A solid 4-6ft easterly groundswell greeted competitors for Event 2 of the 2008 season. The decision was made to hold the comp in the bowl at Southend and a clean offshore conditions provided the crowd on the beach there was some outstanding surfing in the early rounds by the youngies and some of the older guys. This write up wouldn't be complete if I didn't praise all the Open women competitors. Every one of them charged the big conditions and put many of the guys who wouldn't paddle out to shame. Go girls.
In the Open Mens early standouts included Nathan Chorley, Adam Seminara, Karl Richards, Luke Fletcher, Shatz and Adam Lawrence - who pulled into a smoker and after got spat out into the channel 40m down the line. But without doubt the wave of the day went to Jason Platts who pulled into a massive double up backdoor barrel and got spat out then went to town with a series of re's and cutties and finishing up on the shoreline towards south middle of the beach. Even had Surfing NSW CEO Winny said it would have been a 10 point ride in any ASP event. Boothy killed it in the Semi's taking out last comp winner and long time mate and rival Plattsy. Come finals time the wind had swung onshore testing all competitors. In an action packed final Adam Semo got a great walling left early and pulled off a series of moves to give him an early commanding lead early. Karl got a nice one 1st up but snapped his leggie after being caught inside a beast of a set. Nathan and Matt O had good scoring waves 1st. Abt halfway through the heat Matt O nearly popping his shoulder . Boothy couldn't buy a wave out there and spent most of the time paddling against the rip. His epic semi must have taken it's toll. With about 7 to go it was young Luke Fletcher who had the lead but a nice right appeared and it was Adam Semo who was there to rip 2 big cutties and finish it off with a massive smooth reverse on the inside. 7.5s all around for the wave. The ensuing 5 minutes was bedlam. Guys catching waves left right and centre. The siren sounded much to the relief of the judges and it was young Semo who took the cash over Karl Richards closely followed by Matt O
1/ Adam Seminara 2/ Karl Richards 3/ Matt O 4/ Luke Fletcher 5/ Luke Chorley 6/ Boothy
As I mentioned in my opening the Opens Girls charged. Lisa, Vanessa, Jenni Lee and Leanne all caught some nice big waves to progress through to the final. Vanessa R got off to a great start as did Leanne. Unfortunately for Leanne she copped a big one on the head which halted her momentum. Vanessa got another good one to hold a commanding lead with 5 to go. Jenni got a few late in the heat but it wasn’t enough and Vanessa took out her 2nd comp in a row and now her odds of taking the title have shortened from 6/1 to 3/1.
1/ Vanessa Richards 2/ Jenni Lee 3/ Leanne Bonello
By the time the GM's final hit the water it was onshore blown out and sloppy. Koolis and Andrew " The competitor" Williams started off the heat with good scoring waves. Unfortunately both got caught inside for the next 5-6 minutes but hound and Ian couldn't take advantage of the situation as it seemed every wave that came through closed out. Hound took off on a 6ft bomb and just as he got to the bottom it shut down and gave him a flogging. Koolis was still on the inside 10 minutes after his wave and looked in trouble meanwhile Andrew somehow squeezed through and was in the spot to get the wave of the final. It was enough to hand the competitor his 1st victory for 2008.
1/ Andrew Williams 2/ Brad Koolis 3/ Ian McLoughlin 4/ Pete Hound Hollington
The final of the newly formed Snr mends division Epic Steph was up against Todd Jacko, Dave Lowlett and Big Tony Johnston. The big homo Epic Steph did a hound and paddled out 30 minutes early to get comfortable with the conditions. Todd was on fire early and midway through the final he held a commanding lead. He must have been thinking that his pre season training regime with Andrew Williams was finally paying off. Meanwhile Tony paddled out late and the 1st thing he did was drop in on Epic Steph on a bomb. Dave Lowlett caught a nice wave with 5 to go but it was Todd who still had a comfortable lead. With about 2 to go another good set appeared and Todd got caught out floundering on the inside and Epic and Dave had one last chance to take the Final. Dave's wave closed out but Epic chose the one that gave him a good score but was it enough. In a countback it was Epic by 0.5. He was so stoked he'd finally won a comp after all these yrs trying he went to the pub and celebrated by downing 30 schooners that night and fell asleep in someone’s garden on the way home and got woken up at 6.30am when the neighbourhood dog mistook him for a tree stump and peed all over him. Nice work Steph.
1/ Epic Steph 2/ Todd Jackson 3/ Dave Lowlett 4/ Tony Johnston
Junior Boys Jack Mcloughlin caught a cracker of a wave to get the 20 min final underway. Sean McG was also in the right spot as the sets started coming through and caught a screamer to the highest score of the heat. Midway through Pat Jacobs picked off a nice one and it was neck and neck between Sean and Patrick. With 5 to Scott Barry who was having a quiet heat up until that point got a nice left that allowed him to rip out 2 nice re's and within striking distance of the leaders. Another set poured through and it was Sean who was on the spot to pick off a nice clean wave and rip the hell out it. It was it enough. Patrick was on the next wave but couldn't get around the section and Scott had a chance as a nice wave peaked up. He swung around late got to his feet and snapped 1 clean backhand re and finished off with a nice floater on the inside. Unfortunately he fell just short by 1.0 and Sean McGreevey took out the Junior final. Well done champ.
1/ Sean McGreevey 2/ Patrick Jacobs 3/ Scott Barry 4/ Jack McLoughlin 5/ Jacob Perez 6/ Alec McLoughlin
The Cadets had a ball on the left on the inside of the bowl. Rory McGovern, Dan Coote, Hank Hartley and Jacskon Giles made it through to the Final after
Rory started the heat with a top ride as did Dan. Hank caught a few quick ones to temporarily take the lead until Rory got another top wave and with a few minutes left to go to the lead. Dan and Jackson caught a few waves in the last few minutes but unfortunately the scores were not enough to beat Rory. Congrats to Rory. 1st win in the cadets division and is really impressing all with his surfing
1/ Rory McGovern 2/ Dan Coote 3/ Hank Hartley 4/ Jacskon Giles
After an hour long coaching session with our major sponsors LGS the Micro Boys and girls divisions were ready for their finals.
In the boys Tye Koolis started well opening up a nice lead but Maxy Mc came back catching a nice wave all the way to shore. max was pumped and paddled straight back out there and caught another one exactly like his 1st and opened up a nice lead. Chris Riley charged home late catching 2 great waves but he just came up short and it was Max who took out the final. Well done Maxy.
1/ Max McGuigan 2/ Chris Riley 3/ Tye Koolis
In the girls it was a close final between Tayla and little Meg Woods. Both caught some great waves and but Tayla's 2nd last one was a beauty and she rode it through the shorey all the way to the sand. Meg caught a big wave right on the siren but unfortunately it didn't link up to give her the points and so Tayla came out on top by 1.5points.
1/ Tayla Buchan 2/ Meg Woods
A special thanks to our sponsors LGS ( Brenda and Nigel) for coming and helping the little ones out. The kids were wrapped and went away with the biggest smiles. Anyone interested in lessons click on the LGS logo at the bottom of the home page and check out the lessons and classes available to all standards.
Also thanks to Hugh Village Butchery for providing the great sausos for breaky and lunch + thanks to Paul from Samurai for the prize pack for our finalists at the end of the day.
Well done to all competitors who paddled out and took on the large swell. Congrats to all the winners and a huge thanks to everyone that helped through the day. See you all at our next comp on the 31st May