Prime surfing event scheduled for Scotland
The world's top surfers are eyeing the frigid waters of northern Scotland, lured by 20-foot waves and a large prize.
The O'Neill Highland Open competition, scheduled for April 24 to May 1 in Thurso, has an almost $120,000 prize. In its second year, the event has been listed as one of five "prime" surfing competitions worldwide this year, The Scotsman reports.
"The UK will see the world's best talent competing on British surf," a spokeswoman for O'Neill, the surfing company sponsoring the event, said. "For many competitors it will be the coldest climate in which they have ever surfed, and the contrast of tanned Brazilian, Hawaiian and Australian surfers against the backdrop of fields of sheep and traditional Scottish castles will provide a unique event."
Thurso has a combination of reefs and weather that can kick up big waves, including the tube or barrel waves surfers covet. One surfing guide describes the area as "amazingly uncrowded," possibly because the water temperature is about half that in Waimea Bay.
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