Event Report
Event 2 - Exocet Woopi Classic - Woolgoolga |
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| Date: 4 - 6 Oct 2008 |
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Woopi Classic 4-6th of October
Weather forecasts were looking too good to be true for the few days prior to the contest which turned out to be a real case of “you should’ve been here yesterday”. The happy few that made it to Woolgoolga early were blessed with 4.7 weather and head high surf.
For those that haven’t ventured to Woolgoolga, “GOOGLE IT”. Seriously Woopi is a rare setup, a small island at the end of a sand spit offers epic sailing in both prevailing winds on the East Coast of Australia. North East seabreezes give a hungry wavesailor peaky down the line wavesailing and excellent jumping. The real gem of this place is the southerlies, with a decent swell running from the SSE woopi fires with epic long ride on glassy waves.
The seabreeze had eased along with the swell for the start of the contest and made for challenging conditions for competitors. The Nor Easter cruised in slowly between 10 – 12 Knots and the first to hit the water were the super groms. The groms ate up the waist high waves. Jess and Jake Juretic were ripping it whilst Alex Lueck looked on sporting a newly broken arm after a extreme High Wire accident. The two siblings exchanged blows but only the waves came out second best. Final standing Jess No 1., Jake No 2 and Alex champing at the bit! No 3. This story my friends has just begun.
The Amateurs were the first to test out the new competition system of a 20 minute expression session. 4 sailors from the expression session go through to semis, then on to battle it out for the final placings. The waves didn’t cooperate with the sailors desperately trying to find waves and an elusive jump to sneak into the top 4. In no particular order Tim Williams , Ed Warburton, Francois and Matt Cliffe aka “Spaceman” made it into the top 4 for the finals. The pressure was building, the sledging began the green flag went up! Twin fins slipped easily through the shallows to get a few jumps and settle a few nerves. Time started to distort with the 10 minute semi final dragging into 20. Mr Cliffe sailed into and deserved first place with Tim Williams 2nd, Ed Warburton 3rd and Francois Pialoux in 4th
Next out the Masters, a highly competitive expression session was very difficult to judge. Good waves selection in the shifty conditions was the essential to make it through to the top 4. The conditions began to improve for the finals with some larger waves coming through. Steve Myers was showing some early form off the back of a Maui trip. The irrepressible Warren Holder continued to make smooth rides out of the shifty peaks. Jason Jueretic nailed some good jumps and snuck in a reverse monkey gybe amongst some of his wave rides. Final standings Steve Myers with a well deserved 1st, Jason Jueretic 2nd, Warren Holder 3rd and Alan Bailey 4th.
The Pros saw some upsets that will fuel the fire of competition for the rest of the season. The top four going through to the finals were Rhys Herbert, Daniel Berry, Dave Bassetti and Alex Rouys. Was this final set to be the Alex and Dan show that we saw at Birubi. Mais No, quelle surprise! Conditions were still challenging and the pros needed to make sure they got all of their waves. Dave Basseti was sticking some sweet forwards while Dan Berry was taking his chances for waves further down the beach. Rhys Herbert sailed very well through the final and right into second place. Dave Basetti sailed into first with Dan coming 3rd and Alex coming in fourth.
A Big thanks goes to everybody involved in this a special big thank you goes out to the local community of Woolgoolga for opening their community to us for the long weekend.
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