Lee Bartlett

Lee Bartlett was born in Truro 1970. Raised in Newquay he took up surfing with a bunch of mates at the age of 14. At 17 he entered his first contest, the "Cornish and Open" to which he finished 3rd in the under 18's.

In 1989 the 18 year old entered the English National Championships for the the first time. Lee won the Open event, in clean 3-4ft conditions. He is one of the youngest surfers to do this.

    Into the early 90's Lee was a growing force in the Uk contest scene, but lacked the winning know how. In 1994 Lee finished runner up in the British Open final held in Jersey, to his good friend and then English Champion Randall Davies. Randall was unstoppable from 92-94. He won everything there was to win. Randall was the English and British Open champ when he died from lymphatic cancer at the age of 23.

   Losing one of his best friends seemed to spark something in Lee that was to earn him 4 consecutive British Open Titles, which to this day has not been equaled.

In 1996 Lee spent 6 weeks in Hawaii under the watchful eye of master shaper Eric Arakawa, learning the art of shaping. On his return to the Uk he spent most of his time watching Nigel Semmens throw some foam in the "OM" factory. Over the next 6 years Lee would shape boards for HIC-Bilbo-Dynamite-Island Classic, as well as promo boards for Fosters-Guinness-Animal.

   Into the 2000's and Lee still competes at selective events. He say's "my sponsors are pretty cool, they dont demand that I do every event out there. They are pretty happy if I get the odd picture in the mags or DVD section, and that suits me. I just want to enjoy surfing without the hassle of getting results. Like they say, a happy surfer is a good surfer."
check out Lee's blog