On the 27th and 28th of January, event 4 in the NSW Wavesailing Association calendar was held in Gerroa. Generously supported by Remi from the www.thewindsurfingshed.com.au, some great prizes from Maui sails, XO sails and Exocet were up for grabs. As the forecast was for light winds the judges decided to put the event on hold for the day. With some sunshine predicted late in the afternoon competitors were ask to stick around in case the wind kicked in. Sure enough, the topographical wonder that is Gerroa worked its magic and late in the afternoon the nor’easter wind had enough strength for the judges to run the firsts heats of the weekend. In the tricky wave conditions all divisions achieved a first round result. Wave selection was quite crucial and the best competitors of the day had the patience to find the bigger set waves.
A BBQ was held late Saturday night and a shiny new XO Shark wave sail was won by Adam Lobwein. Competitors also enjoyed some sweet windsurf DVDs and with a few beers and of course the Fisho’s saw the usual action.
The second day was more promising in terms of wind. The small swell had a little more in it as well. The afternoon high tide was also a good sign that the waves would improve. With a good 20 knots competition resumed to run the final heats of the weekend. The juniors probably had the best of the conditions and their standard has significantly improved. Give them a couple of years and they will be kicking some butts in the senior divisions. Experience of the masters made that category interesting to watch as they were finding waves nobody else would find. Two banks were offering up a small wave which the occasional bigger set linking through the flats in the middle of the contest zone. Competitors were getting as much as they could closing off their wave score by popping a small aerial right onto the sand. The Pros final saw an aggressive battle between all four sailors trying to pull out the best of the conditions with Tim Knowles clearly dominating.
With all the results achieved, the ranking and pictures will be published soon thanks to Jason, so stay in contact with Website.
Once again we would like to thanks www.thewindsurfingshed.com.au who donated such great prizes and for their support as well as Neil Pryde as series sponsor.
See you all on the 18th and 19th of February for the last event of the season at Gerroa or Windang.
