THE return to the 13th Beach Boardriders Club season saw a 3ft-4ft jumbled swell with light to moderate onshore winds.
The under-16s and under-18s handled the conditions well with Zeph Lampard weaving his way through sections for the better scores.
Season veteran Beacon specialists Shawn ‘Mouse’ Todd and Sim Collier picked off the gems to dominate the over-35s.
The first upset of the season came in the opening heat of Open A with current club champion Todd being toppled early – and it was Danny Dales-Sutton taking his first scalp of the new season.
Club president and 2016 runner-up Gus Harfield also came up agonisingly short on a countback to recently elevated and reigning Open B champion Tod Sapovski. So tight was the competition in the elite division that the third heat was also decided on a countback with ’Banjo’ Harfield just getting the nod over Myles Fletcher but not before he displayed the sort of surfing that proved that he too is in the appropriate division.
The conditions proved challenging for the judges having to watch out for multiple peaks but overall the level of concentration was admirable.
Everyone in the club has come a long way over the last year taking on board direction from the head judges.
U10 Mixed: 1. Ted Conroy, 2. Jerry Kelly, 3. Max Bassett, 4. Lara Ford.
U12 Mixed: 1. Jack Bassett, 2. Isiaih Norling, 3. Henry Wright, 4. Charlie Farrer.
U14 Mixed: 1. Zeph Lampard, 2. Ellie Harrison, 3. Bea Conroy, 4. Jett Storey.
U14 Girls: 1. Ellie Harrison, 2. Mini Vorrath, 3. Bea Conroy, 4. Hannah Lace.
U16: 1. Zeph Lampard, 2. Kian Major, 3. Emma Walker, 4. Ellie Harrison.
U18: 1. Kian Major, 2. Zeph Lampard, 3. Marcel Laidlaw, 4. Ferg Willet, 5. Joey Harrison.
U16: 1. Zeph Lampard, 2. Kian Major, 3. Emma Walker, 4. Ellie Harrison.
In Open B it was Chris Janson, who having sat in the slot for the heat, was stifled by the Beacon gods having to sit and watch the best waves break around him to finish in fourth, Jaryd Tannahill third and Jimmy Adams second, but it was Moya the beast that slayed the sets to dominate the final as he read the incoming tide shift best.
In the Open Women’s final it was none other than Ellie Harrison at the ripe old age of 11 that defeated Emma Walker. Ellie got a result in all of the six heats she surfed on the day so is just about making a living out of prizes considering that she recently won her division at the Rip Curl Torquay GromSearch and also took out the Smoothstar event.
In the Open Men’s final it was Ben Collier who opened with a solid left connecting with a couple of big turns to the inside while Gus Harfield also opened with a solid score. As Billy Harrison was to sledge later at the presentation that Danny Dales-Sutton left his A-game in the earlier heats to get fourth and Gus claiming third .
It was Billy Harrison that narrowly took the opening win of the season with his sharpened competition know-how having represented his country just weeks prior and with his recent win in the Victorian Open at Bells his ability to pick off the better waves with ease, weave through multiple sections coming clean of the bottom to demolish the lip throwing buckets was the difference between him and Ben Collier, who finished second.
Comp two, sponsored by Tonik, is up soon on 29 October.
