The Boardmaster 2013 Surfing Competition in Newquay is cancelled after sponsorship falls. Boardmasters’ organiser Vision Nine said their sponsor, Vans, had pulled out and Relentless had also cut its support. [April 2013]
Boardmasters, Newquay, held since 1981, as a surfing event was eclipsed by the Boardmasters music festival which started in 2005. One local Newquay surfboard shaper, Nigel Semmens, said: “It is disgraceful. Boardmasters is an amazing event, but has been taken over by a pop festival.”
The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Series competition which has been axed had total prize money of $180,000 (£116,550) last year.
Surf Festival
In the past Boardmasters, Newquay, has attracted some of the world’s biggest surfing names, including Kelly Slater.
Surfers are generally disgruntled at Boardmasters for backing a pop festival instead of a top surfing competition and many fear that Boardmasters will have lost their credibility among the pure surfing community.
