Bombs, Barrels and Broken Boards!

With a solid ground swell and offshore winds predicted things looked very promising for the Tonik sponsored third comp for the 13^th Beach Boardriders on Saturday May 8^th.

First light gave us a glimpse of what the day would bring, with waves moving through Beacon and Hutto’s in the 5ft plus range. With such large and unpredictable conditions,it was decided that the Groms and Women’s Division should be surfed at Grove and only the Junior Men and Open Divisions were to be held at 13^th.

Early free surfers showed the gathered crowd what could be expected. Big barrels for those who picked the right wave, and a beating for those who were a little slow to their feet or not fully committed. With 3 boards broken by the start of competition everyone was aware of the consequences.

The Junior Men competitors showed a great deal of pluck and commitment and handled the tricky conditions with flair and courage as they battled the solid conditions. The final pitted the Harfield brothers against each other in a fantastic exhibition of big wave surfing with younger brother Gus just edging out his elder, Banjo with Willis and Kayeera taking the minor places.

The Open A surfers relished the big conditions. Sim and Ben Collier, Josh Johnson-Baxter, Matt Devitt and Grant Stringer were in excellent form and put on a masterful display of tube riding and power surfing. Final Results were Josh Johnson-Baxter first followed by Simon Collier, Matt Devitt and Grant Stringer in fourth place.

Despite getting caught inside, and having to battle a flood of white water and a huge paddle, Lewie Speranza took out his second Open B comp for the year. Second place went to Leigh Butcher, third was Nic Stephens and fourth was Nat Gretski.

The Masters Division saw Shane Vincent take the wipe out and hold down of the day, when a rouge set saw him caught inside. “Shano” still managed a second place behind Dick Field with Grant Hutchins in third and Rob Pethofourth.

Grant Stringer backed up his solid performance in Open A with a win in the Senior Men’s Division. Shane Eagles surfed a strong final to finish second with Shane Vincent third and Damian Robinson fourth.

Conditions at the Grove were perfect for the Cadets. Austin Haire in his first comp since arriving home from a couple of years surfing the sunshine coast took out first place. The consistent Myles Fletcher was second while the very promising Harrison brothers, Tom and Billy were third and fourth respectively.

In the U/13 Boys saw the up and rising shine! With Youngster Henry Hutchins taking out his first win in the U/13 division, shredding the Grove lefts all the way to the beach!

In the Junior Women’s Division, Sapphire Main continued with the excellent form she has shown in the past two events by taking out her third title for the year. The minor places were filled by Paige Kilfoyle, Grace Roberston and Jemimah Hutchins.

Ash Wall’s good form in the Open Women has continued with her second win for the year. She surfed powerfully and with confidence to defeat Lizzy Ryan with Paige Kilfoyle and Georgia G rounding out the minor places.

Micro groms and their parents should check the web sitewww.13thbeachboardriders.com for details of the timing of their next event as the last expression session was postponed due to mothers Day.

Rip bowls, a pulsing groundswell and bacon & egg rolls greeted competitors bright and early on Saturday morning as the second event for the ’010 season got underway with a bang.

The cadets and juniors were forced to tackle the most trying conditions of the Billabong comp, with a tide-affected current wreaking havoc across the lineup and bomb closeout sets making hard work for the groms.

The rapidly improved Myles Fletcher got his backhand groove on to take the honours in the under 16’s over youngster Tom Harrison.

The backhand winning trend continued in the under 18’s with Banjo Harfield trumping younger brother Gus in what is shaping up to be a feisty family battle over the remaining four comps.

With the juniors done and dusted, an incoming tide and easing winds, the Golfies rip bank began to show it’s true, sucky potential. Cam Lamperd and Ben Collier took no time to get amongst the action, locking in some tube time throughout the early heats, but it was Josh Johnson-Baxter who outpointed his fellow competitors in the final to be victorious in the Open A division.

Josh’s younger brother Bart also locked in number one place in the open B’s to make it a Baxter double in the Opens.

Midmorning saw the older blokes forced to move over the channel to compete on the slightly larger and chubbier leftbank. Taking full advantage of the long walls was Mike Randall and Gav Allen who won the masters and senior mens divisions respectively.

The open women also ventured over to the left where Pip Cornes proved too good on her forehand to take out her first win of the year over Sapphire Mann, Ash Wall and Lizzy Ryan.

Bronson Field was too good in the U/13’s and the micro groms enjoyed a Friday evening session at Grove main, from all reports it was a display of high performance ripping.

With a strong onshore blowing and the swell bouncing about like an oversized washing machine, conditions were less than ideal for the rescheduled first comp for 2010. But with a heavy program for the year, as they say “the show must go on”.

The Juniors battled the tough conditions with flair and demonstrated that their intensive coaching program has given them added confidence and improved skills. A number of Junior boys and girls also participated in the Open events with Sapphire Main, Cassie Vincent and Gus Harfield progressing to the Open Women’s and Men’s finals respectively.

With Josh Johnson-Baxter competing in the WQS event at Burleigh Heads the Open A’s fought hard to get important points to give them a head start in the aggregate competition. Shawn Todd just edged out Cam Lamperd with Simon Collier in third and Gus Harfield fourth.

Open B saw Nic Stephens take out his first comp win in an open division, Lewie Speranza placed second in his first club event for a couple of years.

Last year’s Open Women’s winner Ash Wall has remained in good form taking the points from Sapphire Main who surfed extremely well in the difficult conditions.

Division results were:

The Greenroom Expression Session specialty event finally got underway at Corners on the weekend in crumbly 2-3 foot surf. Competitors were broken up into two 45 minute heats with 3 main prizes up for grabs – Best Maneuver, Best Wave & Best/Funniest Wipeout. As you will see in the photos everyone was going mad chasing a piece of the $2000 prize pool.

Results have been held for the Presentation Night this Saturday so all will be revealed then!

Checkout Afro’s epic photos -

The final event of the 2009 season was run and won on Saturday 28th November in tiny waves at Corners.

Thirteenth was far from pumping for the Greenroom comp, with easterly wind-chop and a light northwest wind greeting competitors early on in the day. The surfing however, was not so bad. The groms were first to tackle the shifty peaks, with natural footers Guy Wilersdorf and Gus Harfield shinning out.

After the under 13 heats were done and dusted, several micro groms headed up the beach and had a crack at Barney’s for the first time. Billy and Tom Harrison charged the hardest until 9-year-old Billy copped a beating on a set wave.

Back at the competition site a few swell lines out of the west were beginning to filter in for the Open heats.

Usual suspects Shawn Todd and Josh Johnson-Baxter surfed well in the slightly building swell as did ex president Sim Collier.

Results from the day will be announced at the end of year presentation night on Saturday December 19th.

The Thirteenth Beach Boardriders Club held their fourth event for the 2009 season on Saturday in super contestable conditions at Golfies.

Small waves around the two-foot mark were lighting up a well-formed leftbank that was dubbed one of the best sand formations for a 13th event in years.

The Open A heats were treated to excellent conditions with Matt Devitt bringing along his pig-dogging A-game to be the standout surfer in the early rounds.

It was a natural-footed affair in the final and Ben Collier shone through to defeat Josh Johnson-Baxter, Travis Bristow, Shawn Todd and Simon Collier with a gouging backhand attack.

Newcomer to the club, Brendan took the honours in the Open B division but it was veteran Masters competitor Dick Field who had everyone talking by placing second in the Open B’s.

After almost clinching the Open B title, Dick’s forehand proved far too good the old dogs in the Masters division, claiming victory ahead of Grant Hutchins who placed second.

James Jacobi won the Junior Men’s and Gus Harfield claimed his fourth straight U/16 victory to secure the overall Cadet title for the 2009 season.

8-year-old super grom Billy Harrison claimed his maiden U/13 crown defeating his older brother Tom Harrison, Bronson Field and Larry Willet in the final.

The Open Women’s final was staged on a bowling right-bank up the beach from the left at Golfies. Stefanie Crawly-Clough and Lizzy placed 3rd and 4th respectively while Molly Kenwood couldn’t do enough to outpoint Ash Wall, who won her first event for the year.

Goofy footer Matt Tribe thrived on the long lefts to take the Senior Men’s crown from Shane Vincent, Damien Robinson and Dave, who finished in second, third and fourth places respectively.

The Thirteenth Beach Boardriders Club held their third event for the 2009 season on Saturday in sun-bathed waves at Leftbank.

After three weeks of uncontestable conditions, the Billabong comp was eventually given the green light after a fading two-foot swell and a light offshore northerly greeted event organizers at dawn.

The Under 13’s set off down the beach and scored peaky a-frames at Signies much to the delight of the young frothers.

Man-child Bronson Field went bananas in the Under 13 final to finish in first place ahead of Tom Harrison, Billy Harrison and Henry Hutchins.

Whilst the micro groms were getting pitted down at Signies, a lingering high tide put a dampener on the otherwise flawless conditions up at Leftbank with copious backwash and closeouts being the story of the morning.

Gus Harfield successfully dodged the backwash and again outpointed Rory Hempton to win in the Cadets, making it three from three in 2009.

Chris Jansen managed to pick off anything that peeled amongst the abundant closeouts and courtesy of his superior wave selection was triumphant, rocketing himself into first place on the Junior Men’s ratings.

Bec Mcglinchey took out Jemima Hutchins and Sapphire Mann to claim her second consecutive victory in the Junior Girls division.

In the Open Women’s, Steph Crawley-Clough further cemented her position atop the rankings by defeating Pip Cornes, Ally Kenwood and Kiri O’Connor in the final.

Mark Hutson won yet another crown in the Masters while Cam Lamperd proved he is a class above in the over 28’s with a dominate victory.

Jason Kersten won his maiden Open B event, defeating ratings leader Linc Beckworth.

As the tide dropped after lunch a few smokers began to present themselves at Leftbank and the Open A boys got amongst it.

Shawn Todd wowed the crowd with a massive backwash-defying floater over the rocks but it was South African Kyle Gilbert who put together two high scoring rides in a display of innovative trickery to take home his first victory at the club.

With three comps done and dusted all eyes turn to this Saturday’s Tonik comp, which will play a vital role in establishing the ratings heading into the tail end of the season.

The Thirteenth Beach Boardriders held their second event for the year on Saturday and more than 150 competitors were treated to smoking waves all day at Beacon and Hutto’s.

The dawn patrol revealed a wonky two-to-three foot swell, light offshore winds and a recent inundation of quality high tide banks at Hutto’s prompted event organisers to run the comp at Beacon.

The Cadets had the luxury of sampling the fun conditions first up and 14 year olds Jackson Wyle and Gus Harfield stole the show, stamping their authority on the division only two events into the season.

Jackson appeared to have the better of Gus for the most part of the five-man final but courtesy of a last minute burst of reo’s, Gus took the upper hand in a tightly contested encounter.

It was a family affair in the recently revamped under 13 division with Tom and Billy Harrison finishing first and second behind Henry and Jemima Hutchins in third and fourth place respectively.

More than 25 under 18 boys rocked up to do battle and in what is shaping up to be the most evenly spread Junior field in years, Chris Jansen won his maiden under 18s event thanks a deadly forehand assault.

Bec McGlinchey was triumphant in the Junior Girls, defeating Safire Mann and Jemima Hutchins while Steph Crawley-Clough notched up her first victory for 2009 in the Open Women’s.

In the Open A semi finals Ben Collier snagged the barrel of the day, emerging from a long and chunky Hutto’s keg much to the delight of the stoked spectators.

Despite his tube antics, Ben couldn’t outpoint blazing surfer Josh Johnson-Baxter, who alongside Shaun Todd progressed into the final.

In the final Josh was unstoppable, flaring and airing his way to Open A victory leaving in his wake Travis Bristow, Cam Renzenbrink and Shaun Todd.

Grant Stringer won yet another Open B final and after an extended time away from the club Shane Eagles was victorious in the Senior Men’s.

In the Masters, Dick Field had a brief injection of Bronson’s youth, catching more waves than any of the old boys and like the stoked grom he soared to victory in the Over 35 division.

The Thirteenth Beach Boardriders 2009 season got underway on Saturday in windy two to three foot barrels at the clubs most utilized wave, Beacon.

The Rip Curl endorsed event was greeted by temperatures in excess of 47 degrees and a gale-force northerly marred the otherwise perfect conditions.

The juniors were the first to don their boardies and hit the balmy water with a record 24 under 18’s signing up for the ’09 season.

The howling offshore didn’t faze Guy Willersdorf who thrived in the fun conditions, making use of his light frame to dominate the final on his way to his maiden Junior’s victory.

“The rights at Hutto’s were really fun, I felt comfortable on them and my style seemed to suit the wave.” Willersdorf said.

After recently picking up a sponsor, Ocean Grove’s Gus Harfield’s good fortune continued over the weekend and courtesy of some seriously good surfing took the honours in the under 16 division.

The grinding peaks of Hutto’s also played host to the clubs best female surfers with Kiri out scoring Molly, Ash and Pip to win the Open Women’s.

Thanks to the intense weather the Under 13’s opted to run an expression session at Grove and it was Billy Harrison and Bronson Field who stole the show.

In the Micro-Groms Jamilla surfed with the most style and Adam got the longest ride.

The Masters overran the main peak at Beacon and in an astonishing revelation it was the big frame of Mark Hutson who once again took victory in his stride.

The club legend added yet another string to his bow by defeating the internationally acclaimed Simon Anderson in a hard fought final.

By lunchtime the wind was puffing northerly, tide dropping, wetsuits done away with and Beacon began to do its thing just in time for the highly anticipated arrival of world renowned shaper Darren Handley in the Open A’s.

Although the spotlight clearly shone on DH, Travis was the standout performer in the early rounds of the Open A division.

With the Open A and B finals left to run the wind shifted westerly making conditions below par and the remaining heats were postponed until the second event on March 28.