Sandshoes Boardriders club claimed bragging rights again over rivals Cronulla Point with a convincing win in the PT Battle of the Reefs contest on their home break.
With a winning margin of 1095 to 865 Sandshoes had too much depth with Blake Sawtell and Matt Cook going one-two in the open final. Cronulla Point’s Fin Padman and Samantha Oaks took the juniors and women’s finals.
It was all about the body at North Cronulla Beach with the Bate Bay Body Bashers hosting the first ever Waw handplanes Australian Whomp Off title in home water. With more than 100 bodysurfers participating from around the world the small swell didn't deter the Hawaiian Dafinhi team who came and conquered to be crowned champs.
Cronulla surfers have had some swell over the last week but the banks on the beach are very average leaving surfers with no real choice of waves-yesterday’s 3-4ft south swell was wasted on the low tide in the morning but cleaned up with the high tide and offshores in the afternoon.
This morning the swell is straight out of the North leaving the southern reef breaks your only option and there are some decent waves to be had.
The forecast shows the small 2-3ft conditions to continue for the rest of the week with a 3-4 ft spike from the south on Thursday with light onshores.
The next swell of any consequence isnt due until Monday morning so hang in there.I took todays pics at a little southern reef where it was all happening.
Cronulla Boardriders hosted the 7th annual Beaver Memorial contest on Sunday with Jordan Widenstrom defeating Jay Brown in the open final.
It was another big day with 15 six man first round heats-Ryan Scott took out the super competitive u13’s and Kalani Vandepolder was too good in the u16’s taking down Dane De Coque. Jasmine Gosby won the women's over Summer Coppleson and her sister Grace.
Further south at Kiama, Elouera Boardriders won the southern NSW nudie Australian Boardriders Battle event for the first time.
The Cronulla club which comprises of World Surf League Championship Tour surfer Connor O’Leary, Shane Campbell, Jarvis Earle, Paul Holbrook and Nichola Turner lit up the punchy peaks nailing a giant 31.57 heat total to get the nod ahead of fellow finalists Scarborough, Maroubra United and Bondi who took second, third and fourth respectively.
“We’re so pumped to have won this event,” said O’Leary. “We’ve been trying to win this qualifier for so long and we’ve finally done it. It’s an event series we all look forward to all year as the calibre of surfing is always so high. We’re definitely going to give it everything we’ve got at the National Final at Newcastle.”
O’Leary was awarded the AirAsia Wave of the Day for a massive near-perfect nine-point ride in his semi-final.
The typhoon swell continued to pulse on the second day of competition at the 2018 UR ISA World Surfing Games , 197 surfers from 42 of the world's best National Surfing Teams in Tahara, Japan.
Italy's Angelo Bonomelli caused the thousands on the beach to gasp when he flew out of a right-hand barrel resulting in a near-perfect 9.93 ride, the highest of the event.
New Zealand's Paige Hareb was the top performer of the women, cruising into round 3 with the highest women's heat total of 15.37. Her single wave score of 9 points was the highest of the women's competition thus far.
In the most anticipated heat of the day, Japan's Kanoa Igarashi squared off in Round 1 against Argentina's Ignacio Gundesen and Chinese Taipei's Hai-Hsin Pan.
Kanoa’s round three effort earning a spot in the Men's Grand Final and therefore guaranteeing the first-ever individual medal for Japan in the event's 54-year history.
Team Australia got off to a solid start with five of the six-strong team advancing through round one with heat wins.
This didn't last on the men’s side of the event, as Kai Tandler went down in round three as the last Australian competitor in the main draw. Tandler was then eliminated in repechage three along with fellow Aussie Callum Robson,leaving Dexter Muskens alive in the repercharge division.
It is different in the womans as Sally Fitzgibbons and Holly Wawn have won every heat they have surfed in thus far and await their round four heats.
Phillipa Anderson was extremely close to advancing through her round three heat and nearly pulled off a miracle in the dying seconds only to fall just short.
In unsurprising news,Fernando Aguerre was re-elected unopposed as President of the International Surfing Association at the ISA Annual General Meeting in Japan.
Aguerre, whose tenure at the ISA is highlighted by Surfing's inclusion in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, will commence his 9th term as President since being first elected in 1994.
