Cronulla Boardriders Club, which was re-established in 1978, has a proud history and a long line of top quality club champions.
The Cronulla surfboard riding club was originally formed in 1964 at the start of the modern surfing revolution. It had all the hot local surfers involved like Bobby Brown and 'Jacko' but it didn't last very long, with an incident on a Christmas river cruise two years later rumored to have been the final straw.
The St George, Wanda Beach and Eastern States clubs came and went until the Midway club was established. This was also a hotbed of talent in the 70s headed by Jim Banks and Ross Marshall but it also imploded in 1976, turning into Windensea briefly before reverting back into Cronulla Boardriders after its death knell.
The current Cronulla Boardriders Club has now been running for more than 40 years and has had seven World Tour surfer members, with 1999 world champion Mark Occhilupo its favourite son.
This year's club championship is closer than it has ever been with an influx of hot teenage competitors pushing boundaries and leaving three surfers all within striking distance of the title.
Young ripper Jay Brown had a slender lead going into the final Triple Bull two star-rated contest of the year with experienced natural footer Hayden Blair and reigning champion Jordan Widenstrom also able to take the title.
Summer conditions led to average waves for their final fling but favorable tides made it a contestable event for more than 60 competitors on Saturday.
After the two junior, masters and women's events were concluded the opens battled it out with Brown surviving a stacked first round heat and all three advancing to the final.
After the spray had settled the top three contenders finished in the top three places. But members have to contend with an unknown result that will be unveiled at the club's 42nd presentation night at Cronulla's Beach Burrito next month.
Meanwhile, if you want to hear from iconic Australian surf industry legend Shane Stedman on surviving the 60s, surfboards, rock'n'roll and Ugh boots, Stedman will visit Cronulla RSL Club tonight at 6.30pm to promote his new book The Shane Gang. Swellnet editor, Stu Nettle, will anchor an evening of tales tall and true.
Stedman is one of Australian surfing's great showmen and has been bending the rules and people's ears for more than half a century in a career described as equally diverse and hilarious.
Well it hasn't been the best week to be a surfer in Cronulla -until this morning.You would have been lucky if you even got wet after the last four days of 1-2 ft dribbly nor-east swell.
Yesterdays southerly that came through mid morning kept the temperatures down and did blow pretty hard,and by the afternoon the waves were sitting around the 3-4ft mark at Greenhills and Wanda with a few grom's making the most of a left suck at the Gully.
This morning was the pick of of the week with a clean 3 ft south east swell pushing some nice waves into most corners of the beach,with Wanda having the best banks..
Dont get too excited though because the forecast shows this windswell will be all gone by 12 noon today,leaving us with more cranky one footers,so I hope you got up for the early.
The good news is there is a south swell coming on Saturday along with some wind but it will set us up for some nice clean waves on Sunday and early into next week with good early morning conditions.
After eight days of world-class surfing from the top 342 U-18 surfers from 44 nations, Team USA earned the Team Gold Medal at the 2019 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championship at Huntington Beach USA.
Team USA was propelled by an impressive five individual medals, highlighted by a Gold in the Boys U-18 Division for Dimitri Poulos.
"The support of USA has been insane!" said Poulos. "Everyone is down on the beach screaming for me."
Team USA last won the Gold in 2017, nearly repeating as World Champions in 2018, but narrowly coming up short behind a first-time Gold Medal performance from Team Japan. Team USA's return to the top of global junior surfing in 2019 is their third Gold, first winning the Team Title in 2015.
To make matters worse,Team Hawaii followed USA with the Silver Medal, riding a wave of momentum behind the individual Gold Medal performances of Jackson Bunch in Boys U-16 and Gabriela Bryan in Girls U-18.
It was a disaster for Team Australia who finished sixth-behind powerhouse nations Japan,Spain and France-weirdly enough Canada also beat Brazil so anything was possible.
This is a practice event for the Olympics so we could be in for a shock-a German girl won the u 16's-how does that happen when every 15 year old girl surfer in Australia has been coached within an inch of their lives!
Women's professional surfing will once again return to New South Wales for the 2019 installation of the Port Stephens Toyota Pro pres. by Sisstrevolution World Surf League , Qualifying Series 6,000 event.
The event which started at Cronulla two years ago will run from November 15 - 17 and will attract a huge field of international surfers with some of the sports biggest names vying for a spot on the elite Championship Tour in 2020.
Surfing New South Wales CEO Luke Madden believes that the region has proved itself as a world-class location to showcase the world's best female surfers in action and can't wait to see what 2019 brings.
"The Port Stephens Toyota Pro pres. by Sisstrevolution plays a vital role for any female surfer with Championship Tour aspirations," Madden said. "Over the last two years, the event has seen its share of triumphs and upsets and provides a climactic end to the Women's Qualifying Series for the year."
