Australia’s best 24 boardriding clubs are heading to the Gold Coast this week to compete in the Sailor Jerry Surftag Australian Championships.
After finishing fifth last year, Elouera Boardriders will be heading to Duranbah with a team that has plenty of talent and experience.
Shane Campbell, Jared Hickel, Joey Sear, Reiss Hunt and Ben Sear will represent Elouera with Campbell looking forward to surfing with his club mates in a team event.
Ranked 28th on the WSL Qualifying Series, Campbell has enjoyed a successful start to the year winning the QS1000 at Maroubra which he backed up with a fifth place at the QS1000 Great Lakes Pro.
“I love hearing there’s a team event coming up because the Elouera club have so much fun together,” Campbell said.
“I feel like as a team we are getting better and better each event and we have always been under the radar but now we are one of the teams to watch. Hopefully we can put together some good heats. [I] can’t wait.”
Cronulla Sharks Boardriders will also be competing in the men’s divisions with Cronulla Christian Surfers and Cronulla Girls Boardriders contesting the women’s division. Paris Whittaker will lead the Cronulla Christian Surfers who finished seventh last year.
Cronulla surfers have had more than small waves to deal with over the last week with a massive Mullet run going on as we speak.
From the mouth of the Hacking to Greenhills there are thousands of fat mullet running in the rips looking for a good feed-be very careful surfing at dawn and dusk.
The Swellnet prediction says to make the most of Tuesday, Wednesdays small but clean surf because dynamic options lay ahead from the weekend onwards.
Wednesday is the pic for the week but Thursday’s strengthening southerly wind will kick up some local windswell in the 3-5ft range for south facing beaches by the end of the day, holding into Friday morning before easing throughout the day.
There are plenty of good banks on the beach with rips keeping everyone honest but the prediction for the weekend is hard to pick with conditions which would result in a smaller weekend of easing Southerly swells ahead of a strong S/SE swell early next week-winds don't look so good either.
The cancellation of the Margaret River Pro will see points distributed to surfers per the WSL rulebook, but organizers have not ruled out potentially completing the events elsewhere during the season.
It was a debacle that should never have happened but its time to move on “Sharks are something we will continually deal with every time we surf and we accept that risk,” Adrian Buchan, WSL CT Surfer and Men’s Representative, said. “Given the extenuating circumstances of dead whale carcasses, multiple attacks and increased sightings, I'm fully supportive of the WSL's stance to put Surfers safety before all else.
Off to the Surf Ranch next for a novelty event -then off to Brazil,how good is it!
