Event Report
Event 5 - Starboard Severne The Goer at Gerroa - Gerroa/Windang |
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| Date: 31 Jan -1 February 2009 |
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Gerroa has delivered some fun sessions this year although genuine swell has been a little rare this season. The NE has been sailable very early in the day with sailors on the water by 10:30am some days. The Starboard Severne Goer at Gerroa was the final event for the NSWWA 2008-09 series with podium positions completely open in the Masters and a strong contingent fighting it out for the honours in both the Opens and Amateurs.
By 11:00 the NE seabreeze was already peaking at 15 knots. The Groms Division was the first heat of the day sent out at the upper bank at Gerroa which was holding a small wave. Forrest Ladkin showed he has the ability to graduate to the Amateurs Division next year taking out the division win with a 3-1 decision by the judges. He attacked the wave face with some slashing turns and power. Jessie Holder’s second place showed she really is the master’s apprentice sailing with style and staying in the critical section of the wave, combining smooth bottom and top turns. Jake Juretic will not doubt continue to improve on a smaller wave board. His sister Jessica was unlucky not to pick up more waves to score points while Alex Lueck found his hands full with the strong gusty sea breeze. The sailors in this division have certainly improved over the season and with a better understanding of the expression session format will further develop their competition sailing. The Judges advice is to stay closer to shore and learn to stall just outside the wave zone in order to pick up set waves to score off.
After a reconnaissance mission to Shoalhaven Heads the decision was made to leave the inconsistent half-meter swell of Gerroa and take advantage of the 1 to 2 metre wind swell of the Heads. Conditions looked promising for some serious cross-onshore jumping action although the short period between waves and strong current sweeping through the shore-break was a little intimidating.
Competitors had an hour of free sailing before official competition started at 2:00pm to dial in their gear for the event. Sail size was the most difficult choice as the seabreeze was still building, being sucked in by the clear skies behind the mountains. It was a compromise between rigging big enough for the necessary power to punch out through the waves and being in control in the choppy seas out the back. Most competitors settled on 4.7’s combined with a floaty fast waveboard to maximize jumping potential. Although Dan Berry stuck with his JP Twinser showing that this new design can handle cross on with ease.
Competition was organized with an initial expression session for all competitors in a division followed by man-on-man heats.
The Amateurs were sent out for their expression at 2:00pm in 20-25knots with intermittent 6’ sets. The best approach after launching over the shore break was to bear off to gain maximum speed and hopefully hit a peaky wave for jumping points. After a long run out to sea to get back upwind sailors hoped to pick up some of the bigger sets to combine backside and DTL waveriding.
Matt Cliffe continued his domination of the Amateurs division progressing straight into the final. His slashy riding style, both backside and front side combined with forward loops got the nod from the judges. His promotion to the ranks of the Pros next year will certainly open up the Amateurs division . Tim Williams who achieved a solid second place will need to increase his repertoire of jumps and finally join the looping club if he wishes to take his sailing to the next level in the 2009 season. Two new faces, Ben Kirk and Ben Sheils contested the losers final. Ben Sheils, on borrowed gear, was able to show that Canberra windsurfers can sail waves. He picked up a couple of waves at crucial moments in the heats to eliminate Francois, who had won the last event. Francois had a quiet heat although he was most impressive freesailing with numerous back loop attempts just upwind of the competition zone. Ben Kirk relished the typical UK conditions and being nicely powered up was going for back loops off the peaky swell to take out third place.
In the Masters Warren Holder managed to hold out Jason Carter to win the Masters division although the judges’ sheets showed very close scores for both jumps and waves. After a slow start to his final it looked like Jason might take the win, however Warren managed some great DTL smacks on some of the bigger sets when it counted. Jason took home the Neil Pryde Fly in the raffle so despite second place he left a happy man,
Alan Bailey in 3rd place carried the largest sail of the day riding his NP Alpha 5.8 while many competitors had 4.2 and 4.5 ready to go if the wind increased any more. He pulled off some tweaked tabletops for 3rd place.
Jason Juretic’s solid sailing and high forwards edged out Rob Graham who showed that his time in WA sailing cross off Gnarloo bombs had well prepared him for this event. He easily powered his EVO through the shore-break and managed true on-shore down the line wave riding. His was unlucky not to make the top 4 following the expression session. There were a couple of new faces as well who held their own despite their first exposure to competition level sailing. Mike Preswick always manages to enjoy his sailing regardless of his result and provided a great positive energy during the event.
The Opens provided the stand out heats of the day with all sailors landing a range of jumps, high end-over-end forwards, backloops and shove-its. Dan Berry’s cheese rolls at full speed certainly grabbed the photographers and judges attention. On one run he pulled off two in a row and squeezed round a back loop before attacking the lip both backside and front-side on the way in. Perhaps two cheese rolls should be called a double cheeseburger!
Judging during the Open expression session was difficult trying to follow 8 sailors in a wide competition zone. Everywhere you looked someone was pulling off a back-side air, forward loop or DTL smack.
The return of Tim Knowles added to quality field eliminating some favourites to make the final rounds. Unfortunately he was dragged downwind during the finals and had to spend a lot of time working his way back into the viewing area. Tim took out third place with impressive high backloops and Dean Hendrie rounded out the top 4 with some impressive wave riding but was unable to find the necessary ramps for his aerial attack.
Dave Bassetti and Dan Berry contested the final of the Opens once again. These two competitors have been friendly rivals all season representing the major brands; Starboard/Severne and JP/Neil Pryde. Dave’s high one handed forwards equally impressed and horrified the judges as he threw caution to the wind to outpoint Dan’s clean back loops and cheese rolls. Unfortunately a badly injured foot forced him to retire early with quick precautionary trip to the local hospital. As a further precaution it is advised that all competitors wear speedos under their wetsuit to avoid any car park embarrassment when being treated by the first aid staff.
Sailing concluded around 5:00pm and adjourned to Gerroa Shores Caravan Park for the event BBQ and prize giving. A sincere thank you must go to Rhys Herbert and his assistant chefs who prepared a gourmet feast for the evening. The raffle for the Neil Pryde 4.8 Fly was drawn and all competitors shared in numerous goodies from our sponsors. Following this most competitors partied at the Gerroa Fisherman’s Club well into the evening hitting the dance floor enjoying the antics of Australia’s premier Karaoke guitarist.
Summary
This was the 4th event in a row to run a full round of heats and achieve a genuine result. The unique conditions proved quite testing at times as most East coast sailors only sail cross-onshore on port tack in SE winds rather the starboard onshore conditions sailed that day. Given the choice most competitors would not have sailed such conditions, which at times looked like PWA Sylt – ugly and too onshore. However, as a credit to their all-round sailing ability they were able to perform well above expectations. Strong technical skills were required to keep up speed and avoid losing ground downwind. Better sailors were able to tack on the inside, avoided the closeouts and used the waves for both backside and down-the-line sailing. In the end big air and backside aerials were the order of the day.
Finally an enormous thank you must go to the event sponsors Starboard/Severne and our series sponsors Neil Pryde, judges, helpers and our photographers who gave up their own sailing time to stand on a wind blown beach.
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