NSW Wavesailing

Date: 12th – 13th Feb 2011

It’s been a while since NSW WA has had an event in starboard conditions so when the forecast predicted southerly winds Windang was the event site for round 5 of the NSW series. WindSurfnSnow kindly supported us for this round which some great prizes and Anne from the shop brought down some great JP trifin waveboards and NP Atlas sails to sample. The power in the Atlas combined with a bigger JP makes for a potent weapon for the heavier sailor. This combination have been particularly popular this season offering great manoeuvrability with fully powered sailing in the light conditions which have dominated the events this season.

The Seabreeze graphs had the wind spiking at 9:00am and quickly dropping throughout the morning so it was going to cracking pace to fit the competition in. Nick Edwards rigged up quickly, planned straight off the beach and ripped up a couple of deep bottom turns on his first wave. A rigging frenzy thus began as every competitor who had made the effort to arrive early also wanted to carve up the quality waist to head high waves on offer.
Windang is primarily a beach-break with an outer bank which breaks in front of the lake entrance. At its best the island keeps the larger sets which break on the outer bank clean and with a southerly wind creating cross to cross-off conditions. However for this event competition was limited to the beach break which had its own challenges. There was enough wind but some strong side-shore currents and a rip carving through the break made it testing for those still perfecting their technique in waves.

The Groms, Juniors, Youth and the Ladies all competed together as their heat started with a thumping shore break into 1’ of water. Jessica Holder found herself alone out the back as her fellow competitors waited for a break in the sets. After some considerable swimming and patience everyone managed to bust through and snag a wave. Oliver Cox and Forest Ladkin were contesting the Youth Title and both had their share of bad luck during the heat. Oliver managed to score enough points with a steady bottom turn/top turn combination until his rig let him down, spending the second half of the heat swimming. However this was enough to edge out Forest who could not find a wave take the win. Diminutive Jake Juretic showed class in the tough conditions while older sister Jess shrugged off a big dumping to launch again into the building waves. Cheryl Prout displayed her smooth style and did well after time off for injury. Anne Waldren scored two good waves using the powerful NP Atlas to get around the break.

With the wind and waves building two heats of Amateurs were run with first time competitor Jahannes from Germany getting the biggest wave of the two heats and taking the biggest wipe-out to claim third place. Duncan dominated his heat with several big waves but still needs to finish cleanly to maximise his scores. Wanda sailor Andrew who has been seen pulling forwards at his home break outclassed series leader Guillaume to take second in his first competition with NSW WA. Mr Freestyle Anthony took second in Heat B while keen photographer Kris took a break from the camera to focus on reaching his best placing for the season with 4th overall.
The first heat of the Masters was run with the more experienced competitors milking the most from the waves were on offer. Some of the bigger sets formed a nice A-frame which linked up through rip to offer 2-3 bottom turns, others seemed to collapse into nothing so good wave choice was paramount. Unfortunately the breeze seemed to be dropping and after 7 minutes watching the second heat floundering in the shore break competition was put on hold for 20 minutes. Once the wind filled in again the usual suspects made the final including Steve Robinson who was making a comeback into the top 3 after a break from competition for a few seasons.

Unfortunately the wind started to get patchy as predicted and no finals were run. So instead a single heat of Pros was sent out in doubtful conditions however good technique and tactical sailing showed that it was still possible to slot into some clean sets. The rips, currents, sets and light breeze all combined to make getting out a challenge. Tim Williams managed to position himself to grab 3 set waves in the 15 minute expression session and pulled a big clean top turn in the critical section to secure his first event win edging out Olli Barta (Naish/Naish), Tim Knowles and Dan Berry (JP/Neil Pryde) by only a few points. Francois Pialoux and Rhys Herbert rounded out the top six.
The presentation BBQ was held back at the Gerroa HQ. A special note of thanks must go to vice president Adrien and Bakers Maison who kindly supply 60 gourmet bread rolls and Alan Bailey (treasurer) who missed the rerun of his masters heat to purchase the food and necessary liquid refreshment. Former club presidents Craig Williams and Rhys Herbert created restaurant quality salads and NSW Pro champion manned the BBQ. After the prize giving a contingent headed up to the Gerroa Fishos to tests the limits of the new responsibility of alcohol service laws by ordering copious amounts liqueurs sourced from obscure eastern European countries.

The next event is the Teams which is always the highlight of the NSW WA season. No stress competition, tag team style with groups of sailors representing their region. This year in addition to the powerful South coast, Northside and Central coast teams the EU will have their own team. Season trophies and the remaining prizes will be awarded at the presentation dinner. The AGM will also be held to vote in new office bearers. Tim Williams who has been the club president this year as well as doing judging and waterways in past years, is looking to pass the baton. The AGM also gives all NSW WA members input into the decision making process by being a committee member or offering suggestions to improve the competitions.

Results

Date: 11th – 12th December 2010

30+ Sailors turned out for the Starboard, Severne and Flying Objects Smack it Classic at Wanda, even with the least inspiring forecast for the Cronulla event in years.

Despite talking up the famous Wanda mystery swell and the likelyhood of a seabreeze the chance of holding an event was slim to none.

Fortunately for competitors the guys from Auswind (WA) had made the Cronulla event a major stop on their Starboard, Severne East Coast Demo Tour. Ian and Marco from Auswind had an extensive range of Starboard SUPs to demo as well a couple of Kodes and EVO IQ quads to try.

After the skippers meeting at 11:00 competition was put on hold until 2:00pm when there would be a possibility of an ‘old school’ light wind freestyle comp if the north easterly seabreeze developed.

From then to the second meeting Jason Juretic had a trailer load of donated gear to sort through to build sets of suitable training rigs for his Venturers and Scout group. A number of sailors pitched in to match sails to masts and booms. There were some excellent kids rigs donated and some very historic examples of mast bases amongst the assortment. Jason’s enthusiasm to get juniors into the sport through his try windsurfing events has nearly a dozen kids now bitten by the windsurfing bug.

The Starboard SUPS proved to be very popular and there were some excellent new shapes to try. Starboard has released a couple of models in carbon layup and the 10’ 5 must weigh around 6kg. There was also a very versatile 8’5 by 29, model that looks to be an excellent supplement for any wavesailor’s quiver. With 3 different screw-in positions for the mast base and footstrap options the 8’5 would double as a light wind waveboard as well as really manoeuvrable quad/tri/single fin SUP.

No mystery swell arrived however the seabreeze was strong enough by 3:30pm to sail and competition began with a combined Groms, Junior, Youth and Ladies expression session. For 15 minutes Oliver Cox and Forest Ladkin picked off the best of the 1-2’ shore break to post some decent rides and continue their ongoing battle for the Youth title. Anne, Cheryl , and Jessie contested the Ladies division while Jake Juretic found the conditions to his liking for the Groms division.

The Amateurs, Masters and Pros divisions each had 15 minute expression sessions and although the small waves were inconsistent and the wind gusty the level of sailing was high.

This event was about maximising what little was on offer and conditions were contestable. Getting manoeuvres would require excellent technique and timing and the better sailors would stand out. Some luck did play a part in who got the waves and at times the drop-in rules were tested.

The top Pro’s made the conditions look better than they were, pulling off forward loops and getting speed down the line. Move of the event must be awarded to Adrien Levy who managed a full tail kick aerial off 1’ of white water during the warm up.

It was a brave but good decision by the judges to fit in enough heats to get a result for the event.

On Sunday there was no swell, not even a wavelet and no chance of any wind so the remaining committee members called off the event at 11:00am. Sydney would be treated to a 10 day flat spell after the competition so hopefully by the time Event 5 begins Huey will take pity and send wind and waves.

A big thankyou to Auswind stayed for the whole event and lent out a couple of Starboard Quad’s and the new S1 and Blade to sample as well as all their SUP’s. Furthermore Auswind’s exceptional generosity meant the NSW WA club awarded $100 gift vouchers to the winners of each division.

See you at the next one – Event 5, let’s hope a big southerly sends us to Windang.

Results

Date: 20th – 21st November 2010

All week before the comp the forecast did not look promising as NE winds were predicted for every day except for the weekend of the competition. Even by Thursday it looked like the Corona event at Merimbula was going to receive the best winds and the third NSW WA would be another marginal seabreeze event with small surf. However, the wind gods smiled and Ask Huey delivered the swell making the event on for one and all on Saturday. The reality was that the Gerroa wind machine would hopefully suck in a contestable breeze by mid-afternoon and enough southerly swell would hang around to hold some of the opening heats. Sunday was looking a better day for wind but any waves would likely disappear overnight.

Anne from WindsurfnSnow brought down some hot looking Fanatic freewaves to play with. The light conditions made the two big boards very popular with the heavier sailors in the fleet. The 9.0 Naish SUP was also very popular. The chance to try before you buy convinced a couple of the boys that the small but manouverable size of the 9’ was the way to go with their Supping. “Yep definitely, I be talking to Sam (From WSS) next change I get” was heard as the Naish SUP was passed onto the next eager SUPer.

The judges called for a 2:00 pm meeting in hope of getting in some heats late in the afternoon. By 1.00 pm a couple of the lightweights and desperate looked to hook into some of the clean 2-3 set waves. Is Gerroa the Cape Verde of NSW? The waves were aligning straight onto the beach and not peeling down the line as they can when Gerroa is perfect. Club president Tim and vice president Adrien worked the upper bank before their official duties began. The upper bank was setting up for some nice smacks and even though the wind was light there was enough power to race down the line and push off through the bottom turn and hit the closeout that threw out over the sandbank. By 2.00pm everyone was on the water and the competition was called on to quickly start with the Masters division.

The Masters were sent out with a building swell as the tide was coming in. Some clean sets would build out the back and competitors had to aggressively position themselves with quick tacking to pick up waves as upwind as possible. Jason Cater was the standout competitor on the day. Clearly a wave magnet he would race down the line for nice top to bottom combos and re entries off the white water. Everyone at least had one great wave but luck was definitely a factor. The judging system definitely supports the sailor who for 15 minutes can consistently sail at a high level and seem to be everywhere at once. It was great to see Tony Marsh sailing after a long layoff from shoulder surgery. He’s working on a new formula for Ask Huey sunscreen while expanding the brand into Europe. Winners of Round 1 advanced to the final while the remaining 7 contenders battled it out for the remaining two spots. Alan Bailey (My smallest wavesail is a 5.8) impressed with some late smacks while sailing with a broken rib to take second. Steve Myers and Warren Holder could not be separated and tied for 3rd.

The first heat of the Groms/Junior/Youths and Ladies was sent out after the opening Master’s rounds. In a reversal of the previous Gerroa event Forest Ladkin got the mettle over Oliver Cox while Cheryl Prout showed that recent knee surgery has not slowed her down. Alex Lueck showed definite signs of promise as he rode his best wave of the series on borrowed gear. He should advance from the Starboard SUP he has been using as he is obviously ready to advance to full wave gear.

The Amateurs is a popular division and all sailors have risen the bar with their sailing. A common “complaint” heard on the beach was that there were no easy heats. After a season a couple of events the Ams know what the judges are looking for and much less nervous about going for it in a competition setting. Standout sailor of the event was Guillaume Valdant and best improver was Sebastien Thevenet. Jaime Coelho showed enormous potential freesailing however he could not find any set waves during his 15 minute heat. He much preferred the Sunday session when he got more waves than the Queen on an official visit. Anthony Frith’s wave riding has improved significantly and being well powered up on his Jolly Green Giant sail during his heats was an advantage. Surprise 3rd place was Adam Lowein. He’s a Gerroa local who does not rate himself much of a sailor and only just “getting back into it for a bit of fun”. Kris Markowski took a break from being photographer to compete and scored some smooth long rides.

The Pros division was the strongest and largest for quite a number of events. Former Australian champions and state champions made the drive keen to push the level of sailing in this event. Dean Headrie pulled out all stops to make it as well as Tim Knowles, Mick Westra who were all going to give Dan Berry a run for the event win. The highlight of the event was when former Aussie champ, Mick Westra on a borrowed board picked out the biggest set wave of the day and dropped down into a fast lay down bottom turn during his second chance at the final. Unfortunately his aggression and not being in sync with the board, unfamiliar footstraps and underfinned meant he lost his power turn in the most spectacular way. With the finals running late into the afternoon Deano had leave, freeing up a final spot for Mick to fill. It was unfortunate that the waves seemed to be more inconsistent later in the afternoon but the judges made the decision and press on to get a full event result. Sailors at a Pro level can make marginal conditions looked good with their polished technique and experience. Dan Berry showed his usual polish to take the title while Olli Barta and Tim Knowles both had flashes of aggression and brilliance.

At 6:30pm the competition was declared over and the event site was quickly packed up. Back at the team house the boys had the BBQ firing and the specialty bread for the evening from Bakers Maison was to be Turkish roll. Rhys Herbert worked his Mediterranean magic on the salads and everyone was well fed before the official part of the night began. Forest Ladkin scored a new North XT skinny extension to replace the carbon one he broke launching into a huge aerial during an unofficial competition with Oliver Cox upwind of the contest arena. The Ion boardbag went to a good home and ever winner walked away with a great prize.

Sunday dawned with the potential for a decent NE although the waves were under 1’ and breaking full on a high tide. A quick SUP was interrupted by a building cross off breeze which was sailable by 10:30am. After a long day’s competition the remaining committee members had decided to just have free day’s sailing in what was to offer satisfied that they had scored the best of the waves on the Saturday.

So is Gerroa the Cape Verde of the NSW south coast? This authors’ answer is Yes. For a golden hour the swell arrived and peaked with headhigh sets on the upper bank, and peeling/barrelling perfectly down the line over a shallow sandbar and eventually offering a peaky section to launch off.
Where was everyone? Waiting for the wind to build, which it would! But even though the breeze was light and patchy the apparent wind squeezed up the wave face was enough for 5.0 and 76 twinnie. Ben Kirk was the only other sailor out and made the wise choice to take out the small board. Wishing that our heats were on at that moment each wave presented 3-4 top to bottom turns with steep sections holding up in the offshore winds. This was the best Gerroa has to offer. Later in the day the 20knot seabreeze gave everyone more than enough sailing and waves until 5:30pm.

So what great weekend. Great competition, good food, drink, company and more sailing in two days that most people had had in a month. See you at the next one – Cronulla!

Results

I’m sure every sailor gets that feeling of destination fever when heading out of Sydney for a weekend away. Having the car packed with enough water based toys for any adventure fills one with such a positive feeling that no matter what there will be fun to be had.

Unfortunately the usual sea breeze or southerly wind pattern that makes Flat Top such a great venue got destroyed by an east coast low over the long weekend. However we did get over an hour sailing in during the frontal bursts of easterly wind and enough time to run a fun all in expression session for all competitors. Notable standouts were Nick Auston with his 360 attempts in the lagoon, Anthony Frith with a fully planning Vulcan and numerous duck gybe attempts by everyone. Jimmy Houghton landed a nice forward and aerial Shovit in the onshore waves while Ollie Barter showed that his new Naish sails have plenty of power to get a tweaked tabletop. Alan Bailey in the masters showed that 3 weeks in Mauritius has cleaned out the winter cobwebs while Jessica Juretic and Jake Juretic practiced their onshore sailing skills. Anne Waldron flew the flag for the ladies and bought lots of JP, Neil Pryde, North and Fanatic toys for competitors to try courtesy of WindSurfnSnow.

On the social side NSW WA organised a great curry night on the Saturday and managed to get the function room at the Seaview Tavern for a private screening of the NRL Grand Final. Despite a less than promising forecast it was very encouraging to see so many competitors and their families turn up for the event. A special thank you must go out to all those partners, wives and kids who made the trip. It’s great to see conversation flow so easily between everyone and cover more than just the benefits of carbon fibre boom ends.

As usual Ask Huey were more than generous as event sponsors and everyone walked away with free sunscreen and a pen. Over a dozen pairs of those very nice Ask Huey sunnies were given to Event 1 winners and the standout sailors from Saturday’s sailing. Please checkout Ask Huey’s new website as it’s very tidy and can be easily customised for your local sailing location.
Date: 2nd – 4th October 2010

Unfortunately only rain greeted competitors at the 10:00am skippers meeting and the event was eventually called off at midday. A tough call by the judges but in retrospect the weekend did not provide any contestable sailing conditions. Nick Auston did get out from the main beach for a few fun waves as did a couple of hardy SUPpers, Ben and Mark, and a lone kite surfer who made the most of the flat conditions close to shore. The heavens opened Monday morning and most competitors made the trip home through localised flooding on the north coast.

Let’s hope Event 3 November 20th at Gerroa brings some great conditions. A few competitors in the Pro’s have been working on some secret moves during the winter months to give Dan Berry a run for the title which will hopefully be unveiled at the comp.

Date: 11th – 12th September 2010

The Dirty Dog sponsored NSW Wavesailing Association series opener showed once again that the Illawarra can deliver some amazing down the line conditions – even right at the beginning of spring. Most of the competitors took the leisurely drive to the Illawarra on the Friday before the competition to make the most of a potential early Saturday WSW wind and Southerly ground swell.

Saturday morning as was anticipated had a good a swell and a WSW wind but unfortunately it was just too light for competition sailing. The early call was for a Port Kembla based sign on – a venue that actually worked very well thanks to a large car park and plenty of space. The lack of wind gave the committee time to sign people up, distribute the excellent tee-shirts and stickers then sell the vibrant blue hoodies to anyone within a two kilometre radius! There was a fantastic turnout to the sign on, with approximately 40 competitors and a very healthy number of new people. It is fair to say that every major division now has four or more entries.
Anne was on hand to show off the latest JP twinsers, thrusters, quads and a great FSW with only one fin box! Windsurf’nSnow were also able to get the event site looking pretty special thanks to their large tent and even larger flags, posters, stickers and any other windsurfing paraphernalia they could find in the shop! It was such a good display that most locals driving pass stopped to have a look at what was going on.

After a briefing from the Judges which included the competition format, event information, and a discussion about the Nationals, all of the equipment was put away for a trip back to Gerroa – just in case the NE’r did kick in.

That afternoon Gerroa did produce a NE’r with the NSWWA members hitting the water with their choice of board – sail, surf or SUP. As is often the case, Francois was showing us all how to ride in five knots of wind even managing an impressive off the lip on one wave.

Once the sun had set on a great afternoon of surf, Jason and Jake fired up the BBQ and cooked a feast for the members. Once the food had been eaten Tim and Mike took over to explain what the plan was for Sundays competition. Mike then handed out Dirty Dog sunglasses to all of the new members. The evening was finished off with the Bledisloe and a few beers.

Sunday was shaping up for a good NE’r so all of the NSWWA members hit the Gerroa car park nice and early. A few people managed to get out in some great two to three foot surf with their surfboards and SUPs. The judges then got the Juniors and Ladies out on the water before midday in a steadily building NE’r. The large contingent of Amateurs quickly followed with three individual heats, the winner going straight to the final and the rest able to fight it out for the final spots in a repechage. Masters and Pro’s quickly followed in wind which was just starting to peak at 15 knots.

There were as always a few stand outs on the day, Oliver Cox and Jason Cater (who had unbelievable board speed) managed to pick up the waves of the day, Francois showed the Pro’s that his move from the Amateurs was justified, Nick, one of the new members from Newcastle was getting some great long wave rides in and Dan was able to defy gravity (and the lack of wind) to do a huge off the lip! The award for dedication must go to Duncan, who lost his harness before the heat, pulled out a footstrap screw after five minutes and then proceeded to smash any lip he could find which usually ended up in a big wipe-out – all cheered on from the beach!

The competition was completed by 5:30pm; a few beers were consumed in the carpark whilst people discussed the next competition in Woolgoolga before everyone headed home. Except Jason and Jake who locked themselves out of their van!

All results are now up on www.nswwavesailing.org

The NSWWA Committee would like to thank Dirty Dog for sponsoring the event and providing us with their excellent sunglasses, Anne, her partner and WSnS for bringing a lot of demo gear, flags and the tent, all the new members who drove long distances even with an average forecast, everyone who helped out with carrying, judging, cooking and finally Tim Williams who, as always, ran a very efficient, entertaining and competitive event.

The Ask Huey sponsored Woolgoolga competition (2-4th October) is fast approaching so please start to look into accommodation! Further details to follow.

Results