by Alice Mood The November Dalmeny Boardrider’s competition was a jam packed occasion at Kianga main beach. A typical Narooma spring day - the sun was out and although it was a light north west wind to begin, the North-easterly wind was due to wreak havoc on the 2 foot clean north swell. Predominantly right hand waves were on offer with some peeling all the way into shore.
A large pod of dolphins caught the first waves of the day whilst the club tents and BBQ area were set up. Not only was this our usual monthly pointscore, but this special Sunday was combined with our community “Come and Try” surfing event as well as a second hand surfboard and wetsuit sale.
The Under 18 boys were first to wax their sticks. They young lads relished in the best conditions of the day. In their second heat, Matt Driscoll worked hard on a long right hander with an array of eye pleasing snaps all the way into the beach receiving a 7.83 from the judging tent. = Lincoln Del picked a much shorter wave, but destroyed the clean face as he displayed some serious power scoring him a massive 7.9 on two big manoeuvres. Club president, Matt Hoar, was wowed with Lincoln’s “gymnastic ability and strength” when he completed an impressive layback - Lincoln’s torso completely disappeared off his board backwards into the whitewater (while his feet remained firmly planted on his board), but then he stood back up and completed the layback to ride out cleanly. It made all our hamstrings ache in sympathy. Later in the day in the final, Matt Driscoll took out a deserved win by a large margin with slash after slash after slash in the crumbling onshore conditions.
The Over 45 mens heats had some rapidly deteriorating conditions. Ryan Smithers opened up the second heat with a long right where he was able to carve a few lines to the beach. Ryan then continued on his stylish streak with a second wave, but in the choppy conditions he failed to see Dean Lange was already riding the same wave. Dean Lange graciously let Ryan continue on his merry way, while he maintained a front seat view of Ryan’s surfing. Unfortunately this “drop-in” cost Ryan some valuable points for an interference, leaving Russell Banks take out the heat win.
If there is one thing the Under 14 boys can do, it’s catch a magnitude of waves. Today’s standouts for this division were Mitchell Loudoun and Hamish White. Mitchell sat in the sweet spot and picked the waves of the heat, milking them for every point with smooth carves and snaps all the way to the sand. Mitchell managed a 7.5 point ride in the final and although they were neck and neck, Hamish managed to take the win by getting whippy and connecting with the lip enough times to clinch the win from Mitchell by a meagre 0.47 of a point.
Boy was the wind blowing by the time the ladies made their splash. Conditions were less than average for these fearless ladies. Miss consistent, Marley Eaton won the first heat. Alice Mood, while paddling at top speed to get into position was not watching where she was going and managed to mow over fellow competitor and debutant to the Open Women’s division, Alana Fletcher. Jodie made the most of the face on a big right hander to win her heat. But it was Miss Eaton who dominated the final, with Alana Fletcher taking second place (obvious unperturbed by the fin-to-glute incident in her heat).
The Assisted Groms division were all out the back today. Lilah Lawrence scored a solid 5 points on a steep faced right hander where she smoothly cut back to the whitewater and then continued down the line. Flinder Black showed serious control on his turns and earned himself a 7 point ride. The groms were faced with some difficult conditions today - reforms and green faced waves were hard to come by.
In between heats and finals we had a break for the first timers time to shine at our “Come and Try” Session. From 5 years of age to 40 we had a great turnout of keen, ambitious first-time surfers. Once clad in neoprene with soft board in hand the nervous and excited crew hit the beach. Dalmeny Surf Academy’s Matt Hoar hosted a pre-surf briefing, then it was time to hit the water for 40 minutes of power. The determination and perseverance of this crew was inspiring and the smiles were carved from ear to ear. The fist pumps and cheers from these frothers made us all remember why we started surfing in the first place. That frothy feeling had been unleashed! We were lucky enough to have local surf photographer Peter Coleman present capturing these precious moments (all available to view on Dalmeny Boardrider’s Facebook page). Thanks must also be given to Offshore surf Narooma who lent their soft boards and wetsuits for the event. These first timers devoured their free sausage sizzle and went home salty, happy and with a few prizes and some awesome memories!
Back into the competition we had the under 18 girls. Today we had more females competing in this age group than we have ever seen, two full heats! Ruby Davis had a slow start but finally found some green face to showcase her skills to take our her heat. The choppy and inconsistent conditions didn’t deter Marley Eaton from picking off a few nice waves - demonstrating that stylish cutback we have all come to love and getting yet another podium finish.
The longboard division is always an exciting spectator sport. Russell Banks showed style and strength as he turned the nose of his plank along the waves. Nina Lange shuffled her feet to find that sweet spot on the board and travelled maximum distance into shore. But it was the big fella, Matt Hoar, who got seriously technical - turning the longboard as if it were a shortboard and then spicing it up with a drawn out switch-foot nose-ride, a difficult feat. Matt rode this wave right through to end, where I’m sure he only stepped off because his fins were driven into the sand.
The last heat was the Open Men. Matt Driscoll was out to make a statement - after a few dazzling turns he collected a bucket load of speed and drove along the wave with serious commitment only to perfectly execute a 3 foot-high straight air and land seamlessly to continue on and smack the lip a few more times to complete the wave, collecting an excellent score of 9.17 points. A wave ridden to this level of perfection is is not often seen in our local competitions and was most certainly rewarded wave of the day.
Final results:
Assisted Groms/Under 13s - Lilah Lawrence
Under 14 boys - Hamish White
Under 18 boys - Matt Driscoll
Over 45 men - Anthony Ireson
Open mens - Matt Driscoll
Under 18 girls - Marley Eaton
Open women - Marley Eaton
Longboards - Matt Hoar
Wave of the day - this was held as a tie all day by Matt Driscoll and Lincoln Del from the very first heat of the morning. However in the last heat of the day, this was overtaken Matt Driscoll himself with his 9.17 point ride. A good day in the water for Matt!
Needless to say the ever tasty BBQ delights were sizzling away next to the used surfboard sale. Whilst some said goodbye to their previously loved vessels, others were able to expand their surfboard quivers at bargain prices. After an exciting day at the competition, those keen for a cool refreshment ventured to our local brewery at Dalmeny, Big Niles Brewing, for a refreshment and a yarn.
Next Competition: Sunday 4th December (last competition of the year!)
Above: Alana Fletcher digging in her backside rail
Above: Lilah Lawrence taking a big drop
Above: Therese Craner finding some clean face amongst all the chop
Above: Talking all things rips, bluebottles and getting dumped
Above: This first time frother had no trouble getting to his feet
Above: Anna couldn’t contain her excitement
Above: Under 18 boys finals, (mostly) all smiles - Lincoln Dell, Hamish White, Matt Driscoll, Will Tiffen, Alex Cook and Jet Lange.
