January 5, 2024
Army Surfing Open Comp
The Army Surfing Open fixture was held on 23 Nov 23. Even though the conditions…
Army Surfing is the British Army’s Surfing team and aims to develop the standard of competitive surfing within the Army and Inter Services through a mixture of competition and coaching events. The club is broken down into three surfing disciplines; Longboarding, Shortboarding and Bodyboarding. The club aims to run 3 to 4 competitions, 1 overseas visit and 16 coaching and development events over the course of a year. This event structure is tailored specifically towards the development of a surfer from beginner to competitor. These events are hosted at multiple locations around the country, but the majority are focused around RAF St MAWGAN in Cornwall which is where we have our club house and store. All members can access the clubs equipment all year round, which spans from everything you need to get into the water for the first time through to trailing different fin profiles to unlock the next 1% performance increase.
Army Surfing is responsible to the Army Sports Control Board (ASCB) for the correct and safe administration of the sport of surfing in the British Army. The club is affiliated to Surfing England, its instructors are qualified by the International Surfing Association (ISA) and it runs its events to the standards specified in the Surfing England Rule Book.
Body boarding summary
Bodyboarding is the pursuit of catching and riding waves on a board shorter than 5’ in length. This board is usually ridden in the prone position and sometimes called belly or boogie boarding. The rider will often wear short fins on their feet and more advanced riders will ride the bodyboard in a kneeling position.
Short boarding summary
Shortboarding is the pursuit of catching and riding waves while standing on a surfboard shorter than 9’ in length. Officially there is no set size range to define a shortboard, but longboards (9’+) are discouraged in competitions. These boards can be any dimension and fin combination, but to be used in competition they must be consistent with the standard of equipment accepted for normal use. The typical shortboard would be between 5’8” and 6’10” with 2 to 4 fins, but for the purposes of Army Surfing, mid length boards (6’10”-8’11”) are included in the shortboard category.
Longboarding Summary
Longboarding is the pursuit of catching and riding waves while standing on a surfboard larger than 9’ in length. For competitive longboarding the board must be at least 9’ from the nose of the board to the tail in a straight line along its length and have an aggregated width of 47 inches (widest point + width 12 inches from nose and tail).
