Crews from all over NSW tasted success and enjoyed the challenge of the first running of the NSW Surf Boat Metro, Regional and Interseries Championships, held over two huge days at Ocean Beach on the Central Coast on 1-2 February.
The Metro & Regional Championships on Saturday was a showcase of the depth of surfboat competition in NSW from U19 through Masters categories, while the Interseries Championships on Sunday followed the current Surfboat Interstate format, featuring eight crews (U19, U23, Reserve & Open male/female division) representing the five NSW Boat Series.
Ocean Beach was resplendent in plenty of colour, noise and, most importantly, some incredibly spirited and competitive racing, with more than XX crews in all contesting the two days of competition.
Referee, Greg Heard said he was particularly impressed with not only the number of teams but the skill set of the crews that competed in the U19 and U23 divisions on Saturday, where key highlights included the Neil Innes-swept Batemans Bay team picking up gold in the Open Male while their clubmates from the south also won the Reserve Grade Female Regional division.
Palm Beach showed its strength in the women’s categories once again with wins in the U19 Metro, U23 Metro and Open Female, and North Cronulla and Avoca Beach were the male winners of the Reserve Metro and Regional categories, respectively.
It was a solid weekend for Avoca Beach crews – the Central Coast club nabbed a total of four first place finishes and 10 total podiums which was good for tied first and outright best (first places and podium finishes) respectively.
On Sunday, the Southern Penguins crew of Thomas James, Jacob Jones, Paul Jones, Hugo Perry Dickenson and Oscar Perry Dickenson nabbed a huge win in the U19 Male category, while their counterparts in the U23 Female category were winners there too.
The Southern Penguins also picked up a win in the Reserve Grade Female, and the Sydney Sharks Senior Relay team just edged out the Penguins in that race.
Everywhere else it was Sydney Northern Beaches Rays wins across the board – capping a great weekend for teams from the region after Palm Beach’s three wins and eight total podiums during the Metro & Regional Championships.
Wednesday 5 February 2025