Surphang magazine (front cover), photo by Stuart Gaston

                                                               magazine out 21/4/2012

Wavelength magazine (bottom left), photo by Stuart Gaston

Lesionado/Injured...Broken/Torn meniscus...Rotura de meniscus lateral.

After seeing the specialist on Friday he told me i had broken/torn my meniscus and that i would need an opetation to repair it, so im having it next Friday then if all goes to plan ill have to rest for 6 weeks and then start rehab, so not good news and im going to miss the first Pro Junior event in Gran Canaria but just hoping the operation goes well, thanks for all the get well soons from everyone!

knee ligaments/Ligamentos de rodilla

electronic scan/Resonancia de mi rodilla

Me for a few months /Yo para una par de meses =/

Tenerife (2012), photos by Stuart Gaston

Watch out for some more shots from these sessions coming up in some mags =)

lewis leadbetter and ivan monagas injured...

Me and ivan monagas both injured the same knee trying to go big on the air reverses...and did pritty much the same injury twisted knee and ligaments, been training really hard with my new sponsor 'Chancla' and its anoying ive got to stay out the water for a while, but hopefully ill be back training for the start of the European pro juniors soon, hope we both get back in the water soon!

A week in Tenerife by Stuart Gaston

Saturday, 18 February 2012

Lewis Leadbetter flies at La Fitenia

When winter begins to take its toll, there's only one thing to do... travel! So a week away somewhere hot and sunny with solid surf on hand as well seemed in order. It was definitely time to check out Tenerife where up coming pro junior surfer Lewis Leadbetter has lived for the past ten years. Having worked with the talented regular footer on five trips last year where he demonstrated his skills at the notorious reef break of La Santa in Lanzarote to the infamous beach break of Supertubes in Portugal, the trip was filled with a mix of expectation and anticipation having seen some amazing local shots of pumping surf from just the week before and knowing that the lad from Las Americas is now aiming sky high with some confident aerial antics. It was destined to be the trip to get Twenty Twelve off to a great start.

At least it would have been had there been a little more co-operation from the mighty Atlantic! At best, this often awesome ocean, which also seemed to have packed its bags and headed elsewhere for the week, simply sent in a few meagre swells. Indeed, the entire surf community of Las Americas were joking that they were forced to surf their summer swell break of La Fitenia at the height of what is normally the winter swell season. Still this didn't phase Lewis one bit. The waves on offer may not have been the heaving barrels that he loved so much a year ago in Lanzarote but nonetheless, he simply headed out with a different game plan in mind - to nail as many air reverses as possible. And a year ago this would have been quite a challenge but what a difference a year makes. A year of studying the styles and techniques of his favourite surfers, of training every day in and out of the water and of travelling around Europe, Costa Rica and Indonesia. This was one eighteen year old who's dedication to the sport he loves was paying off. Lewis was now literally flying before the lens every session and landing his air reverses with a style well beyond his years, a style quite obviously influenced by the current king of the airs, Gabriel Medina. So although the waves may have been only mediochre, the surfing was anything but as this, one of the many sikk shots Lewis scored over the five days, goes to prove. Certainly a great few days away from cold, small onshore surf back in another British winter.