Blind surfer wins silver in world championships

Melissa Reid won a silver medal in the visually impaired surfing category

A blind surfer from Cornwall has won a silver medal at the World Para Surfing Championships.

Melissa Reid, from Porthtowan, was one of three women who won medals for Team England in the ISA World Para Surfing Championships at Oceanside Pier, California in the USA, on 7 November.

Zoe Smith, from Bournemouth, won silver in the para surfing stand 2 category and Hannah Dines, who is based in Manchester and Glasgow, won copper in the para surfing prone 2 event.

During the visually impaired 2 division final Ms Reid took on a 10ft (3m) wave. She said she was "pretty grateful I was blind and couldn't see how big it was as I'm not sure I'd have gone for it if I'd seen it".

Ms Reid said she was "super-pleased" to have come second

Ms Reid, a three-times world champion, said team manager Phil Williams had been her eyes in the water for the first time.

"I know what I like, so I told him what kind of wave and what directions I wanted, then he'd give me verbal cues like 'this wave's going to do this, do you want it?'"

She said she was "super-pleased" to have come second against Aleli Medina from Puerto Rico who she said was "one of the best surfers in the world".

"I've been surfing better that I've ever surfed and all I wanted to do was showcase what I could do as a blind female surfer from Cornwall," Ms Reid added.

Team England were ranked seventh overall in the world championships in which 24 countries were represented by about 135 athletes.