Surfing championship falls flat in Tynemouth

In case anyone didn't know, you can surf in Tynemouth, up on the North East coast of England. It's never what you would call warm (and bloody freezing is a more apt description in the middle of January). Waves are pretty variable, but on it's day it could rival some of the best spots in the country. Big Sunday, back around 1988/89 springs to mind, when we had solid 8 to 10 ft waves running the whole length of the beach. Paddling out was pretty hard, but I made it - think I only caught a couple of waves that day though - it was pretty scary.

Anyway, the last few years have seen a few more competitions move up to the North East Coast, the biggest being the British Surfing Championships. It was meant to be held this weekend, but looks like it's been called off as the waves aren't going to appear.

Pictured in the photo is Sam Lamiroy, a kid I used to surf with when I was a youngster. Haven't seen him in about 12 or 13 years I don't think, and he was a decent few years younger than me, which would probably make him about 30 now. Anyway, he was always pretty decent, but guess now he's really good if he got his picture up on the BBC Web site.

BBC NEWS | England | Tyne | Surfing championship falls flat