2015 marked the second time the Scottish Surfing Federation had sent a Scotland team to the ISA World Surfing Games - this time in Popoyo, Nicaragua on the 31st of May to the 7th of June 2015
The team relied on the Crowdfunder campaign in order to raise the funds to enable them to represent Scotland on the World Stage and with a great help from Staunch Industries who created the team uniforms and supporters kits it was possible for Scotland to fly the flag at the world championships for the second time.
[[From the SSF and on behalf of the Scottish team a HUGE thank-you to those who pledged on the Crowdfunder, as well as to the Highland Council and Caithness Sports Council who helped our Caithness Residents with travel costs, without your support Scotland's representation would not have been possible and we hope to continue to participate and improve each year.]]
The 6 strong team included:
Scotty Main (Thurso)
Mark Boyd (Thurso)
Ali Mathieson (Carrbridge)
Allyn Harper (Sandend)
Shoana Blackadder (Thurso)
Megan McKay (MacDuff)
The opening ceremony of the games was held in Rivas City, Nicaragua and was a celebration of all of the participating nationas and Nicaraguan Culture including the ceremony of the sands on stage. Watch the highlights of the opening ceremony at the following link: http://isawsg.com/open-ceremony-video-highlights/
Scotland finished 16th out of 95 ISA member nations in 2014 in Peru and hoped to improve on this result with their improved seeding in 2015. However, this year with teams such as USA and Portugal (some of the strongest competitors) not having appeared in Peru in 2014 they were unseeded and added into the draw as lower seeds making the first round an extremely tough affair.
Most notably Scotty Main (SCO) and Allyn Harper (SCO) drew celebrity ex WCT surfers Ben Bourgeouis (USA) and Damo Hobgood (USA) respectively. Allyn most certainly did not let the big name intimidate him, constantly being on the inside of Damien and snagging good set waves that came his way.
It would be a tough feat for any of this years surfers to match the success of Mark Boyd (SCO) who progressed through to the second round of the main event in Peru in 2014 and despite their efforts that would be the case.
One of team Scotland’s standout waves of the first round was Ali Matheson’s tubride on a righthander - Ali fully dissappeared from the judges view and burst through the curtain, a skill Ally undoubtedly honed on the tubing rights of Thurso-East. Mark Boyd (SCO) put together the highest heat total of all the Scots in round 1 but it still wouldn’t be enough to progress and all of the Scots would surf again in repechage round 1.
Shoana Blackadder (SCO) put on a great performance in women’s repechage round 1. Her wave selection was impeccable and she surfed her 2 waves well with great speed and flow (heats are scored on best 2 waves) but again it wouldn’t be enough to progress against on form surfers Frankie Harrer (USA) and Cristina Vargas (ECU).
Megan MacKay (17) (SCO) was extremely unlucky not to progress through her round 1 repechage heat, having been putting in superb performances during practice surfs outside of the event, showing the world that Scottish girls really can surf, despite the aggressive crowded lineup. But the pressure of the 20 minute heat was just too much for Megan in this instance - she was in need of a 1.73 wave score to overtake the combination of Naja Olsen’s (DEN) waves - possible with only one wave for a surfer of Megan’s ability but a near collision at the outset of the heat made Megan work to find the scores. 2 waves would have put Megan firmly into 2nd place to progress through the heat and 1 wave would have also likely given her the lead ahead of the Dane but time ran out before Megan had the opportunity to show the world what we all know she is capable of - certainly the biggest upset of the day for the Scots.
17yr old Megan MacKay (SCO) put in some outstanding performances during practice sessions at Popoyo, battling hard against a hungry pack of professional surfers. Despite her determination to get her fair share of waves in amongst the worlds best she still made more friends than probably anyone and flew the flag high for Scotland and represented her country in the absolute best way anyone could ask for, here she is again smiling as always - Photo Patrick, Buena Onda
For the men they all took the lessons they had learned from their main event round 1 disappointments into their round 1 repechage heats.
First heat was Ali Matheson (SCO). Ali’s heat was held at the peak of the spring low tide and a rising swell making conditions incredibly tricky. Ali took off on some large set waves, some of the biggest waves of the heat but unfortunately couldn’t find the walls he needed to get some big scores on the board. However, it was not only Ali who struggled to find the scores in the difficult conditions - one of the biggest names of the event Ben Bourgeouis (USA) was eliminated in 3rd position along with Ali in 4th in repechage round 1.
Scott Main (SCO) found the aggression required to hassle and get into a couple of good set waves in his round 1 repechage heat improving on his heat total from the previous round but in one of the highest scoring heats of the repechage round one with Dylan Southworth (MEX) posting a 16.67 heat total it was always going to be an incredibly difficult task to progress and Scotty finished 4th.
Mark Boyd (SCO) started his round 1 repechage heat well posting scores which kept him in the game. Boyd unfortunately fell on a big floater in one of his opening rides but still was only in need of a 5 point ride to take the 1st or 2nd spot and progress through the heat. The wave of the heat came to Mark but Arenivar (SAL) tactically paddled up Boyd’s inside causing Boyd to hesitate in fear of an interference call had he gone - Mark missed the wave which had he surfed it well had the scoring potential to put him well in the lead and progress through the heat - it was most likely Arenivar would have been too deep anyway meaning interference would have been unlikely but in the pressure of the 20 minute heat the mistake cost Boyd the heat and he finished in 3rd place behind Arinivar (SAL) and local Calderon (NIC) but ahead of Harrisson (AUS).
Allyn Harper (SCO) would surf in the last heat of the day in repechage 1 on day 3 and surfed a great heat. Allyn selected good waves and connected the dots to produce reasonable scores to challenge Nakagawa (JPN) for the second place to progress through the heat. Allyn’s best wave, a righthander, allowed Allyn to start with a big opening turn followed by flowing maneouvres through to the inside section where he threw loads of power into the closing hit. Unfortunately Allyn’s efforts wouldn’t be enough and he would finish in 3rd place behind the two Japanese surfers Nakashio (JPN) and Nakagawa (JPN).
In the end the gold medalists of the mens and womens categories would be WQS surfer Noe Mar McGonagle (CRI) and Tia Blanco (USA). Costa Rica took home the team gold medal as well as the gold medal for the Aloha Cup. A full list of results, videos of the event and news can be found on http://www.isawsg.com .
A huge congratulations to Nic Von Rupp (POR) who took the silver medal in the mens category and to team Portugal who took the overall team silverl back to Europe, they are truly an inspiration to us - the teams had great fun hanging out at Buena Onda resort where both Scotland and Portugal were based during the event - so also a huge thanks to Philip, Patrick, Jenny, Brendon and all the staff at Buena Onda for looking after the teams during the event.
All of our Scottish athletes had a great experience, learned a lot more about competing at an international level and made amazing new friends from all corners of the globe and also seen some old friends, the Saltire is still flying proud over the beach at Popoyo, Nicaragua.
Costa Rica won the team gold medal. Pictured here is WQS and occasional WCT wildcard surfer Carlos Munoz (CRI). Carlos was impressed with the standard of the Scottish surfers during freesurfs espescially Boydies finner-wrap-layback combo just a couple days before the comp started … if only that form could have been carried into the Scot’s heats - Photo: Scotty Main
Brian Toth (PRU) a surfer who has competed in the WQS in Thurso, Scotland in the past with Scotty Main (SCO) on the right - Photo: ISA
Overall the Scotland team placed 20th in the World, a great feat in a sport with 95 member nations - slightly lower than last year but more lessons have been learned to improve the standard of Scotland’s competitive surfing for next year and years to come.
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The Scottish National Surfing Team will next compete in EuroSurf (European Surfing Championships) in Morocco in September.
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The Scottish Surfing Federation are appealing for a commercial sponsor who may wish to become a blanket sponsor for all of Scotland’s national surfing teams who travel to all international competition as well as the Scottish National Surfing Championships which acts as the selection competition for the Scottish National Squad.
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Once again from the SSF and on behalf of the Scottish team a HUGE thank-you to those who pledged on the Crowdfunder as well as Staunch Industries for their support making the uniforms and supporters kits, without your support Scotland’s representation would not have been possible and we hope to continue to participate and improve each year.