"Toxic, territorial behaviour."
You’ll find, if you come to Scotland, that it’s generally a welcoming country, with a warm people, who perhaps drink a little too much, and have never quite shaken the shadow of persecution by English overlords.
Shock then, this weekend, when a competition at Thurso East was postponed because a group of surfers – all men in the 40-50 age bracket – paddled out to launch an (alleged) pre-meditated attack on young women competing in the GB Cup.
The (alleged) incident took place during the semi-finals of the competition. It has been reported that the young women were subjected to verbal and physical abuse whilst trying to compete, deliberately intimidated and told to “fuck off”.
One young competitor was reported to be run over and pushed under the water.
Per Carve Magazine: “One of the surfers named as Ian Battrick, a Jersey resident who visits the area, also ran over a 15-year-old girl mid heat, landing on top of her and pinning her to the reef. The young surfer was unable to reach the surface and was highly traumatised.”
This group purporting to be “locals” was comprised of at least two Englishmen, a South African and only one verifiable Scot. The latter habitually rides a soft-top at Thurso East, and his raison d’etre is dropping in on as many people as he can in every session.
Little surprise that four of the names reported to be involved are unequivocally the least pleasant people you could encunter (sic) in Scottish surfing. Combined, they’ve ruined the days of hundreds of surfers, locals and visitors alike, with aggressive and intimidating line-up behaviour. Lots of shouting, lots of chest-puffing, lots of swearing. And general behaviours which suggest deep insecurities and habitual, frenetic cry-wanking.
At least three of them are resident in Thurso, but they are no more Scottish than fly in the air.
The wider story is that this behaviour is not reserved for visiting surfers, but exhibited regularly towards young Scottish surfers, too. Particularly if they happen to be talented.
The current incident has been picked up by national press and a police investigation is pending.
Both GB Surfing and Scottish Surfing have issued statements condemning the actions of these angry middle-aged men in the strongest possible (legally safe and sanitised) terms.
GB Surfing said: “We understand that there is a police investigation proceeding into an alleged incident of abuse towards competitive surfers by ‘free’ surfers, initially directed towards female competitors in the GB Cup. The board of GB Surfing is deeply concerned by the news of the incident, which has brought the event to an abrupt end. We recognise that surfers in the final will be disappointed by the premature termination of the competition following an incident, but we are grateful to the event delivery team for acting promptly and their cooperation with the Police in this matter.”
Per Scottish Surfing: “The Scottish Surfing Board condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the actions of a small group of individuals who sought to deliberately disrupt the GB Cup held this weekend in Thurso. Abuse directed at female competitors led to the premature suspension of the event on safety grounds, and event organisers were forced to seek assistance from Police Scotland. Such behaviour is completely unacceptable and runs counter to Scottish Surfing’s values of Innovation, Care, Inclusion and Excellence.We wish to make clear that these disruptive actions were not carried out by, or represent, the Scottish surfing community.”
Some notable Scottish and UK surf personalities were less circumspect on social media, calling the offenders a “bunch of dicks” for intimidating younger surfers.
One post invited @ianbattrick to “have a look at yourself in the mirror mate your (sic) a fucking fool”, before clamping down a hard lip to the head with “Hope all this was worth the one close out you had. You fucking kook”.
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JP, you might want to edit this article now that there’s been more clarification; namely that Ian Battrick did not run over a female surfer on purpose as Carve Magazine seemed to be suggesting. There’s been lots more said in the local paper including information that the surfers had been told they could paddle out at 3pm, so get off your arse, get up to Thurso & investigate properly instead of quoting misinformation from second hand sources.
lol, It’s beachgrit not the New York Times.
Thought BG was a more trustworthy news source? Its comments section definitely is. Anyway it’s all JP’s fault cos he’s Scottish and he usually takes delight in writing off events he reports on. But not this event, double standards.
This post recalls a memory of when I was working on a site and a bunch of Scots were complaining that the toilet blocks were too hot while taking a shit, and ceiling fans should be installed.
Carry on.
Funny how British surfing events only make the news when they are cancelled.
Hahaha I’m hearing ya. Because I live nearby I just started wondering about that freak when I read this
Surf contests outside of the CT are pretty shit though, yeah? And I thought that when I was quarter age too.
Typical small-dick, i-don’t-have-sex syndrome. There’s nothing worse than the resentful, divorced/vanlifer frustrated middle age surfer. No offense to present company.
But this is a bit like the Vuelta thing this year, which was cancelled on account of gaza protests blocking the roads.
Its a sporting event that takes place on open access public space, that basically relies on the goodwill of the general population.
Pretty easy to disrupt.
Unless, you have Kainoa Mcgee as the beach marshall:
https://www.reddit.com/r/surfing/comments/kps3og/pipe_contest_turns_mma_cage/
On his Instagram he’s denying anything except taking off on a closeout.
if what he says is backed up by footage then it’s a complete nothing burger.
This is what I reckon happened.
Group of “locals” decide that in between heats they can sneak a set wave before the hooter sounds. I have seen this many times (and in fact is what Wayne Lynch did in that famous shot of him and a 15 year old Barton Lynch at Bells ’81).
Girls in the water tell the interlopers to fuck off.
Some (all?) of the “locals” decide to be wankers about it. Guy on Instagram takes off and get clobbered in the closeout.
Social media gets involved and it morphs into something even bigger. Instagram guy gets flamed, tries to explain it away, and fails.
“locals” get humiliated, may even get a visit to the magistrate. Instagram guy loses his “sponsorship” with some brand I have never heard of.
The world keeps spinning on its axis.
100% agree.
Dude has a reputation of being a gigantic dickhead. I don’t believe him for a second. Good people don’t normally have that reputation.
Everyone gets theirs at the end of the day. And these cowards will get theirs big time.
Where’s Lance Ho’okano & Joel Tudor’s dad when you need ’em?
Did GB Surfing scrub the YT feed? They have Day 1 & 2 but can’t find finals day.
Whenever I think of Scotland I think of guys with poncey haircuts and girls who get gobby when they’ve had too much to drink.
Haha thats what I think of the Goldy when Im forced to head up there for work
There’s 2 sides to every story..
1. Wannabe pro suurfing girls
2. Pussies who hassle wannabe pro suurfing girls.
A Scottish Wolf Pack, I am trying to think of a suitable name, The Haggis Boys? Matching tartan wetties? On another tangent why are they holding an event in virtual darkness or is that a normal day in Scotland? No wonder those Train Spotting cunts went so hard on the smack, looks depressing as fuck there ay
Send them to Chopes and push them into a couple of 10 footers
https://lunasurf.com/pages/ian-battrick?srsltid=AfmBOorHIa8CI9o8YHT1FByj_X9p4_7PD3xsBI-DrZnCjsWfMqCvmv_e
https://www.theinertia.com/author/ian-battrick/
So funny how he has videos exploiting the spot for capital gain, but young kids can compete in a basically amateur sporting event ,, Obviously it’s easy to hat on young sponsored groms as they can be annoying,, but my son wants to be a pro basketball player,, let’s just letr them dream until reality sets in,,,,
I’ve been to Thurso a few times. Mostly got skunked.
Beautiful part of the world.
So that Ian Batty boy just sleeps there in his camper van? Cant the locals just push over it over a cliff with that shit cunt in it?
He’s fairly integrated. Like a cult of personality without the personality.
Atypical of surf culture worldwide, right? Surfing well is carte blanche to act like a dickhead.
Yeh its an interesting subject and as someone who lives on the Old/NSW border where the standard of surfing is the best I have seen from my travels around the globe I see it from both sides.
Not in anyway trying to be a Billy Big Balls but I have some mates who surf incredibly well, eg one made it to the CT and one grew up in Snapper Boardriders and repped them at teams events until family life made it impossible
They are a joy to share a line up with, they’re mellow, will wait their turn, chat to others and so on. Then I have other mates who are nowhere near their level and I don’t even want to surf with them even if there is nobody out haha.
I really believe line ups bring out peoples true personalities although the huge influx of aggro gumby cunts has soured it for all of us. This Ian Battrick fuckwit just stinks to me of an average surfer in a very small pond who has developed a huge ego from somehow earning a meagre living from surfing cuz of the low standard where he surfs. He wouldn’t get a sniff at our local reef where you have to spend some time and show some respect to even get near the take off spot on a decent day
This is also true: if you’re good enough, like really, really good, there’s no need to be a cunt anymore. It’s the high-middle tier, as you say.
I just think there is no need to be a cunt no matter what level you’re on but the problem these days is fuckwits think they’re on a level way above where they’re actual talent puts them haha.
The ironic thing is shit cunts have people filming them and they still cant see how bad they are and I have never really gotten my head around that haha
These things wont be a problem once sharia law kicks in
Only in Scotland can you go to surfing event and a soccer game breaks out. Granted, I’m sure Ronnie G would prefer a soccer game over his fate in HB
Never forget. INRI
50 yr old NEDS. The MAGAS of Scotland.