A Powys surfer was “thrilled to bits” after realising his dream of competing in a global tournament in California.
A friend of Oliver Vaughan Jones set up a Kickstarter campaign to fund his efforts to compete for the British team at the 2022 ISA Para Surfing World Championships in the kneel category – and he made a big impression at his first tournament.
He competed with the names of nearly 30 donors written on his board, after raising £1,500 in 10 days in a last-ditch attempt to make it to the championships.
"I felt really humbled by it," he said. "I just put out the bat signal as a last-minute ditch attempt to get to the world championship. I never expected anything from it and everyone just jumped on board.”
"To get started on that board with everyone’s name on it, it was a nice way to start the event off.
The Para Surfing World Championships were held in Pismo, four hours from Los Angeles, and are contested by surfers from around the world.
“It’s hard to describe how big it is. There’s an assumption with disabled sport that it is pretty low key, and it is in some cases – but this was just colossal,” said Mr Vaughan Jones, from Llandyssil.
“In this small town about the size of Welshpool, the opening ceremony on the Sunday before the event kicked off the parade was a mile long – with 183 athletes and 400 coaching staff.”
In his first heat Mr Vaughan Jones said he found it initially a challenge to adjust to competitors' tactics.
“Normal surfing with a disability is quite full on but when you have a competition you’ve got 20 minutes for a heat, you’ve got four other surfers in there and you’ve got a marked zone to surf in. You’ve also got priority process and whoever has priority gets the wave they want first.
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“You’ve got this huge pier with everyone shouting down at you and a huge screen and a countdown clock.
“The whole thing is quite bewildering at first.”
As the session drew to a close, he took a risk to finish with a flourish, riding the rip current.
“There was a big pier, this classic Californian wooden pier like you see on Baywatch,Which divided the competition and practice zone," he added.
“I decided to go into the rip current but it ran right underneath the pier and like a conveyor belt you literally get into it. You are in between all the posts you can get smashed all around a bit. In the practice I got smashed to pieces in the pier.
“In the last 30 seconds I picked up a wave and rode it scored some points and then I did a thing called ‘shooting the pier’ which is where you surf in between the posts, you’re not allowed to do it but I got a rockstar cheer for it.
"The safety crew in the water was giving me cross hands signal and saying 'get out of the water, you’re not supposed to do that' but under his breath said to me 'that is the coolest thing I have ever seen'."
The second heat was less dramatic but more successful, as Mr Vaughan Jones finished runner up to defending champion, Australian Mark Stewart missing out on the semi-finals by a point and finishing 11th in the world in his category.
His debut at the championships coincided with the victory in his category by Gwynedd’s Llywelyn 'Sponge' Williams – the first Welsh surfing champion in any category ever.
Mr Vaughan Jones now plans to compete in more events this year but needs more sponsorship to compete in the rapidly professionalising sport.
“I’d love to work with a local company – it’s televised now so it’s a good opportunity," he said.
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