We had a great weekend for the start of the News South Wales Wave Sailing Season with WSS Wanda Smackfest kicking things off over the 8th and 9th of November 2025. Now Saturday was forecasted to be a light wind social day but Huey had over ideas and spiced things up for us. Sunday was a full on southerly day with strong, challenging conditions. It was good to see everyone and catch up. It felt great to be back on the water.
Saturday’s Nor’easter Surprise
Saturday was a social catch up. The forecast was for light northerlies. Logan fired up his now famous Beachside barbecue. It was good to see members we hadn’t seen in a while. Everyone was talking about gear and catching up.
Jimmy delivered the new event tent, even if he was supporting a raging flu. It’s a big, octopus-like structure. It looks good with all the sponsor logos. We set it up easily on Saturday. It made a good central hub for the event, with a quick pic of some of the riders in their new season t-shirts.
We got lucky even with the light forecast. A Nor’easter kicked in around 1 PM. There were no real waves, so we ran a Wave Rally event. It was a lot of fun. About 15 competitors lined up on the beach. We had to sprint to our gear, sail 500m out around the shark buoy, and race back. Then we had to carry our kit over the finish line. It’s like a slalom race on wave boards. Some of the riders were fine tuning their wave rally skills for the upcoming Wave Rally event in WA early next year 2026.
Now, Logan was super fast, he is like a dragonfly on the water, and took the win. James gave us a funny moment. He jibed right on top of the shark buoy. He was probably hoping nothing was attached to it.
Later on, the waves picked up a little. We used the chance to run two combined rounds for Open Men’s, Amateurs, and Open Women’s. We also ran a round for the Masters. We got the results done just as the wind died. It was a bargain of a day, with drinks and dinner at Prestwick’s house to wrap up the day.
Sunday’s Strong Southerly
Sunday was a different story from Saturday. We arrived at a 15 to 20 knot South Wester in full swing. It quickly swung Southerly and built to 22 to 25 knots. The swell came with the wind. Waves grew from knee high to almost logo high. There was a difficult shore break as the tide rose.
We also had the theater of setting up the new tent first. It was simple on Saturday but much harder in 20 knots. The tent looked like a giant flapping octopus on the beach. It must have been funny to watch. We got it up, but it was taking the full force of 25kts at times.
The On Water Action
As the wind changed direction and became more south, the conditions on the water were rough and all over the place. The shore break was beginning to rival that of Sylt in Germany for the finals of Sylt World Cup 2025.
We were on and the format set by our head Judge Dino was 2 waves and 1 jump.
People were doing well in the conditions. Peter and Duncan landed good forward loops. Dean and Jason in the Masters also did forwards. Peter was very good in the waves. He showed his German skills and refining the messy conditions. Matteo showed his Victorian skills with great wave selection and riding. Ollie was riding well with backside re-entries and small aerials. Laurie was charging hard. She is a gun sailor and her skills were as strong as the men’s. Duncan also showed good wave selection with cutbacks and re-entries, but may have had the wrong sail size in place for the conditions.
A Big Thank You
We need to give a big thank you to Jessica Crisp. Jess is an Australian wave sailing champion. She came down on Sunday and was a great help with the scoring and judging. It was good to have her there to help out.
Big thanks to Jimmy Harcott for the new tent. Thanks to Logan for the Saturday BBQ. We also thank Adrian for coming down to show support and sail in the free ride session.
Massive thanks to the sponsors of the event.
Final Results
Here are the overall results for the Wonder Smackfest.
Open Men’s
- Peter P
- Duncan O
- Matteo P
- Laurie M
- Logan H
- Zach C
Masters
- Dino (Dean) H
- Jimmy H
Grand Masters
- Jason J
- Ollie B
Women’s
- Laurie M
Amateurs
- Stu
- James H
- Julian B
Saturday Wave Rally
- Logan H
- Zach C
- Julian B
It was a great start to the season. Thank you to everyone who competed, supported, and helped out. We look forward to the next one.
