Just like Hawaii

More often than not, surfing competitions are held at spots that don't really favour spectators. When the tide goes out at flat beaches like the one at Lacanau in France it can be impossible to see what's going on above the heads of the other people watching; scary reef passes such as Teahupoo in Fiji look incredible if you're lucky enough to be sitting in one of the boats in the channel, but you can forget about trying to see any of the action from the beach.

Brims Ness, however, which played host to the final rounds of the O'Neill Highland Open earlier this month, is as observer-friendly a surf spot as you could wish for. Situated on Caithness's rugged north coast, just to the west of Thurso, it consists of a huge rocky slab jutting out into the treacherous waters of the Pentland Firth. Access isn't too tricky - you simply turn off the A835 and drive through a farmyard to get there.

What really makes Brims a great place to watch surfing, though, is the shape of the reef itself. Because it shelves so abruptly, fast, hollow waves break only a few yards from dry land. Standing right at the water's edge, at times it feels as if you could reach out and high-five the surfers as they fly past.

The Highland Open, which ran from 25 April to 2 May, was a big deal for various reasons. For a start, the contest was the most northerly in the history of professional surfing, and easily the coldest. It was also rated a 5-star event on the World Qualifying Series (WQS) - the competition that feeds directly into surfing's lucrative World Championship Tour (WCT), in which the best 45 surfers in the world battle it out for serious prize money at some of the most perfect surfing locales on Earth. Any surfer looking to make the grade for next year's WCT had no choice but to don an extra-thick wetsuit and go after the Highland Open's 12,000 (6,500)/2,000 point first prize.

The early rounds of the contest were held at the fabled reef break at Thurso East - another world-class surf spot nearby. Most of the British surfers were knocked out early, including local hero Chris Noble, arguably the greatest barrel-rider Scotland has ever produced. By the time the quarter finals rolled around, Newquay's Russell Winter was the only Brit still in with a shout, after taking down the Brazilian WCT veteran Neco Padaratz in the fifth round.

The contest had to be put on hold for a couple of days due to lack of swell, but on the whole the waves co-operated, and surfers from all over the world were impressed. Australian Kieren Perrow praised the "amazing barrels" at Brims, while Hawaii's Love Hodel described the surf as "just like back home".

For the finals, Neptune really did the contest organisers proud, hurling solid overhead waves at Brims and sculpting them into snaking, smoking barrels with brisk offshore winds. In pro surfing contests, surfers can ride up to ten waves but are only scored on their best two rides, so the emphasis is on taking risks. The last eight didn't disappoint, pulling into tube after tube over the shallow reef.

In the quarters, Winter bested Perrow, while on the other side of the draw Brazil's Bernardo Miranda upset the big-name American, Ben Bourgeois. Winter then won an incredibly close heat against Australia's Luke Munro to make the final, where he met Miranda, who had disposed of the promising young Basque surfer Aritz Aranburu in the other semi.

Winter started slowly, letting Miranda take two scoring waves before he even got one. He soon found his stride, though. After putting himself back in contention with a solid score of 7.83, he proceeded to pull into a gaping, stand-up barrel for a perfect 10 to all but kill off the heat. Miranda battled valiantly, but in the end Winter held on for a comfortable win.

And there's even better news for British surfing: according to Bernhard Ritzer, a spokesman for the Highland Pro, there's every chance that Brims and Thurso East will feature on the WQS tour in years to come.

"I think we'll be back. We've already been checking some more spots down the coast - there are so many - all reefs. In future we can maybe use some more of the opportunities we have up here," he says. sm

• For photos and video footage from this year's O'Neill Highland Open, visit www.oneilleurope.com/highlandopen