The Global Paddling Community

Interview with kayak surfer Steve Bowens, chairman of the Surf Committee of the British Canoe Union.

This interview was originally produced for the Portuguese web site 'kayaksurf.net' and is published exclusively on Playak in english to make it available to a wider audience. The portuguese version of the interview, with larger versions of some of the photos, is available here.

Name: Steve Bowens
Age: 30
Home base: Cornwall, UK
Occupation: Lecturer, Falmouth Marine School, Cornwall College (training watersports coaches)
Competition Records:

• 2nd UK 2005
• 2nd European Championships, Mundaka, (was ready to compete in Costa Rica but fell of a minibus while tying surfboards on and broke my ankle a week before we were due to leave – Bugger!!!
• 3rd place Munaka 2006 HP

Years of surfkayaking: 3 years competitively, but many years more of board-, wind- and kayak surfing recreationally.
Functions at BCU: Recently been elected as Chairman of the BCU surf committee.

When did you create this Surf Section on the British Canoe Association ?
Inaugural year two years ago, the first year we have flat conditions on the Saturday and perfect 3-4ft on the Sunday, exactly the same happened last year. All good things come in 3's!

How many paddlers do you have registered as surfkayakers?
Around 50.

Are you also responsible for the selection of the UK surf kayak team?
I will be compiling the ranking list but have only just taken this post; the England team selection is made by the team captain Darren Basin and the team manager, Pete Blenkinsop.

In the past surf kayak contests, we saw teams from Guernsey, Northern Ireland , Scotland, etc. Who are, at the moment, the UK surf kayak team's best paddlers?
Difficult to say but Northern Ireland have a very strong team because they are very good at working together. Obviously Johnny Bingham did not get to be world champ by not being able to surf! The Welsh have some very good individual paddlers including Nathan Eddes and Bethan Thomas and others. I am afraid I have missed the events where the Scottish and Irish have been competing and as for the England paddlers we have some very competitive individual paddlers including Darren Bason, James Hawker, Dave Jaggs and Pete Belenks but we are suffering form a lack of ladies and youths (please come along and join in or come along to one of our "Introduction to competitions" coaching days). Jersey have Chris Harvey who seems to be ripping everywhere at the moment! There are many more that you don't want in your heat of a given day but those are the ones who spring to mind straight off.

How do you manage the financial support for your events?
I have been very fortunate to benefit from the support from companies like Balin surf hardware, Square Rock, and Atlantic sea kayaks. The best way to get sponsorship for contests is to approach people you already know in the industry. For the last two years we have had about £300 worth of prizes for each event from sponsors and I feel the key is showing how they will benefit, e.g. agree to write articles and make sure you let them see all the publicity created by the previous contests.

About your contests, I suppose you follow the WSKA rules. How do you choose your judges?
I have been trying to arrange a system where we would have some wave ski competitors come and judge and then hold a waveski event on the Sunday and provide kayak judges for them for the day, however there has been a clash with dates and currently it looks like we will run our normal process where you do safety for the heat directly before yours, then compete, then rest for a heat and then judge for one. This system can be very good as it helps encourage diversity in the judging but can sometimes be tricky to stick to tight timings and you need a good head judge who will ensure waves are not missed and that the judging is fair.

Will you go until Mundaka this year?
I am going, just trying to sort my flights; I am travelling out with Nikki Dorman, Sean Morley and Dave Jaggs. I really enjoyed the event last year as the location is so beautiful and the atmosphere was great. I made many new surf friends and I am really looking forward to getting out again this year. Luckily this year "Handi Rack" are supplying us with an inflatable roof rack which look like the "muts nuts", so hopefully we will not have to spend 10mins parked outside the airport trying to hammer the roof of the hire car back into the right shape!

And next year's Worlds?
Yes definitely and I will not be on any roof racks for the two months leading up to it this time. I was so gutted to have missed them this year, I was determined to go but the docs refused to take the plaster off and I could not get it in my boat. "Water rower" have provide me with a fantastic rowing machine to help with my rehab so is can stay in shape for this year (paddling certainly beats running with a broken ankle!).

Thanks Steve! Keep riding!

Steve's Sponsors

Gath Headgear - Waterrower - Handirack - Atlantic Kayak

Text: Luis Pedro Abreu
Photos: Jason Birt - www.nisurfkayak.com - www.kayaksurf.net