Craig and Phoebe take Scottish surfing titles in ‘once-in-a-decade conditions’
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The emergence of so many promising youngsters in the 2024 Scottish National Surfing Championships held over Easter weekend shows that “the future is bright” for the sport, it has been claimed.
Jason Simpson, a Scottish Surfing Federation director and chairman of North Shore Surf Club (NSSC), was speaking after Thurso East played host to the championships in ideal conditions on Friday and Saturday.
While a number of emerging surfers caught the eye, there were familiar winners in the men’s open and women’s open categories. Craig McLachlan won the men’s title for a second successive year and for the third time in all, while Phoebe Strachan took first place in the women’s contest for the fourth time in a row and the fifth time altogether.
Both are members of Thurso-based NSSC.
Simpson said: “The competition was held in once-in-a-decade conditions with overhead surf and beautiful weather. The local North Shore surfers didn’t disappoint, with Craig and Phoebe winning the main contests.
“It was also great to see so many of the finalists being in their teens, which shows the future is bright for Scottish surfing.”
Strachan (28) finished ahead of Tiree’s Robyn Larg and Broch Surf Club duo Lola Mitchell and Callie Cruickshank in the women’s open section.
“We were so lucky with the weather and waves,” Strachan said.
“This year we had a lot of younger grommets coming up. They really surprised us all with it being a little bit closer than expected. They are definitely nipping at my heels, but they’re not quite there yet!
“You literally couldn’t have asked for better conditions. It was absolutely pumping waves and then we had the sunshine to go with it.
“It’s such a treat because it’s so rare that you get amazing waves and good weather. Obviously that’s great for us, but I think even better for spectators to come down and watch.
“Thurso East is the easiest place to run a competition. And with conditions like that it was just insane.”
Strachan is awaiting the go-ahead for a trip to Poland at the end of this week to compete in an event called Cold Waves by Porsche.
In the men’s open contest, 18-year-old McLachlan saw off the challenges of Sandend’s Craig Sutherland and NSCC clubmates Mark Boyd and Dylan Fogarty-Macdonald.
McLachlan, who captained the Scottish squad in the world junior championships in Brazil at the end of last year, was delighted to retain his Scottish title.
“I’m pretty happy,” he said. “The waves were super-fun, so I’m stoked.
“Everybody was surfing amazingly well, which was cool.
“I was pretty confident and happy with the way I surfed but it could have gone any way, the waves were so fun – everybody was on good form.
“It was sunny the whole weekend and the waves were super-good.
“Brims is a super-good wave, and the beaches are good as well, but Thurso is where you want it. That’s the wave everyone is looking at.”
Boyd, who went into the event as reigning masters champion, had to settle for runner-up spot in that category behind Broch Surf Club’s Mark Cameron. NSSC’s Chris Clarke was third.
Results – Open men: 1, Craig McLachlan (North Shore Surf Club); 2 Craig Sutherland (Sandend Surf Club); 3 Mark Boyd (NSSC): 4 Dylan Fogarty-Macdonald (NSSC).
Open women: 1 Phoebe Strachan (NSSC); 2 Robyn Larg (Tiree Surf Club); 3 Lola Mitchell (Broch Surf Club); 4 Callie Cruickshank (Broch Surf Club).
Masters: 1 Mark Cameron (Broch Surf Club); 2 Mark Boyd (NSSC); 3 Chris Clarke (NSSC); 4 Craig Sutherland (Sandend Surf Club).
Organisers believe standards at the Scottish National Surfing Championships are getting “better and better” each year.
Marcelle Lockhart, administrative and organisational assistant for the Scottish Surfing Federation (SSF), described the 2024 event at Thurso East as “an amazing weekend”.
She said: “I was delighted to be involved and to help the SSF run the competition. There are so many great people involved that make the competition run smoothly – judges from all around the world, media crew, live stream, contest director, lifeguards, commentators, sponsors and last but definitely not least a lovely team of volunteers who help and welcome everyone.
“We were so lucky with the weather and waves this year. The standard of surfing just gets better and better.”
The championships are overseen by the SSF and supported by EventScotland’s National Events Programme. Support also came from Jacobs and NRS Dounreay.
