The 2009 Kirra Teams Challenge , is spoken of as the ultimate challenge for clubs but really they should say it an impossible task if your from a Sydney club with a wide arrange of problems facing not only NSB but all clubs from our region.
Before I get into all that our team had a great time away , yer we didn’t come in the top 20 but who cares the boys really supported each other and had a awesome four days away.
The team we took away had class written all over it , lead by Beau Mitchell, Paul Evans, Dustin Atkinson, Heath Irving, David Hislop, Tristian Mc Caffery with Max Brokman and Ollie Ingham the grommets.
Onto the event,
It weird but it seems like if the commentary team doesn’t know who you are they don’t ever read your scores out and even though the judging panel was world class , things just didn’t go our way with a number of doggy decisions stopping our surfers in their tracks.
We started on Friday with Max, who posted a third place in a heat that was won by Jack Freestone, it was a disappointing for him as he had been ripping the week before at boardriders. Being the 1st heat of the day was tough but next time we will need to fire him up more before he hits the water.
Oliver , had a smoker heat , with Owen Wright the premiere Pro junior in this country , his last five events had seem him take victory , the guy is a freak,. Ollie went in with a plan and from the outset it seems like a heavy battle with Wright and Dan Prior exchanging 9 plus scores. It was a barrage but Oliver wasn’t faze , his performance was the best I had ever seen from the kid, is fact his third place wasn’t a good indicator of his work . He grabbed a 6.0 point ride and than waited before unleashing on a bomb set. Driving hard off the bottom into a series of pocket turns Ollie turned it on to the cheers of his club mates. That for me was the highlight of the event. He really had a go and posted a 8.27 , like I said his two wave combo of 14.27 deserved a better result.
When it comes to cracker heats , Heath Irving scored on of the best . Former WCT Surfer Luke Munro , Asher Pacey and coast ripper Adam Bennetts put it to Heath and the goofy-footer gave it everything. They all have massive scores and to put it into context , Munro came in 3rd with a 7.50 and a 7,25. Ummm. Heavy hey. For me Heath back hand attack deserved way more than the two high 5 point rides they threw him. But he did entertain.
Saturday morning began with Pauly Evans , love having Pauly and the family back in the fold,I know he feels weird surfing when he is back living at Scotts but he is still one of the boys and they all love hanging with him , Mel and Baby Conan.
His heat was another solid one and surfing off the wall , Paul unleashed from the outset, Fuck he is that good he could still be surfing the tour. He started with his trademark carve into front side air, It was all-time. Great start but more was to come with a set approaching he got into a great spot , took off and started throwing buckets everywhere. Four massive turns set the crowd off , and into the lead he went with a 8.83. Well we thought we had a our first win but like it wasn’t to be with a Marcus Abooddy grabbing the lead right at the win , for me they got that result totally wrong but it was a 2nd place.
Dustin Atkinson was next up and the kids surfing the middle bank looked good but could find a good one to open up on until mid way through the heat but once he did he smashed some great turns. HI highest score was a 6,50 but with time out the powerful natural-footer just couldn’t find another good one and had to settle for 4th.
Tristan Mac was next in and the goofy-footer fresh from three months overseas looks great , a couple of mid range scores and he was in the game. He was in 2nd place until the last 30 seconds but couldn’t hold off Brendan Leckie who got a small score to push him back into third.
David Hislop was another looking to finish off strong and he didn’t let anyone down with a solid performance. The natural-footer was all over the rights in the middle but a no call on a certain interference lead to him finishing in third place, it was blatant in my books and ill leave it at that
Sunday came and it was left to Beau Mitchell and the goofy-footer didn’t let up down, swooping into some great waves where he pushed his board through a series of solid back hand turns. The life member really looked great and it took a spirited charge from James Wood to stop him from winning.
Anyway , it was a great time away , thanks for those who went up to support, Jan , Mac , Lucas , Jesse and the Shem were at the beach every heat that was surfed.
Dimmy