Birubi Wave Classic - Sponsored by Dirty Dog Eyewear
What a start to the season. The series certainly hit the ground running at the Birubi Wave Classic – Sponsored by 
2 days of non-stop wind, with awesome waves on the final day, all to the delight of the huge number of entrants who turned up to blow away the winter blues.
The 53 entrants came from far and wide; from Queensland, Hungary, Germany and Chile joined the regulars from all over NSW.
Usually we are all forgiven for sailing like 3-legged dogs at this comp because we’ve usually had little to no valuable wavesailing time in the few months since the end of the previous season. However there were many standouts that made it seem like they’d just stepped off the plane from 2 months in Maui.
During the Saturday all day expression session, the swell was so ugly, if it was a woman, you would have chewed your own arm off not to wake her up in the morning. It was small, sloppy and all over the place, except for a few rare sections that made aerials possible. But what the swell lacked in size, the wind made up for in strength. Over 30 knots hammered in for most of the day. Jumping was an interesting, and painful challenge. It was a case of giving it all or nothing. To be stuck somewhere in between had major consequences.
Luke showed what plenty of time on the water (especially in Maui) can provide, as he unleashed some very nice push loops. Not to be outdone, fellow young gun Ben Fawkes announced his intentions to be the push loop king with a bag of nice ones of his own, saving his best one for Sunday’s final.
George Westra cranks into a Forward
Solid displays from Mick Westra, Dean Hendrie, Adrian Levy and Andrew Morris cemented their spots in the first final. So everyone pulled off the water to watch the top dogs fight it out in 15 min finals (I was very glad of the rest after 3 hrs on the water!).
The Opens final was probably the windiest part of the Saturday. But fatigue and high chance of bodily punishment did not stop these guys putting on a great show.
Dan showed his trademark precision in the high winds with a bag full of high forwards, barrel rolls and backies.
Adrian Levy boosted some nice ones too, resulting in a top 5 finish just in front of Morry. George and Deano settled for a share of 3rd spot after equally impressive performances. In the end Dan took top honours ahead of Luke to put him in pole position for Day 2.
The Masters showdown was just as intense and the wind continued to hammer in.
Jason “da Prez” Juretic kept his ankles dry on many of his tidy forwards. He is certainly right at home in strong winds like this. He even took out his small wave board of 156 litres and looped right into 2nd place.
The battle between Josh Adams, Rob Jacobs, Tom Hoffman, and Queensland’s John Bouillier was as close as ever with Josh landing in 3rd, but in the end it was Rohan that shone through with a great performance in such conditions that earned him top gong for day 1.
Everyone could barely move their arms by the end of the day, but they could raise a smile knowing that a free feed and esky loads of refreshments were on their way courtesy of Anna Bay Tavern, and Anna Bay Butcher. Its great to have the local support and they certainly came through with the goods.
The BBQ was yet another hunger-satisfying success. Thanks to all who helped prepare the feast.
After polishing off every bit of food and drink in sight the crew descended on the pub for the presentation of last year’s series winners and place-getters. And no one left empty-handed as the prize table was bursting with goodies thanks to the generosity of Dirty Dog and our many sponsors.
The night kicked on too long for some as others called it a night anticipating a repeat of Saturday’s wind.
And wind there certainly was. And……….WAVES!!!
People awoke on Sunday morning to realise that it wasn’t just the sound of the ocean inside their swirling heads, but in fact it was the sound of steady sets of ½ - ¾ mast high waves.
Whilst the wind was light in the morning, our resident experts Dan Berry and Luke Johnson ran a Coaching session taking us through basic jumping and intermediate waveriding skills – good value. Apparently, intermediate jumping and advanced wave riding will be run at Hallidays.
The one thing that Birubi is good at is sucking in the swell, turning even the smallest bit of swell into a larger wave. With the sceptics predicting the wind would die off, others took the chance and were rewarded with steady 15 – 25 knot winds all day.
Aaron Constable was one of the early starters and certainly claimed the “wave magnet” tag with countless top to bottom rides, earning him a well-deserved spot in the final.
Rohan Cudmore, Shane Finigan and Tim Knowles set up camp down wind of everyone all morning to get the cleanest sets on offer, all progressing to their respective finals.
The Open final for Day 2 promised and delivered more action than Day 1. Jumps were higher and the wave riding was superb by all finalists. It came down to wave selection.
Dan’s impressive form continued and the waves gave him extra options to stake his claim for a second victory. Ben Fawkes, Morry and Tim Knowles upped the stakes with some great performances to keep one rung up the ladder from Finno and Aaron.
But, as if it was Groundhog Day, Dan claimed a 2nd win of the weekend, and is first out of the blocks towards the 2005/2006 NSW Wavesailing Title.
The Masters final for Day 2 was a 4-way battle between Rohan, Jason, John and Mike Prestwick.
With only one jump but 3 waves counted, a great wave riding battle ensued with all guys plucking out the waves of the set. Mike was forced out early with a suspected injury, leaving 3 guys to fight for top honours. Jason was great in the air once again including what he confirmed to be his first backie landed in a contest. We could see the smile on his face from a mile away. Add that to his solid forwards and some great wave riding and he had racked up a very impressive score.
He was well on his way to victory until the last minute when Rohan boosted a massive barrel roll. Added to his wave score (being the highest in the heat), it was enough to snatch victory from Jason’s clutches.
Rounding out the top 3 was John Bouillier who was superb all weekend. Can he take a NSW title north of the border this year?
The final overall results for this excellent event will be announced (to a drum roll no doubt) at the Hallidays comp. – I can’t wait.
All the weekends’ action will go towards the end of year DVD. We all received a highlights DVD of last seasons action thanks to Brenden Petersen, with quality to match anything you could buy in the store. He has kindly offered to do it again for this year. Thanks Brenden, can’t wait to see it. I realised this weekend you truly are a man who can do two things at once! :o)
Thanks to everyone who helped make this event possible. Especially Liz for arranging all those terrific prizes and other donated goodies, which thanks to her efforts, we can look forward to the same treatment at every event this year.
HUGE Thanks go to our event Sponsors, Dirty Dog Eyewear, Anna Bay Butcher, Port Stephens Complete Real Estate and Anna Bay Tavern. Plus let’s not forget Mindfactory Media for providing the great pics (note not many pics of the Masters final because Tom the photographer was in it!). And finally thanks to 3D Crystal for sponsoring us with the trophies.
Thanks to everyone who turned up. Especially those guys who made the long trip down from QLD (Shane, Tony and John) and also the guys from Germany (Henry), Hungary (Gabor) and Chile (Christian). Hope to see you at the next one.
And thanks to the wind for blowing. Please do it again. I really didn’t mean to call you a ******** ******.
Sun sets on Birubi Wavesailing Classic
See you all at the Hallidays Point Wavesailing Classic – Sponsored by Starboard, for all the Details CLICK HERE.
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