A cool autumn morning greeted the crew for comp 1 of the 2008 season. The call was made to surf the right down at south middle. It was 2ft with occasional bigger set rolling and if the competitors got the right ones they ran through for 50 metres or so enabling them to string together 3-4 moves on a wave. The set up on the beach these days is unbelievable. Big trailer to move the gear, big tents, tunes pumping through the clubs new PA system from the word go, auto timing system, laptops, BBQ cranking. All in all it provided a great vibe on the beach from the start to finish. And to top it all off a record number (past 10 years anyway) of competitors rolled up for the comp. Even Kelly Slater was spotted enjoying the atmosphere Bacon & egg roll in hand whilst passing on tips to who ever wanted to listen. Con Parris chewed his ear off re board selection for at least a half hour.

 Micro Groms

The Micro Boys and girls competed up the beach a little from the main contest bank and they ripped. All the boys and girls caught great waves and had a ball. Once the comp was done Tye Koolis just pipped Max McGuigan in the Boys and in the Girls Meg Woods overcame a late challenge from Chloe Buchan and Kirra Lowlett Richards to win comp 1. Well done to all the kids who competed. Going off what I saw in comp 1 the micros divisions will be tightly contested events all year.

1 Tye Koolis                               1 Meg Woods

2 Max McGuigan                        2 Chloe Buchan

3 Will Johnston                        3 Kirra Lowlett Richards

4 Chris Riley                              4 Tayla Buchan

5 Brodie Hampson                    5 Kade Riley

Junior Girls

The Junior Girls Final was a nail biter. Mia Wearne got off to a great start with catching a great wave from outside take off spot all the way through to the shorey. She paddled straight back out and caught another wave as good as her 1st. Sam and Hayley fought back also catching nice waves from out the back but unfortunately they couldn’t get the ones that they could ride all the way through. Congratulations to Mia and well done to the other girls. Conditions were very tough but you showed good form and caught some really good waves.

1 Mia Wearne

2 Hayley Frasa

3 Sam Squadrito

Cadet Boys

24 very keen cadets turned up pumped ready to compete and sure enough the groms didn’t let any wave that came through in their heat go unridden. Some great rides went down in the early heats with Mitch Kennedy, Alex Gorge, Hank Hartley and Rory McGovern leading the way. After 2 tight semis Jackson Giles, Rory McGovern, Mitch & Nick Kennedy, Jarrod Sorely and Hank Hartley went through to the final. The final was as hectic and close as the semis. Mitch and Hank caught a nice wave each to get off the mark. Jarrod, Jackson and Nick broke away from the pack and scored some nice rides on the inside and with 5 minutes to go it was still anybody’s final. With 3 to go Rory took the lead after catching a top wave which he rode from the outside all the way through. A set loomed and Hank was on hand to catch the wave of the final ripping it to the beach and with that wave he took out the Final. Well done it was his 1st ever comp win in his 1st ever comp with the club.

1 Hank Hartley

2 Rory McGovern

3 Mitch Kennedy

4 Jarrod Sorley

5 Jackson Giles

6 Nick Kennedy

Junior Boys

The junior boys got the attention of the crowd on the beach with some great surfing. The boys ripped the waves apart with some old school style and new school moves. Jake Nurmi, Callan Vella, Sam Barron and Jordan Perez stood out in the semis with some solid rides. Come the final the onshore had kicked in and the rip was running out at 100kms an hour but it didn’t deter the boys. Jake, Scott Barry and Judd Atkins got off to flyers with some nice turns impressing the judges. Callan and Jordan’s unfortunately couldn’t find the waves they needed in Final and Scott and Judd couldn’t find a 2nd solid scoring wave. Sam Barron had caught 2 good scoring waves and held a small lead going into the final 5 min of the heat. Jake then managed to jag another good one which ran through and gave him the lead with minutes remaining. Unfortunately for the other guys the ocean went flat for the next few minutes and it gave Jake his 1st ever comp win in the Junior Boys division. Well done mate.

1 Jake Nurmi

2 Sam Barron

3 Scott Barry

4 Judd Atkins

5 Callan Vella

6 Jordan Perez

Open Womens

There was some great surfing in the rounds of the Open Women’s division with Lisa Brodie, Leanne Bonnelo and Vanessa leading the charge. The final was very tight with only 1.5 separating 1st to 3rd. Vanessa got off to a flyer locking away 2 - 5 points rides in the first few min. Some nice sets rolled through and Jenni Lee and Leanne managed to score a 5 and 4 respectively to peg back her lead. Unfortunately time ran out for the 2 and Vanessa took out the Final.

1 Vanessa Richards

2 Jenni Lee

3 Leanne Bonnelo

GM

The GM division has undergone a major change this season with the return of Frog, Roy Buchan, Mick O Brien and the Hound. Add seasoned campaigners like Tommy North Koolis, Andrew W and Todd Jacko into the mix and the GM division has a new lease of life. Some good surfing went down early on with Andrew W, Roy and Frog showing good form. At the end of the day the finalists were Frog, Tom, Millhouse and Jackson. Before the final "Millhouse" Koolis was doing his darnest to influence the judges before the final. Not only talking shite spitting out lines like back in the 80’s I had the best style on the beach and I was heaps better than this guy and that guy and I shoulda won the Opens between 77-84 but was rorted cause I was an ethnic, he was trying to bring back the 80’s judging criteria of length of ride. Is this guy kidding or what!! Back to the final and midway through everyone had a good scoring wave but needed another to good one to close it out. Koolis sniveled a pretty good one with about 7 to go and jumped to the lead but Tom North sat patiently and picked off a great wave right at the end (a 6.0). He was able to hang onto the lead for the last 3 minutes to take out GM event #1.

1 Tom North

2 Brad Koolis

3 Todd Jackson

4 Frog

Open Men’s

A record 42 competitors have signed up to compete in the Open Mens Division this year. Jim Beam continue to sponsors the Open Mens Division with our champ having the opportunity to compete in the Jim Beam Boardriders Final with all other club champs from around OZ.

This year has seen the return of some old head. 3 x Open champ Jason Platts, Boothy, Owen Goggins, Shatzy and the evergreen 2 x Open Champ Con "Slater" Parris. Also Josh Ku, Dan McN, Blake G and Karl Richards have stepped up and will battle it out with the big boys LK, Adam Semo, Luke Fletcher, Wez, Hke, Rich and Matt O and our new mate from Brazil Gustavo. Due to sheer volume we had to surf 6 man heats otherwise we would have not been able to finish the comp in 1 day. The level of surfing through the day was unbelievable and in my humble opinion the guy who takes out this years title will have to earn it the hard way. Matt O’s backside attack was BS Karl’s smooth style stood out and Platts was just ripping, Yak pulling new school airs like he was a grom, Gustavo and Epic Luke Fletcher also caught some screamers in their heats. Somehow Boothy who misjudged the timing of his 1st hit the water with 10 min remaining in his heat pulled a rabbit out of the hat and ended up advancing after catching 5 waves in that time. Come the end of the day it was down to Platts, Karl, Matt O Booth, Con Slater and Luke Fletcher to fight it out for the Open title.

The final kicked off with a bang with Karl and Matt O and Booth all catching great waves from right out the back of the peak right through the inside bowl and right into the shorey. Matt caught another and went to town with a heavy backhand attack and held the lead midway through the final. Platts eventually got off the mark with the wave of the heat. Some nice flowing turns out the back followed by 2 nice hacks in the bowl and a nice floater to finish it off. It look like Con had peaked too early and even a board change midway through didn’t change his luck. He couldn’t buy a wave. Likewise Luke Fletcher who was on fire in his prior 2 heats just couldn’t find the waves to give him the scores. Booth hit back ripping 2 big cutties to draw level with Matt but it was the old hand Platts who sat patiently and picked off another screamer of a wave which he went to town on scoring a 6.5. With minutes remaining young Karl had his chance but fell just short and Matt O had one last chance on the buzzer but the wave fizzed out which handed Plattsy the win in his return from semi retirement.

1 Jason Platts

2 Karl Melo Richards

3 Matt O’Reilly

4 Shane Booth

5 Con Parris

6 Luke Fletcher

Thanks to Paul from Samurai the Gorilla Grip prize packs and thanks to the Village Butchery for the Bacon and egg + sausos which everyone enjoyed.

Finally thanks to everyone for turning up. It was a very long day and I’d like to thank all of those people who helped out during the day. Whether it was judging, helping on the BBQ, water patrol for the micro groms, helping set and pack the you’re your contribution helped make it the best comp day I’ve ever had a t the club.

Finally I’d like to congratulate Brad Koolis for taking out the gold medal for talking most shite in a day. It was tough to pick a winner as there were a few great contenders down there on the day. Addsy, Pete Sg, Hke, Con Slater and Hound but at the end of the day Koolis story on how he was better than Larry Blair, Davo, Blackie Wilson and Brownie won hands down

Blow up of the day. Addsy again. Blew up after bowing out in round 1.