Australians hold National Freestyle Championships in surf!

March 30, 2006

I got this from our importer and good mate (that just rolled off the
tongue) Jez…

Subject: Nationals

Well the Australian National Freestyle Comp was held at Phillip Island
Victoria, using the surf at the beach to try to gear up for wave competition
rather than hole rodeo coinciding with the worlds at Bus eater, Canada. So
in saying this we unfortunately could not predict mother nature as the first
day saw conditions flatter than your average breakfast pancake. That lead to
a great night of DVD watching, giveaways and a little sporadic socializing
at
the campsite.

The next day was indeed that. A whole new day, with waves around the 5 foot
range. Boats took flight out the back, massive donkey flips and helix’s were
pulled off along with some huge dumps.

Jake paddling an All Star got third in the Juniors however was pummelled by
a
dumping wave that he tried to catch. He leant back as much as possible but
the 6-7 foot lip curled over. As the lip pushed over his stern it finally
picked him up and dumped him head first upside down. He eventually rolled
after a few failed attempts, realizing his paddle had snapped. This makes 13
paddles now he has snapped in 2 years. I’m sure this is some kind of record.

As for me, I managed to score National Champion for both C1 and OC1. I’m
kind of stoked about this. I have to admit there were a few big C1 names
that didn’t make it to the competition but I will none the less take the
crowns. Can’t wait to convert an All Star to C1, I’m sure this will float my
boat.

For some pictures of the event check out
http://www.seanboz.com/nats/ailsa’s%20gallery/index.htm

Thanks to Yap and Boz for putting the event together and Ailsa for the pics.

Keep on boating,
jez