| WERRI BEACH BOARDRIDERS CLUB |
| 18th Annual Werri Slash 22nd, 23rd & 24th April 2005 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Event Sponsors |
| In what was a fantastic weekend of waves, weather and surfing, it was the '3 B's', Bartlett Boys and Byron's '3peat' who stole the show in The 18th Annual Werri Autumn Slash. Not to be outdone, Jake Spooner returned to The Slash to once again etch his name in the Werri Slash Board of champions, whilst Sam Wrench made it back to back cadet titles and the 3rd Wrench title in a row following older brother Tim 3 years previous. Day 1 saw 1 ½ - 2mtr waves pounding Werri north end. The early morning high tide made the conditions difficult and wave selection critical but once the tide dropped plenty of long lefthanders poured through to enable the south coast's best surfers to put on a great display for the holiday crowd gathered. Round 1 of the cadet U/16 boys was first in the water and early standouts were Sam Wrench of Ulladulla, Scarborough's Jesse Allen and local boys Dean Bowen, Simon Fitzgibbons, Russ Epoff, Ross Wilson and Mitch Crews. The junior U/18 boys were next and as the tide ran out some fantastic fast and powerful surfing was layed down by Thirroul's Parrish Byrne, Woonona's Daniel Savill and Gerroa brothers Lloyd and Dean Bowen, neighbour Simon Fitzgibbons and local Tyson Henderson. Through to qtr finals of each division and giving notice that he won't give up his crown easily was Sam Wrench with Dean Bowen and Simon Fitzgibbons laying down some fine carves and tight snaps. In the junior boys Byron Bartlett exploded out in his heat to give notice of what was to come with Parrish Byrne looking for his 1st Slash title. Dean Bowen backed up from the cadets to come home and give Parrish and Byron some concern in the juniors.The semi finals were run and going through to Sunday's final in the cadets were Sam Wrench, Dean Bowen, Simon Fitzgibbon and Jesse Allen whilst it was Byron Bartlett, Parrish Byrne, Simon Fitzgibbon and Dean Bowen in the juniors. Day 2 and with a slightly smaller swell but the same clear weather the Open Mens and Senior Mens paddled out for their opening heats. The high tide once again made conditions tough as Ryan Bailey, Guy Bartlett, Steve McGregor, Dallas Peterson, Daniel Sargent, Michael Hopkins, Danial Marzcuk and Hayden Blair and Matt Knick came through as early heat winners. The senior mens were next and the dropping tide created some great waves for the likes of Dave Fitzgibbon, Darren Longbottom, Jeremy Smith, Matt Chemello and Jake Spooner. The waves continued to get better through the day and round 2 of the open mens saw Ryan Bailey, Parrish Byrne, Daniel Sargent, Michael Hopkins, Nathan Bartlett and Damian Pack win their heats and go through to Sunday's qtr finals. Senior men surfed their qtr finals with Dave Fitzgibbon, Jeremy Smith and Matt Chemello the standouts. Day 3 and with the swell and weather still the same, the event organisers were grinning broadly to see that the day's surfing will be top class. Open men qtr finals were out first and the dreaded early high tide made wave selection crucial. Ryan Bailey, Lloyd Bowen, Nathan Bartlett and Nick Squires each claimed 1st place to move into the semi finals with Ryan Doyle, Daniel Sargent, Michael Hopkins and Daniel Marzcuk. The Open Womens entered the event and it was current champ Yvonne Byron, Katherine Turk, Lisa Matuzelis and Sally Fitzgibbons posting solid opening wins. The senior mens semi finals were next and Dave Fitzgibbon and Matt Chemello scoring high to take their semis with Jeremy Smith and Jake Spooner into the final as well. The open womens entered the water for their semi finals and Yvonne Byron showed her class to win her place in the final with Lisa Matuzelis also putting on some great moves to progress to the final. Sally Fitzgibbons and Katherine Turk also advanced to the womens final. The excitement on the beach was building as the finals drew near but the open men had their semi finals first and it was Lloyd Bowen and Nathan Bartlett posting convincing wins to move into the final alongside Ryan Bailey with darkhorse Nick Squires progressing into his 1st Slash final. So it was into the finals and with a good crowd on the beach the cadet boys were out first. Simon Fitzgibbons opened early with a strong ride leaving the other finalists to play catch up. Sam Wrench's opening ride was good but his second wave gave him the lead. Sam's 4th wave was even better and gave him a big lead which gave Simon some work to do. Simon paddled into a great looking wave, carved and snapped his way down the line. It was a higher wave score than his first but in the end not enough as Sam Wrench claimed back-to-back titles. Dean Bowen was third and Jesse Allen 4th. The womens final was next and Yvonne opened strongly only for Sally Fitzgibbon to take the lead. Yvonne then showed her experience as she bettered her opening wave with her 6th wave and then shut the gate with an average 9.2 on her last wave. Yvonne's win gave her 3 womens crown in a row, matching the achievement of Sandie Dryden. Katherine Turk was 3rd with Lisa Matuzelis 4th. The junior boys were next with Byron Bartlett and Parrish Byrne opening the final with solid opening waves. Byron then took the lead with an 8.7 score. Meanwhile Simon Fitzgibbons was waiting for the right waves. Simon picked up a score of 6 and then bettered that with a 7.9. Not enough though but it made a thrilling final. Parrish finished 3rd with Dean Bowen 4th. The senior men began their final in quality waves on the low tide. Straight from the opening siren, it was clear who was in the groove. Jake opened with a strong score then blasted turn after turn on his 2nd wave to shut the other finalists out. Jake increased his lead on his 3rd wave and even a solid score from Matt Chemello was not enough to overtake Jake's big lead. In 3rd was Jeremy Smith with Dave Fitzgibbon 4th. By now the tension and excitement on the beach had peaked as the blue ribband division of the Slash entered the water. Lloyd Bowen took the opening wave and posted a solid score of 6 with Nick, Ryan and Nathan looking a little nervous on their opening wave. But then Nathan paddled into a great looking wave and took the lead a near perfect 9.5 score. Nathan's 2nd wave even better with 2 judges scoring perfect 10's. Game over. Lloyd came back with 2 late scores but no-one was going to beat Nathan this time. Lloyd probably would have won any other final but Nathan was unstoppable. Ryan Bailey was 3rd and Nick Squires, moving to Queensland to compete in the Queensland Champion Circuit the next day, was 4th. Werri Beach Boardriders as hosts of the event would like praise the surfers as they have shown that the south coast produces top surfing talent that can match the best from other regions. Many thanks to major club sponsor Surf Dive 'N' Ski, , Ocean and Earth, The Realm, Op, Carve Optics, DSN Surfboards, Kiama Council, Advanced Concrete Cutting, Gerringong Hardware, Jack's Grill and Wayne Pack for their generous sponsorship. Many thanks to Bernie Gardiner for his website images. |
| Wayne Pack Mowing & Tennis Coaching Gerringong |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |