The hot sands of Josiahs Bay hosted hundreds of beachgoers Saturday for the first Josiahs Bay Surf Classic of 2025, which saw surfers young and old face off on the waves.
The day began with waves so small that organisers rearranged the contests’ heats to give younger surfers more time in the water.
“A lot of these kids have been coming down quite a bit, so they could handle themselves on the bigger waves: They maybe would’ve even preferred it,” organiser Steve Howes told the Beacon. “But they did make the most of the little waves, and it made it a lot easier for us to sort of manage.”
By the time the older surfers began to compete later in the day, the waves had picked up, and they delivered enough power to allow the more experienced competitors to perform snaps and cutbacks.
“It was like we had a wave machine at our fingertips,” said Mr. Howes, who runs Surf School BVI in the bay. “We just were just adjusting it to the divisions that went in the water.”
The wave forecast in the days leading up to Saturday’s contest threw the event’s success into doubt, Mr. Howes said, but he ultimately decided to proceed.
“We were gonna roll whether there were waves or not,” he said.
As Saturday progressed, however, the outlook began to turn favourably.
“I honestly didn’t expect it to get as good as it did,” Mr. Howes said.
Baking in the sun
Tiara Jones took first place in the women’s division, apparently impressing the judges with her fancy footwork and overall control on the water.
Under the power of the spring sun, however, Ms. Jones came away with more than another win to her name.
“It was very hot — I’m extremely sunburnt,” she said Monday. “No amount of sunscreen helped.”
But Ms. Jones told the Beacon that Saturday’s contest was well worth the aftercare.
“It was a pretty fun day,” she said. “I got to surf with my friends, and we all made it to the finals, which was fun.”
Art and surfing
Also featured at Saturday’s event were nine used surfboards painted or otherwise decorated by artists from around the VI. Donated by Mr. Howes, the surfboards were on display below the judge’s box throughout the day.
Sophie Stanton, who came up with the idea to give VI artists the boards, told the Beacon that they sold for up to $800 and brought a total $3,200 at auction.
“[Mr. Howes] was super supportive of the idea and just let me run with it, which was great,” said Ms. Stanton, the founder of the non-profit arts organisation Creative Waves. “So I put out a little submission form to invite artists to come forward with their ideas of what they wanted to do for their boards.”
Originally, five boards were planned, Ms. Stanton said, but enough artists showed interest to convince Mr. Howes to donate four more.
“It’s very hard to buy canvases here. It’s very hard to find anything to paint on,” Ms. Stanton said. “So when [artists] were given the board as a canvas, they were all really, really happy, and they all went to town.”
The actual auction, Ms. Stanton said, took place online in the week leading up to Saturday.
“It was really fun to do, and I hope that we might do it again next year,” she added.
The $3,200 raised Saturday will be split between Mr. Howes’ surf school and the artists themselves, according to Ms. Stanton.
