The Freespirit British Surf Team had major cause for celebration in California last night after 21 year old Ben Skinner, originally from Jersey, came second in the world in the Longboarding section of the World Surfing Games. Ben impressed judges throughout the contest, the equivalent of the surfing Olympics, and his silver medal is the best result by a British surfer at the games for over 40 years.

Multitalented Ben, who is equally at home on a shortboard, powered through all of his heats last week and went straight into the final. He surfed amazingly well yesterday but was piped at the post by six time South African champion Matthew Moir who surfed a flawless heat hanging ten, cross stepping the board and kicking in big bottoms for the gold medal. In several media interviews before he went out to California, Ben was keen to stress that Britain is becoming a strong surfing nation to be reckoned with on a global platform, and he has more than proved his words with this stunning result.
Ben is also currently the British and English Longboard champion and represented Britain as a junior shortboarder in South Africa 2002.

Overall the British team also achieved their ambition of coming within the top ten nations in the world, taking ninth place out of 33 countries. Top surfers Alan Stokes and Sam Lamiroy made it into the quarter finals and Gemma Harris, a female bodyboarder from Wales, made it to the third round of the repercharge before being knocked out. Australia took the gold in the overall team result in one of the closest fought championships with Brazil, the USA and South Africa coming second, third and fourth.

National Director of the BSA Karen Walton said today, “This is the most amazing result both for Ben and for the team. We are all delighted beyond belief for him and so proud to see him up there on the podium. He is one of the most talented surfers this country has ever produced and his silver medal has done so much to consolidate our global reputation as a surfing nation. We can’t wait to give him a hero’s welcome on his return!”

Karen continued, “The entire team should also be congratulated on their efforts and they have all worked extremely hard to get us within the top ten. Scoring ninth out of 33 in the world is a stunning achievement for them all and I would also like to thank surfers across the UK who have been keeping the team going all week by sending messages of support which have been broadcast out across the beach. The next World Surf Games are in Portugal in 2008 and we’ll start planning for that soon.”

Adam Smith, Marketing Manager of Freespirit commented, “Without a doubt this is an awesome result for the British Surf Team and Freespirit is delighted to have been behind them all the way. We can’t wait to see everyone back on British soil and to celebrate Ben’s amazing achievement.”

A British judge, Joanne Hillman, was also given a major recognition for her judging commitment and skill throughout the event. Her average scoring was 92% and as a result she has been invited to judge at the next World Surfing Games in Portugal.