Pittwater Online News

April 18 - 24, 2021: Issue 490

Branch - State Surf Boat Carnivals Go Ahead Give A Good Splash For Local Crews At Season's End

1st in U19 Men; Avalon Beach Hueys - State Champions. Photo by Surf Life Saving NSW

1st in U23 Women; Palm Beach Panthers - State Champions. Photo by Surf Life Saving NSW

1st in U23 Men; Palm Beach Plumbers - State Champions. Photo by Surf Life Saving NSW

It's no secret that pour local surf club's boat sections have had a rough run over the past Season - when Covid-19 outbreaks weren't shutting down carnivals, the weather would chime in and send dangerous conditions that resulted in the cancellation or postponement of some of the treasured events on the annual Surf Boat Carnivals calendar.

The passion for this sport and to continue training and working at getting better, for many local crews a year-round occupation, although curtailed has been pursued - perseverance being a key practice among the surf club's membership. The hard work of all the officials deserves three loud cheers as well, the constant changes and work arounds are a testament to the dedication of these volunteers even when up against it.

During the past few weeks a few gains were made though - the Surf Life Saving Sydney Northern Beaches Branch Carnival for Surf Boats was held at Palm Beach on Sunday March 28th and last weekend the cancelled due to conditions State Surf Boat Carnival was run through Surf Life Saving New South Wales with a good swell on the Saturday and sublime conditions on the Sunday.

Participants in the Branch Carnival extended a big thank to Palm Beach SLSC and the boat rowers for making the day a success - with some nice runners back to the beach as the day went on. The wonderful Bill Sheridan sent in some of his photos from the SLSSNB Branch Carnival - these run below. Bill shares some great images of the boat crews from this Season and reports that that at Warriewood Kathryn Maguire has taken to the big oar. The branch Boat championships was her second competitive outing.

Go Kathryn!

Kathryn Maguire in action and her crew - photos by Bill Sheridan

Great images from Malcolm Trees and Richard Black accompany Surf Life Saving NSW's report as well.

Thank you gentlemen.

This week some of our local Surf Boat crews are heading north to compete in the Aussies 2021. The 2021 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships is hosted by Maroochydore SLSC, Alexandra Headland SLSC and Mooloolaba SLSC from 16 April to 24 April 2021.

Good luck to all those heading over the border!

SLS NSW's report:

Surfboat Finale To NSW Championships

Monday April 12, 2021

The 2021 NSW Surf Life Saving Championships, proudly supported by Your local club, concluded with the high flying action of the surfboat competition, which was rescheduled after floods forced the event to be cancelled in March.

New state champions were crowned and the surfboat comp at Swansea Belmont wraps up the annual event, which was conducted over four weekends this year due to Covid restrictions.

Great conditions greeted the crews on Saturday as the young guns took centre stage with racing in the Under 19 and Under 23 divisions. There was enough wave action to make for some challenging racing and a few spills, with many of the crews experiencing their first State Championships outing.

The dominance of the Palm Beach contingent was clear from the outset and it was the steady hand of sweep Peter Spence that saw both the U23 Male and Female crews walk away with matching gold medals.

The Palm Beach Panthers led the way throughout their final, capping off a great day for the crew.

“The girls have been amazing, not just today but all season. This was a goal to get, we’ve won the Branch, won the ASRL and now just Aussies to go,” said Peter Spence.

The crew was pleased that all the hard work paid off and is looking forward to having a good crack at an Australian title. “We’re feeling pretty solid, we’ve done the work, all we can do now is trust in Spencey and trust in what we’ve done to prepare.”

The Palm Beach Plumbers came home first in similar style and both U23 crews are now ASRL and NSW Champions, with only the Australian titles to tick off the list.

“The boys have been outstanding, they’ve done everything I’ve asked them to do, they’re just a brilliant crew, I love sweeping them. They deserve this, they’ve been rowing well all day and they do the work,” said Peter Spence.

In the U19 divisions, wins came down to the wire, with the Avalon Beach Hueys probably the closest finish of the day. After the boys had a shocker of a morning with a spectacular nose-dive and rollover in the early rounds, they picked themselves up and regrouped to secure a place in the final, then the gold medal.

“It’s pretty surreal, it was very, very close at the end,” said the boys. “There was nothing in it, we all came in together on that wave.”

Sweep Pete Carter was relieved the crew were able to keep their cool.

“The boys did awesome, we had a pretty crap start to the day, but they’ve come through adversity and killed it. I’m very proud of them.”

After a slow start off the beach, South Curl Curl Bumps and Humps made up time to turn the cans first and power home for the win in the U19 Female race. Sweep Mark Spiteri said the girls did an amazing job to come home strong, catching a wave near the line to keep rivals Nth Cronulla and Avoca Beach working hard til the very end.

Sunday saw the big guns hit the beach with racing in the Reserve and Open divisions. Flatter conditions and strong offshore winds made it hard work, although crews were just happy to be racing after a year of disruption and a patchy competition season due to Covid.

It came down to the wire in the Reserve women’s final, with South Curl Curl’s Curly Girlies holding off the competition in fine style.

Sweep Mark Spiteri was clearly happy with the result. “I’m so proud of these guys, they just fought all the way all day and had a bit to fight home at the end… just sensational.”

Along with veteran sweep Grant Wilkinson from Elouera, Neil Innes from Batemans Bay was one of two sweeps who was in all four finals, emerging with gold in the Reserve Male final. The crew agreed Neil was always good at getting that extra five percent out of them.

“He’s a great sweep. And it’s great that all the four AM starts are just kicking in,” said the crew.

The Open Female division was run and won with an ecstatic Nth Cronulla Funky Chicks taking the prize. The crew said they were exhausted, but felt confident going into the final.

With 50 metres to go and a clear lead, Sweep Mark McDonald wasn’t taking any chances with gold in sight and worked the girls hard. “I could see we were in a good spot and I just didn’t want to see anything coming through picking anyone else up,” he said.

The final race of the 2021 NSW Surf Boat Championships was a demonstration of sheer power and form from the Open men’s crews.

It was not a huge shock to see Bulli secure its eighth NSW Championship, winning back the title after losing narrowly to Batemans Bay in 2020.

“I think we’re all a bit buggered, me included,” said sweep Shane Geloven.

The crew clearly left nothing in the tank either. “It was really tight, us and Curly were pushing for that little runner right at the end and we did just enough to get over it. I can tell you there wasn’t much left,” they said.

With the surfboats marking the final chapter of the NSW Championships hosted at Swansea Belmont SLSC, the event moves to Sydney’s Northern Beaches from 2022, where another generation of surfboat rowers will get the chance to go for glory and a coveted State title.

Surfboat Championships Results

U19 Female