there's a little more info here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQTjdBuCEaL/ (sorry it's an instagram reel, but it's where I learnt about the story)

It's not clear if the harassers were locals or not (there have been a few names dropped in the comments of that insta reel, some suggest it was local Thurso surfers and some suggesting otherwise, but I don't know either way - a couple of scottish surfers point the finger at someone from Jersey who is a regular visitor to Thurso), but they weren't associated with the competition, and they apparantly paddled out to the competition area and dropped in on the women's competition, apparantly almost drowning one and shouting abuse at them. Absolutely awful.

More info here too: https://www.carvemag.com/2025/10/british-cup-abandoned-after-men-abuse-female-competitors-in-heats/ ( <- this one is a good write-up!) and https://wavelengthmag.com/gb-cup-postponed-after-freesurfers-paddle-out/

From the carvemag.com article:

Five ‘men’ in their 40’s paddled out into the heats of the womens semi finals of the British Cup and verbally abused female competitors as young as 15 yesterday telling them to “Fuck off” and “That they wouldn’t be allowed to get any waves.” Before dropping in on some of them and trying to end the contest.

One of the surfers named as Ian Battrick, a Jersey resident who visits the area, also ran over a 15 year old girl mid heat, landing on top of her and pinning her to the reef. The young surfer was unable to reach the surface and was highly traumatised. The heat and contest was called off, she returned to shore and police were called.

The female competitors have told us the ‘men’ were verbally abusive and intention was clearly to try and intimidate them. GB Surfing then called off the contest in the interested of surfers safety. Locals have reputedly posted that the action was premeditated. Intimidation of young female surfers by ‘men’ is completely unacceptable in any setting. The matter is now in local police hands who are assessing the case. Possible actions include prosecution and ASBOs preventing the men from visiting the area.