Day Two of the 2018 NSW Open Surf Life Saving Championships saw a mixed bag of results with a big shore dump dictating which events could be run and changes to the timetable were required to suit the challenging conditions.
Surfboat racing in particular was affected with some divisions postponed altogether while others were run with hard cuts to get through the rounds.
The conditions proved an advantage for the experienced water competitors who were able to read the surf, pick the break out and negotiate the shore dump on the way back to shore.
Cudgen Headland’s Scott McCartney displayed practiced board paddling skills to make the most of Luke Chaffer’s great swim leg to get a first in the Open Male Board Rescue, ahead of Redhead and Newport.
Veteran surf competitor Jim Walker also showed his experience and teamed up with son Ben and Jackson Collins to claim bronze in the Open Ski Relay, cementing the North Bondi SLSC’s proud legacy of great surf ski results at state and national level. Ben and Jackson also teamed up with Noah Havard to get gold in the U19 Ski Relay and Jackson and Noah won the U19 Double Ski race.
Newport are well ahead in the pointscore after day two and are looking to secure a fifth straight Open Championship title on the final day of competition. Newport competitors were in the top spot in almost every water event, with golds in the U17 Male Taplin and Ski Relay, U19 Board Relay, U15, U17 and Open Female Surf Team and Open Board Rescue, U19 Rescue Tube Rescue, U19 Female Double Ski and Open Female Board Relay.
Unlike the water, the beach track was much more predictable and events ran smoothly through sprints, relays and beach flag events.
Michael Hanna from Elouera was a surprise performer, taking out the U19 and Open Beach Sprint, ahead of one of the favourites in Newport’s Jake Lynch.
Jake got his own back however when he won gold in the Open Beach Flags ahead of Swansea Belmont’s Liam Hall-Muir and Sam Zustovich from Mollymook.
The North Cronulla girls were on fire on the beach track today with the Rampoldi sisters the standout. Alex and Leah took first and second in the U17 Beach Flags and first and third in the Open Beach Flags.
North Cronulla’s Lucy Flanagan, who missed out on winning the U14 Sprint last week did one better and took out the U15 Beach Sprint. She also took silver in the U15 Beach Flags.
Neighbouring club Cronulla also had some great results, led by Chloe Mannix-Power who did the double, winning the U17 and Open Beach Sprints. She was also part of the U17 gold medal winning Beach Relay team and the Open team which came in third across the line.
Top 10 Overall Pointscore – Day 2
- Newport SLSC 324
- Cronulla SLSC 176
- Wanda SLSC 161
- Manly LSC 143
- North Bondi SLSC 105
- Umina SLSC 100
- Elouera SLSC 99
- Coogee SLSC 92
- North Cronulla SLSC 87
- Redhead SLSC 71
Saturday 10 March 2018