| WERRI BEACH BOARDRIDERS CLUB |
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| Kirra Teams Challenge 2006 - Werri Beach Boardriders have cracked the top ten of boardriding clubs in Australia by finishing in 8th place at the prestigious and longest running boardriding competition in Australia, The Rip Curl Kirra Teams Challenge. A super consistent effort by each surfer saw Werri Beach finish equal 6th with Alley Boardriders and Margaret River, but relegated to 8th on a countback. Such was the closeness of the top 6 that Werri finished only 2 points behind eventual winner, Byron Bay. Day 1- Consistency was the key as each Werri surfer finished 2nd or better in their 8 heats. Lloyd Bowen started off with a solid display of tight surfing to place 2nd and get Werri off to a good start. Young Mitch Crews was called on to help out and Mitch was very unlucky not to secure a 1st placing, eventually settling for a very close 2nd. Dylan Longbottom rallied to the late call and ensured Werri Beach finish the day with another 2nd placing and 9 points overall leaving the Werri boys well placed in equal 4th. Day 2 and with the swell still coming in at 1.5-2mtrs, Ben 'Benno' McCarthy was first out and faced our Jim Beam nemesis, Curl Curl's Matt Bemrose. Bemrose was was never headed but Benno opened with a 6.6 and backed it up with a solid 5 point ride to give Werri another 2nd placing and in touch with the leaders. Nathan Bartlett was out next and was by far the most powerful and explosive surfer in his heat. Nathan looked on track to give Werri its first win when a slip on good looking lefthander saw Nathan miss out and securing a win by 0.24 of a point. As the tide got lower, Tully Robinson grabbed an early lead with some big snaps. With seconds remaining, Tully palyed it smart and snuffed out any chance the Nth Narrabeen surfer had by claiming the inside and taking the last wave before the siren sounded. Tully maintained his winning record by giving Werri their 1st win and finish day 2 equal 5th. Day 3 saw Duranbah Beach throwing some great early barrells and Ryan Bailey was out early. Up against former WCT surfer Keiren Perow, Ryan hauled in Keiren's early lead with a fantastic performance including 1 deep tube ride. The neary Byron Bay crew went very quiet as they saw their chance of securing the overall title disappearing. Lucky for Byron Bay, Keiren used his experience to snatch back the lead late in the heat and relegat Ryan to 2nd place. With Werri still in touch for a top 5 finish, WQS surfer Matt Jones was Werri's last surfer. Matty surfed a superb heat to claim 1st place to leave Werri waiting on other results that could see the team finish as high as 5th. In the end the final results saw Werri finish 8th out of 38 clubs and earn their 1st top ten finish at the Kirra Teams. This result was achieved the help of premier club sponsor Surf Dive 'N' Ski and also with grand support of DSN Surfboards, C & W Cutting Fencing and TCH Plumbing. Many thanks to Bella Mare Apartments. Also thanks to the crew of Werri lads who travelled to give vocal support. A huge bill of thanks to Mick O'Leary for transporting all the gear required. Jim Beam Surf Tag 2006 - Werri Boardriders travelled to Curl Curl Beach in Sydney to compete in the 2006 Jim Beam Surf Tag. Hoping to go at least one better than last year by trying to make the State Final, Werri got off to a flying start on day 1. Seeded as the No.6 NSW club, Werri was up against some of Sydney's strongest surfing clubs in North Narabeen which had 2 ex WCT surfers in Nathan Webster and Chris Davidson, Newport and Avalon. Day 1- Ryan Bailey was first out of the gate for Werri. Ryan couldn't find the waves in the small onshore conditions and tagged Todd Prestage in 4th place. Todd then showed all his experience by scoring one of the days highest scores to move Werri into 1st place at the tag. Tully Robinson maintained Werri's slender lead as North Narabeen came bacvk strongly. Tully tagged Lloyd Bowen and and as North Narabbens challenge fell away, Lloyd stretched Werri's lead to 2.2 points from Avalon. Joel Heffernan was Werri's 5th surfer and and scored the highest wave score out of each clubs last surfer to stretch Werri's lead and come home in 1st place. Day 2- Sunday saw a slightly larger and cleaner swell for the Qtr Finals. Werri were up against Avalon, Curl Curl and Queenscliff. Todd Prestage was unavailable so Al Farrell stepped up to replace Todd. Ryan was 1st out in the water and a solid score saw Werri into 2nd place at the first tag. Avalon was out in front by a massive 10 points at the first tag. Tully was next out and was unable to find a good "power wave" which saw Werri drop to 4th place at the tag. Curl Curl and Avalon had opened a near 10 point lead over Quuenscliff and Werri. Lloyd was 3rd out and a collision with a boogie boarder saw Werri slip further behind. Joel Heffernan was 4th out and tried hard to make up the near 20 point gap. Al Farrell was last out but by this time Curly and Avalon had shut the gate on Queenscliff and Werri. Curly "A" winning the heat by a huge 13.2 points from Avalon with Queenscliff 3rd and Werri 4th. Winner was Curl Curl "A". Well done to our northern neighbours Scarborough Boardriders who finished as runner up. Click here for the Jim Beam event website Kirra Teams Challenge 2005 - Werri Boardriders once again showed they can match with some of the nations best clubs by equalling last year's effort. In a mirror image from last year, Werri placed 14th and scored 21 points to finish in the top half of Australia's boardriding clubs. Day 1 - Dean Bowen was our first surfer out and it didn't matter where Deano sat. The waves just didn't come to him and he placed a distant 4th. Joel Heffernan was our 2nd surfer out and got off to a great start. Joel was leading very early but slowly the others hauled Joel's lead in. Joel desperately searched for another solid scorer but couldn't find it and placed 3rd. Ryan Bailey led the opens out and was in a very tough heat. It could have gone to any of the 4 surfers. Ryan nearly landed a big move which probably would have got him the win but we had to settle for another 3rd placing. Day 2 - Ben McCarthy was first out for the day and jumped out to an early lead with some lightning fast and controlled turns. In fact, Ben was about to claim our first heat win with about 20 seconds remaining when the surfer coming second stroked into a average looking wave which ended up walling through to allow some solid turns and knock Ben into 2nd place. Jye Lock was next out. Jye dug deep but couldn't find the waves to score high enough and came 4th. Dael Walker paddled out last for the day for Werri into some very ordinary waves. Yet Dazza, long known to be able to beat just about anybody when on fire, blew his opponents out of the water with some of the tightest and quickest turns we've seen from Dazza for a while. A well deserved 1st place finished the day off nicely for Werri, leaving us in equal 15th. Day 3 - This turned out to be a day to remember as Todd Prestage and Matt Jones each brought home a 1st place finish and leave Werri in a strong position to challenge for the top 10. Todd had a tricky heat as the high tide left very few waves available to score. Todd came from behind to lock in 2 high scores and set the scene for Matt. Matt paddled out and locked in an 8.10 early then sat and waited for a better wave to come. When it did, Matt blazed at least 6 snaps and finished it off with a backhand 360 to score a 9.17 to give Matt the 5th highest heat score of the event. At the presentation night, Werri was announced as finishing 14th. A superb effort that puts the boys an a good footing for the Jim Beam National finals. Many thanks to Ian "Mooney" Ross for transporting the club tent up and back, and for his motivation for the rest of the club members on tour. Thanks to all the surfers and to the club members who travelled to support Werri Boardriders. Many thanks to Dave and Rosie at The Bay Apartments. The ultimate hosts. Jim Beam Surf Tag 2005 - Werri Boardriders finally put it all together in the Jim Beam Surf Tag to finish equal 5th and qualify for the national finals series to be held at Curl Curl beach on March 12. In an awesome display of surfing, Werri set up their finals placing by dominating their quarter final heat against hot favourites Curl Curl 'A', North Steyne 'B' and Long Reef. It was all over by the 4th out of 5 surfers such was their domination. Day 1 - Werri was placed into heat 4 of round 1 against northern beaches heavyweights Curl Curl 'A' and Avalon. Joel Heffernan was first of Werri's 5 surfers out of the gate and scored a 10.2 out of 30. Ben McCarthy was tagged and entered the water 2nd and got some good waves in the small conditions to score 14.5 and keep Werri within distance of Curl Curl. Ryan Bailey was our 3rd surfer and showed his experience to score 15.6. Todd Prestage was 4th into the water and whilst he took longer to catch his 3 waves, he certainly made sure of the points by bagging a heat high 21.7 out of 30. Club President Jye Lock only had 2 minutes left on the clock to score and ensure Werri progressed to quarter finals. Jye came back to the beach with a 4.5. Enough for the Werri lads to finish in 2nd place. Final scores : 1st - Curl Curl A 73.8; 2nd - Werri 66.5; 3rd Avalon 61.3 (eliminated ) Day 2 - The swell was still small and event organisers delayed the start until 9.30am and instead of scoring 3 waves, it was changed to 2 waves, with the 2nd wave being the power wave ie. "Double Points". Werri was into Quarter Final 2 and came up against some very strong opposition from Sydney's northern beaches in Curl Curl 'A' (again!), North Steyne 'B', and Long Reef. However, the Werri lads got stuck in from first hooter and never looked back. The order of surfers from Werri was juggled a bit with Jye Lock first out and took on the opposition. Jye bagged a solid right then monstered a left with 3 massives snaps and re-entry that scored 18.5. The momentum was with Werri when Jye tagged Todd Prestage and Todd slayed the opposition by scoring 26 out of 30, including the days highest power wave, worth 18 points. The boys on the beach were amped to the max as we began to feel that it was finally our time. Ryan Bailey was 3rd out and stood tall for a solid 15.2 that even had the event commentators calling game over. Ben McCarthy continued on looking for a solid score to finally shut the gate and came in with a 12.4. Joel Heffernan was 5th out and with plenty of time to spare, sat patiently looking for that big power wave. It finally came and Joel stroked into a solid left hander. As he was getting to his feet, the hooter sounded and Joel slammed some big hooks but did score as he was adjudged to have got to his feet about 1/2 second after the hooter. Not to worry. Werri couldn't and wasn't caught. Final scores : 1st - Werri 75.1; 2nd - Curl Curl 'A' 68.4; 3rd - North Steyne 'B' 55.4; 4th - Long Reef 55.3 Into the semi finals and with small waves coming in with a light nor easter blowing, Werri was up against regular opponents Curl Curl 'A', defending champs North Steyne and Avoca. Jye Lock got off to a good start by scoring 11.1 and keeping Werri in touch with the others. Todd showed his class by scoring 17.3 in the inconsistent waves and move us into 3rd. Ryan Bailey fell off on his 1st wave but slammed some big turns on his power wave to score a 14.2 and keep us near the leading 2 sides. Ben McCarthy nailed a solid 1st wave then paddled into a great looking power wave. A good off the top saw Ben setting up for huge smack off the lip...but his back foot slipped off. Ben paddled in to tag Joel, and with 4 points extra on offer for 1st into the gate, Joel set about to haul in Curl Curl and Nth Steyne. Joel scored a solid 13.0 and with the 4 extra points for coming in 1st, Werri watched and waited for the other teams to catch our final score of 72.1. Some better set waves came for the remaining 3 surfers and Nth Steyne scored high points to finish in 1st with Curl Curl 'A' edging out Werri to finish 2nd. Werri was 3rd and Avoca fell away to finish a distance 4th. Final scores : 1st - North Steyne 83.4; 2nd - Curl Curl 'A' 76.9; 3rd - Werri 72.1, 4th - Avoca 59.7 In the end, Werri achieved the primary goal of qualifying for the national finals. The boys surfed superbly to put the other teams on notice that this maybe the time that the lads from the south coast will realise their potential. Next club event...Kirra Teams Challenge Winner was North Steyne 'A'. click here for Jim Beam Surf Tag website 2004 Kirra Teams Challenge -Werri Boardriders has placed 14th out of 34 clubs in the prestigious and biggest boardriding club contest in Australia. In a magnificent effort by all involved Werri placed ahead of some big name clubs such as Kirra, Burleigh Heads, Elouera, Noosa Heads and Merewether. Day 1 - Vaughan Shearer got us off to a good start with a 2nd place only missing out by 1/2 point on 1st spot. Tom Slavesen had real big dig in the solid swell hitting D'bah but fell at the critical moment which put Tom into 4th place. Tully Robinson then stepped up and wailed a few monstrous snaps to come home in 1st place and leave Werri in a strong position. Day 2 - Damian Pack was up first for the Werri lads and put in strong performance. Packy came home in 3rd place and Werri was still looking good for a top 15 place. Ben McCarthy was next and was unable to find the right waves and although he came back towards the end it wasn't enough to lift him out of 4th place. Ben came equal 3rd on points but was relegated to 4th on a countback. Dael Walker was our last surfer for the day and put in some big turns to come home 2nd and turn things around for Werri. Day 3 - Werri was up for a solid showing on Day 3 after a strong finish the previous day. And Matty Jones certainly didn't disappoint. The current NSW State Open Mens Champ blasted from the blocks to score an 8 on his opening ride with 2 huge snaps then back it up with a 6 on his next wave to shut down the opposition. The lads were pumped! Dylan Bailey was the last Werri surfer and as many have known, Dyl showed he still has it by nearly claiming 1st place but eventually settling for 2nd place. Werri knew we'd be in the prizemoney. Winner was Snapper Rocks. Many thanks to Mick O'Leary for bringing up and transporting the tent to the event everyday.Also, many thanks to David and Rosie at the Bay Apartments for their kind hospitality. Finally, a big thanks and hearty congratulations to Kirra Surfriders on the Kirra Teams Title achieving 20 years. The way the event is run sets the standard for club contests throughout Australia. Well done to Ray Hilton, John Robin, Daryl Green and all those involved. Thanks for inviting us. Points and Placings Heat 2 1. Blake Ainsworth / Surfrider 7.60 2. Vaughan Shearer / Werri 7.15 3. Alex Cooney / Le Ba 6.50 4. Robbie Winter / Roaders 3.00 Heat 14 1. Paul Bonenti / North End 12.60 2. Curtis Ewing / Pt Lookout 10.50 3. Joel Nantes / Kirra 7.60 4. Tom Salvesen / Werri 4.85 Heat 21 1. Tully Robinson / Werri 11.40 2. Mick Marge / Bondi 10.00 3. Chippa Wilson / Cabarita 8.90 4. Jamie Akling / Norah Head 5.10 Heat 28 1. Wylie Fowler / Elouera 12.75 2. Morgan Dittman / Mudjimba 10.40 3. Damien Pack / Werri 8.15 4. Dean Walpole / Kingscliff 6.45 Heat 44 1. Rhys Smith / Merewether 16.50 2. Brad Lancaster / Kirra 11.35 3. James Brydon / Palm Beach 8.50 4. Ben McCarthy / Werri 8.50 Heat 53 1. Jesse Lowe / Queenscliff 10.50 2. Dael Walker / Werri 9.45 3. Rob Hazlewood / Nth Narrabeen 7.60 4. Danny Sherwood / North Steyne 5.15 Heat 61 1. Matt Jones / Werri 14.00 2. Adam Fletcher / Kirra 10.50 3. Steve Brown / Boomerang 6.25 4. Nth Shore (no show) Heat 70 1. Ty Smith / Le Ba 9.90 2. Dylan Bailey / Werri 8.50 3. Ben Johnson / Cabarita 7.90 4. Matt Hoy / Merewether 4.60 Milo Grom Tag - Werri sent a team up to Queenscliff to compete in the Milo Global Surf Tag Junior Event. Held in ordinary waves, the team consisted of Vaughan Shearer, Ryan Bailey, Joel Heffernan, Lloyd Bowen and Tyson Henderson. The boys were in arguably the hardest heat with competition coming from host club Queenscliff, Nth Narrabeen and Avoca, Werri scored enough points to get them through most other heats but it wasn't enough for this one. The lads were leading early on in the heat but faded badly to place 4th and be eliminated. back to top |
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