GB Surfing and the BSurf Committee have agreed that from 2023 onwards GB Surfing will acquire major hosting rights, and be responsible for the financing, organising and running, of the British Cup.

The competition will be renamed the ‘GB Cup’ and the 2023 event will be held on Fistral Beach, Newquay, in partnership with Surfing England, over the weekend of 28 + 29 October.

As the elite performance arm of surfing in Great Britain, GB Surfing intends to bring the GB Cup in line with other large surfing events around the world, raising the level of competition and better preparing British surfers to compete at an international level.

Gwen Spurlock, GB Surfing Team Manager, said about the GB Cup: “Our overall aim is to develop surfers capable of performing on the biggest stage and winning Olympic medals in the years to come, and this has to start at home. Raising the level of the GB Cup is therefore a big part of our strategy, giving British surfers, judges and other support staff access to elite competition.

“Increasing the size of the field and putting a place in the ISA World Surf Games on the line will add to the pressure and expose our best surfers to a highly competitive field of competition.”

Format

There will continue to be a Men’s and Women’s Open, as well as a Boy’s and Girl’s U18 Juniors competition.

Whereas in previous years, the Open fields were made up 16 surfers, four from each Home Nation, this year there will be 24 surfers competing, with six from each nation.

By increasing the event to the Round of 24 per category, it provides an opportunity for additional British talent to compete, whilst adding depth to the existing competitive field.

The Men’s and Women’s Open winner (not already pre qualified) will earn an automatic place on GB Surfing’s ISA World Surf Games 2024 squad.

Entries

Each Home Nation will have six representatives in the Men’s Open and six in the Women’s Open.

• 4x made up of the top four from the Home Nation Championship.
• 2x wildcard spots. The individual Home Nation will have control over the two additional surfers they select. *

*N.B. If a GB Surfing Progression Squad surfer has not already qualified, the Home Nation will give them a wildcard position.

Judging

Introducing higher standards of judging will enable GB Surfing to better understand competitive surfing from a technical perspective and communicate international standards to GB Level surfers.

The GB Cup will therefore be used as a tool to up-skill British judges. This will include the use of judging replays that are currently only being used at WSL / ESF /ISA level events and will allow our judges a closer look at waves to ensure consistency in producing accurate scores in line with international standards.

We are also increasing the judging roster by 40%, which will create opportunities for more judges to gain National level experience and improve their chances of European and ISA Judging inclusion in the future. Our top National judges will then be selected through an open recruitment process that is used at the European level.