We have newspaper cuttings that shows that organised beach volleyball was taking place on the beaches of Devon & Cornwall in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. It would have been to indoor rules, 6 A-Side (and like beach today, the block counted as a touch).
As for an organised beach volleyball competition, with beach rules as we know them today, Weymouth appears to have been the first and you can read about the history and the development of the Weymouth event on the VE web site.
From the VE Web site
“From humble beginnings, where players wore their indoor kits, to hosting Olympians and meeting the Queen, it’s been quite some journey for founders of the Weymouth Grand Slam beach event, Graeme Sawyer and Pete Bennett.
Starting out as a game played between friends and then as summer entertainment for some of the country’s National League teams, it evolved to become the UK’s first recognised beach volleyball tournament and is still renowned as one of the best.”
Full item at: https://volleyballengland.org/article/1111/weymouth-grand-slam-founders-to-take-step-back-after-creating-a-host-of-memories
