Having a Swell time
Navy whitewashes opposition in NSW surfing contest

HOT STUFF: The ocean was boiling with outstanding surfing action from all contestants, representing Army, Air Force and Navy, who triumphed to take out the overall competition.

Volume 49, No. 7, May 04, 2006

By WOMT Ken ‘Smiley’ McPherson

Thanks to the remnants of Cyclone Larry, last month’s NSW Inter Service Surfing Championships at Bendalong Beach were contested in challenging conditions.

Over a three-day period, 72 men and women of the Navy, Army and Air Force battled giant surf and carved walling waves, generally entertaining those who watched from the sandy shores.

On the first morning, organisers and competitors faced massive storm surf and at 8.30am the first of the shortboard heats paddled out into the growing seas at the south-facing Bendalong Beach.

As the day unfolded it became apparent the surfing conditions were more challenging than first realised, with the consistently large swell breaking everywhere. While sorting the men from the boys and the women from the girls, this was no place to surf the longboard heats.

The neighbouring Bendalong surf spot “Boat Ramp”, some 500m to the north on the opposite side of the headland, had a perfect 2-3 feet right-hander peeling into the bay. The contest directors seized the opportunity and quickly moved the contest site for the longboarders.
The wave conditions were outstanding and the rest of the afternoon was completed, surfing the perfect waves of Boat Ramp with some excellent “toes-on-the-nose” riding witnessed.

Overnight, the swell eased off and the competitors were now greeted by some solid 6-foot surf.

Competitors were keen to get among the waves and took the opportunity to free-surf outside of the contest area, putting on an excellent expression session.

Day 2 would decide the second heats of the shortboard division with the first two place-getters advancing to the semi-finals.

It was clear from the first heat of the shortboarders that the standard of surfing had lifted with some excellent surfing on display from surfers from all three services.

Two time Navy champions (shortboard) AB Jordan Dank and LCDR Steve Johnson (longboard) had some serious competition for the 2006 championships.
Action in the women’s division got underway in the morning with finals held at day’s end.

LEUT Brooke Olde and ABMW Trish Muller representing team Navy, competed strongly in the large swell, showing some good manoeuvres and board-riding skills.

With the results of Day 2 competition tallied and decided there was an hour before last light for the weary surfers to go and free surf in another expression session.
The small crowd of surfers left on the beach were treated to some excellent radical manoeuvres.

The sun set in the distance and the teams headed home to HMAS Albatross for dinner in preparation for Day 3.

The final day was the main event and included the prestigious teams challenge and both finals of the long and shortboard divisions.

Team Army was fired up to defend its 2005 title, while Team Navy looked to avenge its 2005 loss.
The first heats of the teams’ challenge hit the water and an upset was immediately felt with Team RAAF getting up and winning the first heat with Navy second and Army third. Over the next eight heats the teams traded blows with all three services winning and losing heats. For the final three heats of the challenge, the scores and results were kept silent adding to the suspense of the competition.

With the last of the teams’ challenge heats completed and a 30-knot south easterly wind blowing onshore, it was time for the finals to get under way in a rapidly deteriorating surf.

The finalists would have to earn their win in these challenging conditions.

The longboarders were first to hit the water with Navy represented by LCDRs Steve Johnson and Al Brown.
The standard of competition was high and after a close battle in the challenging surf conditions, the 30-minute final was over and the 2006 champion decided.

Some excellent longboarding was on display with Army’s Gavin Castro pushing Navy’s LCDR Johnson all the way with some tricky manoeuvres and toes-on-the-nose riding, however, LCDR Johnson showed his class. He was crowned longboard champion for the third consecutive year.

The shortboard final was immediately underway with Team Navy represented in the final by ABAT Jordan Dank and Daniel Williamson and ABCD Mitch Warner.

Army’s PTE Ben Wright was outstanding, performing some professional-class high scoring rides, and for the majority of the final it was obvious that he and AB Dank were dominating the trying conditions.

Mid-heat saw RAAF’s CPL Justin Davey starting to make his move by selecting some good high scoring waves and challenging the two dominant surfers for first and second places.

The lead in the final continued to change with every wave for the entire 30 minutes with all six surfers tearing and slashing the conditions to shreds.

However, at the conclusion of the final, Navy’s AB Dank came out on top to be crowned the 2006 champion, also for the third year in a row.

With the winners of the finals decided, there was only one thing left to do, and that was to head home to Albatross for a BBQ, presentations and to name the service champions for 2006. To a loud cheer CAPT Grant Ferguson (CO HMAS Albatross) presented the Interservice Trophy for 2006 to the Navy Team Captain, CMDR Pete Tedman.

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