| Werri Beach once again turned on the waves and weather for the 19th Annual Werri Autumn Slash. On a superb Autumn Sunday, contest organisers and commentators were blown away by the quality of surf provided by "Huey" and in return thanks, the surfers repaid him and spectators with a fantastic display of surfing that should put the rest of the surfing world on notice that the south coast produces talent equal to that anywhere. Day 1 saw small but clean waves hitting the right hand bank in the south corner of Werri Beach. Out first were the U/16 Cadet Boys. Early standouts were local lads Dean Bowen, Justin Arnold and Doug Chandler with Sam Wrench, brothers Jordi and Ty Watson, and Alastair Day. In the Junior U/18 Boys Brett Burcher, Dean Bowen, Sam Wrench, Ashley King and Ty Watson were early heat winners. Into the qtr finals and Elliott Binkins stood out to join Brett, Dean, Sam, Ross Wilson and Lucas Tomkins into Sunday's Semi finals. Day 2 on Saturday saw the Open and Senior Mens enter The Slash. A new south swell was hitting the beach and the event was moved to the pinetrees where 3-4 feet waves were on offer. Wave selection was critical with some great waves being ridden. Reigning Opens Champ Nathan Bartlett showed power and precision surfing to be an early standout. Ryan Doyle, Khy Vaughan, Dan Marczuk and locals Tully Robinson, Joel Heffernan and Dael Walker early heat winners. Into the qtr finals and Jordan Dank, Tim Wrench blasted out some big moves to join Nathan and Khy as winners. The Senior Mens saw a late Shayne Seage play catchup and take out an early heat with current Senior Champ Jake Spooner, Jeremy Smith, Paul Leffley and Peter Flanagan winning their opening heats. In the qtrs Werri's Allan Farrell stormed home to claim a win to move into Sunday's semi finals with Jake and Jeremy also winning their qtrs. Day 3 saw a smaller but better angled swell at dawn. As the event site was being set up some bigger sets started to arrive. First into the water was the Open Womens. The quality of surfing was outstanding. The girls displayed a level of comittment equal to that of the boys. Tess O'Reilly and Tyler Wright pulled into some big tubes whilst Bijou Busse and Katherine Turk sprayed plenty of water with some big turns. Sally Fitzgibbons and Yvonne Byron showed their class to move into the final with Katherine and Bijou. The Junior Boys, Open and Senior Mens surfed their semis and the waves were just absoluely pumping. Ross Wilson and Nick Squires scored deep barrells, Dean Bowen and Brett Burcher blasted some big snaps with Allan Farrell and Jeremy Smith strong contendors for the senior title. Into the finals and with the wind still offshore the cadets were out first. Each surfer started slow but the Sam Wrench scored a beauty to leave the others playing catchup. Sam was on fire and posted some high scores and although Ty Watson came back toward the end, Sam won his 3rd Cadet crown in a row. Ty was 2nd, brother Jordi 3rd and Dean Bowen 4th. The Open Womens final was next and Bijou Busse took an early lead with some powerful surfing. SallY Fitzgibbons, Yvonne Byron and Katherine Turk responded and it was neck and neck until Sally nailed two late scores with precision snaps and flow to claim her first Slash victory. Bijou held on for 2nd with Katherine 3rd and Yvonne 4th. By the time the Junior Boys hit the water the wind was turning slightly to the south, but some great waves were still pumping through. Brett Burcher came out early to take an early lead and followed it up with another high score to establish an early lead. Sam Wrench and Dean Bowen came back with some late scores but were unable to catch Brett. In the end it was Brett 1st, Sam 2nd, Dean 3rd and Elliott Binkins 4th. The senior men were next up and Jeremy Smith opened his wave count early to take the lead. Jake Spooner came back with an absolute belter to wrestle the lead. Jeremy and Jake went wave for wave whilst Craig Morris slowly built some momentum to score two late rides. In a very close finish, Jake won by the closest of margins. Jeremy was 2nd with Craig 3rd and Allan Farrell 4th. With the wind getting a little stronger, Nathan Bartlett came out quickly with trademark power snaps to take a strong lead. Nick sat wide by himself and began to haul in Nathan's lead. Nick used his quota of 10 waves and by less than a point it was Nathan who claimed his 2nd Slash title. Nick was excellent value for his 2nd placing with Khy Vaughan 3rd and Tim Wrench 4th. A most remarkable 2006 Slash. Great waves once again for making The Slash the surf contest of the South Coast. 120 competitors putting on a display of world class surfing that had the huge Sunday crowd highly entertained. The Slash would not be possible without the generous support of the following businesses; SDS, Ocean & Earth, DSN Surfboards,OP Surfwear, Carve Optics, Advanced Concrete Cutting, Gerringong Hardware and Kiama Council. Thanks again to Bernie gardiner for his time and effort as our"official" photographer. Many thanks to the Werri Boardriders Slash committee and members who do the hard yards to ensure that the Slash is the success it continues to be. Results : Open Mens Open Womens Senior Mens Junior Boys Cadet Boys Pics here... |
| 19th Annual Werri Slash 21st, 22nd, 23rd April, 2006 |
| WERRI BEACH BOARDRIDERS CLUB |
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