British Cup surfing victory is Craig's biggest achievement yet
Teenage surfing ace Craig McLachlan rates his British Cup victory in Wales at the weekend as his biggest achievement to date.
The 17-year-old from Murkle won the under-18 boys' category in the two-day event at Llantwit Major beach and finished fourth in the men's open competition.
Now he is hoping to carry on his good form at the Scottish junior national championships at Fraserburgh this weekend.
“It's probably the biggest competition I've ever won," Craig said after securing the British Cup U18 title at the event run by the Welsh Surfing Federation.
“I came fourth at the Boardmasters earlier in the year, which was pretty cool, but I'd probably say that this is the biggest.
“In my final I had the under-16 European champion and all the top English boys. And then in the adult there were obviously all the top English and Welsh guys.”
The conditions varied a lot, he pointed out. “The first day it was windy and really quite hard to surf. Later on in the first day the waves really got fun and it was a lot like home, which was cool.
“The next day again it felt like home and I felt I got a bit of a rhythm.
“It got a lot smaller throughout the day and by the time of the under-18 boys' final it had dropped a lot. The waves were really quite small and hard to surf but it was still fun.”
Craig, representing Scotland, finished ahead of Lukas Skinner (England), Kieron Smith (England) and Eli Perrins-Davies (Wales) in the U18 competition.
The men's open was won by Luke Dillon (England), with Stanley Norman (England) and Logan Nicol (Wales) taking the next two places and Craig in fourth.
England's Alys Barton won the U18 girls' title and the women's open competition.
Team England lifted the British Cup.
Craig won the open title at the 2021 Scottish championships held at Thurso East last November, becoming the youngest to take the top award. He started surfing when he was 10.
He turned 17 last month and will still be eligible to compete at U18 level until the end of next year.
“It depends on what age you are at the start of the year," Craig explained. "Because I'll be 17 at the start of next year, I'm actually able to enter the under-18s until the end of 2023, so I'll still have a wee while with the juniors.”
Craig was one of three surfers from Thurso-based North Shore Surf Club who were part of the Scotland squad at this year's European junior championships in Portugal.
He felt he didn't do himself justice at that event at Santa Cruz in July.
“I didn't feel like I got in much of a rhythm when I was in Portugal," he said. "I managed to come 16th in my category out of 40 people or something, but I feel like I could maybe have done a bit better.”
Craig did his Highers last year and plans to leave Thurso High School soon to start work as a lifeguard at the town's swimming pool.
“I'm going to maybe go to Western Australia at the start of next year and travel a bit while I'm down there,” he added.
The Scottish Surfing Federation (SSF) junior national championships will be held on October 8/9 at Fraserburgh, hosted by Broch Surf Club. It is stop four of the 2022 SSF Junior Series.
Craig said: “Hopefully I can keep this rhythm going and do well there too.”