Event Report
Teams Challenge 2009Livin' at Gerroa - Gerroa/Windang |
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| Date: 21-22 February 2009 |
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Teams Event Gerroa
The Teams Challenge represents the culmination of the NSWWA season as well as always being a fun competition to determine the dominate team in NSW. The event also draws together members to discuss any club issues at the Annual General Meeting and vote in new committee members.
The first day of competition, Saturday, didn’t look promising with deep rain clouds over Gerroa producing a weak SE that was unsuitable for sailing. After it was decided to postpone competition until Sunday a couple of sailors sampled the SUP boards kindly provided by WindSurfnSnow. Although quite difficult in the choppy conditions Ben Kirk was able to show how it was done by paddling into the bigger sets of the day. Persistent rain meant the remainder of the afternoon to taken up watching videos and preparing for the presentation BBQ.
This year’s AGM stimulated a lot of productive discussion concerning the organisation of events and a suitable location for the Winter Competition later in 2009. One of the main goals of the NSWWA for the coming season is to develop the skills of the amateur sailors through more competition sailing time, coaching and more focused support for the Junior and Youths divisions.
After another gourmet BBQ feast, which included seafood and a range of imported beverages, division place getters and champions were announced. All the juniors were recognized with trophies, certificates and prizes kindly donated by Neil Pryde. Jake Juretic, Juniors Champion, owes his achievement to a consistent performance across all the competitions he attended. His goals for the 2009-10 season, are to “perfect my gybes in the waves, get bigger air with jumps and practice my down-the-line wave riding”. Jessica Juretic who achieved first in the Ladies division has started racing One Design to improve her alround sailing skills and improve her wave sailing. She has received extra training tips from Jessica Crisp (5th at the Beijing Olympics RS:X Windsurfing). Jessie Holder will no doubt continue to pressure in the Ladies division as she develops her waveriding skills. She will have to balance her training with her important School Certificate year at Kiama High. Forrest Ladkin is aiming to sail heats in the amateurs to build up his competition sailing skills. Alex Lueck will no doubt have some new JP/Neil Pryde gear for the coming season. We hope to see more of Ellie Jacobs and with a little more coaxing of other juniors state wide this division could build a very solid foundation of wavesailors into the future.
Sunday dawned with a gentle 2-3’ SE groundswell at Gerroa’s main beach. Although the waves were slightly full on the low tide they were easy to catch on the SUP’s and peeled nicely offering great rights and the occasional left. Owing to the glassy conditions SUP’s were substituted for wavesailing for the Teams Challenge. Thanks must go to incoming club president Matt Cliffe for organizing extra boards. This year Teams the competiting teams were Sydney Northside, Sydney Southside and South Coast. Northside were always going to struggle as they didn’t quite have the numbers of the other teams to pick up any bonus points. In the teams event bonus points are based on number of competitors, female participants and age of competitors in each team.
Each team had 90 minutes to nominate their best waves. However, for those new to surfing a SUP the results were often hilarious. Ben Sheils pulled out a head stand on his first SUP wave ever, while Jessica Juretic incorporated some interpretive dance moves during her rides. Forest Ladkin, Jason Carter and Tim Knowles showed how it was done with genuine bottom turns and cutbacks with Tim even saving a hapless English tourist from drowning. In the end it was a close contest between Team South Sydney and South Coast with the Wanda sailors nearly taking out the event using the bonus point system to its full advantage. However, the South Coast boys and girls had the talent on the day.
The Teams Event caps off the season and the next event to look forward to will be the Mid-Winter Bash at Shellharbour later in 2009. The venue looks very promising as there are plenty of options for the prevailing winds for that time of year. Sponsors will be able to show off their shiny new gear and there will be a great spot for the event BBQ. Shellharbour should be a good location for the social aspects of the weekend as is easily accessible to most east coast sailors from either Sydney or the south coast.
In the meantime keep sailing. There may be some sessions left this Summer and hopefully some strong southerlies will push up the coast in the next few months.
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