Competition 1996/97 1996/97 Australian IRB Titles - Trigg Island The Port Noarlunga IRB Team travelled to Trigg Island, Western Australia to compete in the 1996/97 Australian IRB Titles held on the 28th/29th June 1997. The team consisted of 13 competitors and 5 support crew, which was a little over half the size of the team that competed at the SA State Titles. The Team arrived in WA on the Wednesday, 3 days before the competition. The weather in WA provide to be excellent, with nice warm days and a descent surf at Trigg Island. The Team managed to get the boats out in the surf on the Thursday and Friday for a bit of training. They found the conditions to be a little bit tricky. The beach sloped down very sharpely to the waters edge, which caused quite a back wash when the waves broke. The competition was supposed to begin at 8:00am on the Saturday, so the Team arrived nice and early at 6:30am (it was still dark). The competition eventually got underway at about 8:30 or 9:00. The first day of competition was very tough with teams having to qualify through first round heats, second round heats and quarter finals just to make an appearance on Sunday. Thankfully the next day of competition didn't start at 8:00am, but the Team was still down at the beach as the sun was rising. We had qualified a total of 8 crews through to the quarter finals and of those 8, 5 crews qualified through to the semi finals. If anyone had thought that the first day of competition was tough, then they were in for a rude awakening as the competition got down to the business end of the day. At the end of the semi finals 3 crews from Port Noarlunga had made it through to 2 of the finals. The crew of Richard Cunningham and Byron Mills, with patients Craig Fowler, Darren Gill and Cherie Foster had qualified for the Mass Rescue Final. Richard, Byron and Cherie had also qualified for the Assembly Rescue, as had the crew of Paul O'Dwyer, Darcy Lines and Simon Moseley as their patient. The Mass Rescue was the first of the two finals that the Team were competing in. Richard and Byron had a good start off the beach and were in about 3rd or 4th position by the time they reached the buoys. After securing the two patients, Craig and Cherie, they headed back in for the changeover. Their second run out wasn't as good as they hit a wave which knocked them back and out of the medal race. They finished the race in 6th position and after the Ethics committee had cautioned Richard on his driving, they told him it was the highest they had seen any boat go over a wave that weekend. The Assembly Rescue followed right after the completion of the Mass, so the team had to work quickly to set up the two crews that were in this final. Both crews had drawn lanes in the middle of the arena, 4 and 6. After the starter's pistol was fired both our crews set about assembling their boats. Richard and Byron were first off the beach followed closely by the crew from Nobby's (NSW), Paul and Darcy were not far behind. As the leading crews raced out to the buoys, the crew of Richard and Byron hit a wave, this allowed Nobby's to get a break on them which they held all the way back to the beach. With Nobby's being the clear leader, the race came down to the silver medal. Unfortunately for us North Burleigh were coming home fast and they just beat Richard up the beach for the silver. We had to be content with Bronze, which was quite OK with us, this being the first ever medal won by a South Australian crew at the Australian IRB Championships. The second crew of Paul, Darcy and Simon were right behind the medal winners with an excellent 4th. By this stage everyone's emotions were running high and after what had seemed like an endless season, we had finally achieved what we had set out to, an Australian IRB Medal. Now all we have to do is start planning next season... For more detailed results of were Port Noarlunga finished refer to the Carnival Results Page. SA State IRB Champions for the second year in a row. The 1996/97 State IRB Championships were held at West Beach on the 7th and 8th of June. The heats and were held on the Saturday (7th June) in stormy surf conditions, which seemed to suit our team just nicely. Out of the fourteen races, we managed to have 29 crews qualify in the finals (from a possible 31 crews). This set us up for a strong showing in the finals which were held on the Sunday (8th June) in calm conditions. Unfortunately with the calmer weather the beach conditions were somewhat uneven, with some teams drawing starting lanes with shallow water and others having deeper water. The last four races were conducted as wet starts, meaning that all boats and crews started the race in the water as opposed from the beach. This resulted in very close racing. We managed to win a total of 11 medals (4 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze) and picked up a lot of minor places to finish with a total score of 133 points. West Beach finished second on 76 points, with Moana coming third on 70 points and Grange and Aldinga tied on 45 points. For a full list of Medal winners go to the Carnival Results Page. Some Photo's from the 1996/97 State IRB Championships Team meeting before Sunday's Finals Winning Gold in the A Grade Mass Rescue. Byron Mills crewing for Richard Cunningham (not in picture) Presentation of the Premiers Flag More photos of IRB action can be found in the Photo Gallery Competition 1995/96 IRB Competition in South Australia has been going for about 10 years and each year the standard of competition gets better. At last seasons Australian IRB Titles in Torquay, Victoria, South Australian Clubs performed very well in the big surf. Many Crew's from SA were not used to the big conditions (which are probably considered average to most Eastern State Clubs), but adapted themselves well. Several Club's from SA made it through to the Semi Final's, with one Club making a Final. Most of The Port Noarlunga Team had not been to an Australian IRB Titles before and those that had, hadn't been to one in several years. So they were all pretty keen to do well and learn as much as they could. The team made 5 Quarter Final's and 3 Semi Final's and only just missed out on making the Final of the Mass Rescue Event. Air Time at Torquay. Left to Right: Dave Allen, Scott Lines As the Australian IRB Titles were held in April, 2 months before the SA State IRB Titles, many Club's had to work hard to get their Boat's and Motor's up to scratch. This lead to a very high standard of competition between Club's leading up to the States. The Port Noarlunga Team worked very hard in these 2 months, with extensive testing, constant maintenance and lots of training. This all paid off at the States, with the Team winning it's 5th State Titles in 8 years. Some Photo's from the SA State IRB Championships held on the 15th/16th June 1996 The Winning Team Left to Right: Darren Gill, Byron Mills, Richard Cunningham finishing the race off in style Andy McIntyre Memorial IRB Carnival The Andy McIntyre Memorial IRB Carnival is a special event on the South Australian Competition Calendar that is organised by The Port Noarlunga Club. There is prize money up for grabs and it is open to all clubs in Australia. The carnival is named after a very special member of our club who passed away in April 1995 after a long illness. Andy was the sort of member who exists in every club, someone who was prepared to help out where ever he could. The sort of person who never asked for much, but always gave plenty. He is sorely missed by the members of Port Noarlunga, but he will always be remembered for the tireless contribution he made to our club. This carnival is in his memory, thanks Andy. Find out more about the Andy McIntyre Memorial IRB Carnival

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