CROYDE big wave surfer Andrew Cotton has organised The

Analog Tag Team Open at Croyde Bay this weekend.

Andrew said: “The Analog Tag Team Open is a new surf contest

aimed at developing UK surfing, getting young surfers in the

water with the pros and providing them with a stage to

impress.

“The event will take place at Down End on Saturday and the

contest will see 12 team captains – all pros from the UK surf

community – each with a team of four surfers go head to head in

a tag team style competition.

“The winning team will be showered in glory and prizes from

our sponsors, and the best overall surfer of the day as

selected by the judges will be kitted out head-to-toe in

Analog, Gravis and Anon for their efforts.”

The contest is free to enter and surfers must register on

the morning of the competition at Croyde between 8.30am and

9.30am, before being picked out lottery style to see who their

team captain will be.

All entrants will get a free lunch and the drinks will

provided by Red Bull.

And Cotty says the competition will run rain or shine, flat

or swell.

And to inspire people to get involved, the whole day will be

photographed by our friends at Wavelength Magazine with

a full report and photos going into the magazine and

online.

To top it off, the day's surfing will also be filmed by

Maniac Films for a future podcast on the Wavelength website, so

no talent will go unseen.

Elsewhere, Ilfracombe College recently received funding from

the Trisurf project to set up their own surf club.

They then took it a little further and decided to use the

college's media arts status as support to set up their own Surf

Academy.

With the ongoing support from Surfing Croyde Bay, the school

now take students out and instruct them using the latest video

technology.

And to celebrate the academy's success, they rewarded their

students with a surf competition that was accessible for all

abilities.

Sponsored by Surfing Croyde Bay, Trisurf, Tiki and Surfed

Out, 30 out of more than 50 of the Academy's members took part

in 2ft waves held at Coombsgate beach.

With the tides racing in over the rocks at Barricane beach,

there was a quick turnaround for the finals and an exciting end

to the day. Organiser Rob Whitney said: “The girls' and KS3

boys' events were hotly contested with Zoe Braund and Marcus

Hutchins storming ahead and racking up high points on numerous

waves, but the very last final caused the judges some

headaches.

“Having had to look at the score cards very closely, Josh

Cassidy won by 0.5, followed closely by wildcard Sam Lewis and

a tie for third between Harry Fay and Jack Turner.”

Meanwhile, Croyde waterman Ralph Freeman finally completed

his postponed paddle around the point on Sunday.

After the Big Boy Paddle Race was cancelled at the Goldcoast

Oceanfest in June, Ralph has been waiting for a suitable day to

complete his challenge.

He had planned to compete in the race to raise money for the

Motivation Charity Trust and has so far collected more than

£500.

He said: “It was a huge disappointment on the day when the

event was cancelled due to bad weather.

“I was determined to do the paddle as so many people have

sponsored me and I would like to thank them for their

support.

“You can continue to donate online at

www.justgiving.com/ralphfreeman until August 22.

“I broke my neck in a surfing accident in September 2006 and

was very lucky not to suffer permanent spinal damage.

“A friend of mine Dave Constantine, who was also a surfer,

had a similar accident in Australia as a young man but was not

as fortunate.

“He has been confined to a wheelchair ever since but has

been an inspiration to me.

“He set up the Motivation Charity which works to provide

disabled people in developing countries with high quality and

low cost wheelchairs as well as training them in vocational

skills to help them find employment.

“As soon as I had recovered enough from my accident, I

wanted to do something to help Dave's fantastic charity.”

Ralph had support on the day from Chris Burrows, Ian

Bennett, Shaun Latham and son Sebastian, Richard and Jenny

Windsor and son Joe.

The crew joined him for the 2.5km paddle from Saunton beach

to Croyde Bay on Sunday.