Third successive Scottish men’s title is ‘super-special’ for McLachlan
Surfing champion Craig McLachlan is looking ahead to international competitions in Portugal and possibly as far afield as Central America later in 2025 after retaining his Scottish title at the weekend.
The 19-year-old won the open men’s section of the Scottish National Surfing Championships for a third successive year, and for the fourth time in all, in ideal conditions at Thurso East.
Having again reigned supreme at his home venue, McLachlan is set to be part of the Scotland team for Eurosurf at Santa Cruz, Portugal, from July 18-25, and potentially in the ISA World Surfing Games in El Salvador from September 5-14.
McLachlan, from Murkle, was one of a trio of Thurso-based North Shore Surf Club (NSSC) members to lift titles across four categories in the 50th Scottish national championships held on Friday and Saturday.
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His closest challenger was clubmate Mark Boyd, a previous open men’s champion and masters winner.
“I was super-happy,” McLachlan said. “The waves were really fun for the entire event, and especially for the final.
“It always means a little bit more to win when the waves are good and I always love competing at home. It was super-special for me.
“The final was quite close. Boydy got a few good waves but I was still quite confident. My surfing felt good and I was happy with my performance.
“Friday started off a little bit small but it ended up pulsing and there were some really fun waves in the middle of the day. Saturday was always scheduled to be the best day.
“For a competition, you definitely can’t complain when the waves are like that.
“That’s me qualified for the [Scotland] team now. This year we’ll have the Euros, which will be in Portugal in the summer, and then if we send a team I should hopefully be going to the world championships which will be in El Salvador a little bit later in the year.
“That would be lovely and warm, so hopefully we’ll end up out there.”
McLachlan captained the Scottish squad at the World Junior Surfing Championships in Brazil at the end of 2023.
NSSC’s Phoebe Strachan won the open women’s title for the fifth time in a row and the sixth time in all at the weekend and McLachlan was impressed with the overall standard.
“Phoebe was surfing really well,” he said. “Even the other girls there, they’re all pushing the boundaries of women’s Scottish surfing, that’s for sure.”
McLachlan, who turns 20 in September, now works at Lost Shore surf resort near Edinburgh, giving instruction to surfers who are at beginner and intermediate level. “It’s good fun, it’s a cool place to work,” he said.
The other NSSC winner in the national championships was Dylan Fogarty-Macdonald in the masters, for age 40 and over.
Ali Matheson (Lossiemouth) won the grand masters for the 50-plus age group.
Dounreay was the main sponsor of the championships.