decent lefts, coupled with a weekend of dry and mostly sunny weather was most welcome, even if accompanying northerly breeze brought a slightly frigid feel to the late spring event.

Given the waves on offer it was no surprise to see the heavy hitters struggle to compete against more athletic and youthful chargers as the new-school made the most of every drop of energy mother nature sparingly supplied. There was one exception in Jay Quinn, who’s smooth transitions were a masterclass in generating speed and flow when there is little on offer. Jay is yet to drop a heat at the Nationals and regained the Welsh Men’s Open title he was unable to defend last year after seeing off a strong challenge from youngsters Logan Nicol, Patrick Langdon Dark and Joseph Morris. The 25-minute final saw Quinn’s record given a stern test as the young pretenders’ energy ensured the current British and European champion needed to find an excellent 8.00 ride to oust first time finalist Nicol, last year’s champ Dark and Morris, who was looking for a rare Open and Junior double.

Whilst Jay may have taken the headlines, watching the trio come of age brought a great deal of satisfaction to parents, coaches and the WSF staff. The kids looked a step ahead of their more senior peers all weekend and will undoubtedly pick up plenty more podium time in the future.

Jo Dennison breezed to her seventh Welsh women’s title without breaking sweat, a bizarre combination of circumstances resulted in a wave of high-profile stars being unable to attend this year’s event. This left Jo needing to overcome youngsters Isabelle Vaughan, Ana Jenkins and newly crowned U18 girls champion Mia Jenkins who’d earlier pipped Pembrokeshire Olivia Lean to bring the girls title back to Llantwit. Needless to say, the result was inevitable, and the only woman who could legally enjoy the Barti Spiced Rum prize!

The under 18 boys was expected to be a formality for Jo Morris, however Jed Wood fresh from a narrow victory over Eli Perrins Davies in the U14’s found himself in perfect rhythm to out point Morris who just couldn’t find a decent runner in an ever-changing line up. In the U16 final Eli made honours even after Jed’s U14 title win. Both Eli and Jed were surfing for a potential U14, U16 & U18 treble, each had to settle for three finals and a bag load of goodies from Billabong.

The Under 12’s grommets saw a close fought final with Arthur Buick overcoming challengers Sol Williams, Dexter Cromwell and Tomos O’Leary in some of the best conditions of the weekend.

Perhaps the highlight of the entire weekend was watching the U10’s super groms surf off on (what was to them) perfect shoulder high rights giving the youngsters an ideal platform to shred! Each of the micro-groms was awarded a prize in a number of different categories from longest wave to biggest wave whilst picking up some goodies very kindly donated by Obsessive Disorder and Puravida.

Elliot Dudley once again set the bench mark with world class longboarding to seal his umpteenth Welsh title. Now the senior statesman, Dudley needs to keep a careful look over his shoulder as Evan Rogers and Arran Bright are closing the gap with each passing year. Angharad John took the Women’s Longboard title whilst Blake Jones put on superb performance to win the U18’s Longboard event against new comers Euan Buick, Arthur Buick and Seth Reed.

In the over somethings Ingemar Cressey made a successful return to competition with a tight victory over Greg Owen, who did very well to mix parental duties with a runners-up finish, knocking Rudi Perrins Davies into third and Mark Vaughan all at sea in fourth.

The Legends (over 45’s) has been owned by Jamie Bateman for the past few years, even the close out bank that was in full effect for the finals couldn’t stop him out scoring Colin Bright, Adrian Hawke, Simon Blower and Craig Burrows. For now, Bateman remains untouchable at this level.

As is now tradition the final award of the day is the Paul Ryder award, which goes to the most promising local surfer which this year was deservedly awarded to young Dexter Cromwell, who’s determination and skills make him someone to keep a very close eye on!

The WSF would like to thank its sponsors Billabong and MiPost for the very generous financial support. Also a massive thank you to Obsessive Disorder, Puravida, Christian Surfers UK, all the organisers, surfers and spectators for making the 2018 Billabong MiPost Welsh Nationals a success. See you all next year.

To our Sponsors and Supporters, a huge THANK YOU.

Here are those that made it all possible:

Ken Vaughan of MiPost and McLays Printers

Chris Seage of Cove Distribution on behalf of Billabong

Jonathan Williams of CafeMor U10’s sponsors: Obsessive Disorder and Puravida

The local authorities:
The National Trust and Pembrokeshire Parks.

Photographers: Catie Gaskell, Mark de’boer Lloyd, Martin John, David Williams, Craig Nicol.

Live Scoring System – Tim Aylett.
Event Officials: Mark Vaughan, Craig Burrows, John Hillman, Stuart Bentley and Huw John.

Head Judges: Craig Burrows.
Judges: Tim Aylett, Jamie Bateman, Rhydian Brewer, Stuart Beale, Michaela Kuhne and Gwen Spurlock.

Lifeguard – Paul Killa.

Event Support: Carriad. Johnny Hillman and the crew at Christian Surfers Wales. Accommodation: The Golden Plover.

RESULTS - 2019 Billabong MiPost Welsh Nationals

Men’s

1st Jay Quinn
2nd Logan Nicol
3rd Patrick Langdon Dark 4th Joseph Morris

Women’s

1st Joanne Dennison 2nd Angharad John 3rd Mia Jenkins
4th Issy Vaughan

Men’s Longboard

1st Elliot Dudley 2nd Even Rogers 3rd Arran Bright 4th Martin John

U18 Boys

1st Jed Wood
2nd Joseph Morris 3rd Rudder Rava
4th Eli Perrins Davies

U18 Girls

1st Mia Jenkins
2nd Olivia Lean
3rd Ana Jenkins
4th Isabelle Vaughan

U18 Longboard

1st Blake Jones 2nd Euan Buick 3rd Arthur Buick 4th Seth Reed

U16’s’
1st Eli Perrins Davies 2nd Jed Wood
3rd Blake Jones
4th Rudder Rava
U14’s

1st Jed Wood
2nd Eli Perrins Davies 3rd Blake Jones
4th Noah Wood

U12’s

1st Arthur Buick
2nd Sol Williams
3rd Dexter Cromwell 4th Tomos O’Leary

Over 35’s

1st Ingemar Cressey 2nd Greg Owen
3rd Rudi Perrins Davies 4th Mark Vaughan

Over 45’s

1st Jamie Bateman 2nd Colin Bright
3rd Adrian Hawke 4th Simon Blower 5th Craig Burrows

U10’s Super Grom – Winners

Tilly Cromwell, Dexter Cromwell, Indi Ward, Indi Seage, Stanley Taylor, Luca Owen, Oskar Perrins Davies, Oz Williams, Esme Owen, Honey Cromwell.

PSR Paul Ryder Award Winner

Dexter Cromwell