Roger Cox: Surfing's reality PC show won't bring X Factor riches, but it promises the winner a swell time

Published on Sunday 20 December 2009 11:44

It's been a funny year," muses Fraserburgh surfer George Watt. That's one way of putting it. By rights, the dizzying series of ups and downs the 22 year-old has experienced over the last 12 months should have reduced him to a gibbering wreck. He has been laid low by heatstroke, suffered innumerable travel disasters and crashed out of a string of surf contests due to bad luck or bad strategy or both.

The emotional rollercoaster started gathering momentum in April, at the Scottish Surfing Championships at Melvich. Watt appeared to cruise almost effortlessly into the final, impressing the judges with his flowing, skate-inspired style, only to be beaten into second place by Mark Cameron. At the time, it looked as if only the winner of that contest would get to compete against the pros at the O'Neill Coldwater Classic at Thurso – the highlight of the Scottish surfing calendar. But then, just as the Classic was about to begin, the event organisers decided they would accept wildcard entries from the top two surfers in Scotland, giving both Watt and Cameron a chance.

Watt was drawn against American Matt Mohagen, France's Gordon Fontaine and Basque surfer Haritz Mendiluce – a tricky mix, sure, but certainly no group of death. As soon as the hooter sounded for the start of the heat, however, King Neptune decided to turn off the wave machine, or at least turn the dial to "sporadic". Only a handful of contestable waves rumbled across the reef at Brims Ness in the allotted time, and the pros – blackbelts in the sharp-elbowed art of jockeying for position – snapped them up, leaving Watt out in the cold.

Never mind: in July he was off to Sri Lanka for the Champion of Champions Surf Contest at Arugam Bay – an event hosted by the UK Pro Surf Tour at an almost cartoonishly perfect pointbreak on the island's east coast. Only trouble was, Watt developed a nasty case of heatstroke on day one. He somehow managed to stagger through the first round, but in the second he became paralysed by what can only be described as surfer's block.

"I got a seven point something (out of ten] right at the start and then I sat and waited for the whole heat and didn't get another wave," he says. "I only needed a three or a four to get through, but I just sat and waited. I think it must've been because it was so hot. Yeah, I'm gonna blame the heat melting my brain or something. I was just frozen in the same position, waiting for a wave that never came."

Back in the UK, Watt surfed UK Pro Tour events in Newcastle, Wales and Newquay, with mixed success, suffered death by a thousand cuts at the hands of the British public transport system, picked up his Best Scottish Surfer gong, acquired some much-needed sponsors (Circle One wetsuits and Luke Young surfboards) and then made what may yet turn out to be his smartest decision of 2009 by entering himself for the MVP You Decide video project, sponsored by UK surf mag Wavelength.

The format is simple: aspiring UK surfers post a short video of themselves surfing on the MVP website (MVP stands for Most Valuable Player), then wait for the surfing public to vote on which ones they like best. On Boxing Day, the ten surfers with the most votes will be selected to star in the forthcoming MVP film, which will entail travelling to a number of premier surf locations around the world, all expenses paid.

At time of going to press, Watt is sitting pretty in second place in the MVP rankings, but he isn't leaving anything to chance.

"I'm going to have a big party at my house before the deadline," he says, "and the rule is you can't come in unless you vote. I'm going to invite the whole town."

The MVP locations are still a mystery, but the winners could be sent anywhere: Hawaii, Tahiti, Australia... Watt, though, is probably the only surfer in the top ten hoping for more northerly locales.

"I'd like some of it to be shot in cold places," he says. "I love surfing in a wetsuit – I guess I'm just used to it. I'm actually hoping to go to Iceland next year, whatever happens with the MVP thing. That should be good – surfing with icebergs in the line-up."

There's still time to vote for George Watt at www.mvpyoudecide.com/

This article was first published in The Scotsman on December 19