Some great photo of the the state round on the weekend,

(sorry about the long board photos)

hosted by the "Stand Up Surf Shop / Nth Freo"

http://www.woolacottimages.com/p635565496#h4cb59be7

some interesting scenarios in there as well, that could be worth talking about

Hmmmmmmmm, I was dropped in on a couple of times during my heats, Wooly even captured it. I am the guy in the blue contest vest and blue shorts.
I didn't fire up that time. However there was a couple of local lads who were pretty aggro all day and I had my turn 'chatting' about it out in the water and then again on the beach, we eventually sorted it out and I know next time I surf there we are cool.
Part of me sides with them, we took the entire kilometre encompassing all three take off zones for the entire weekend and it was pumping.

Considering the above situation I think we were lucky the Mandurah boardriders gave us their blessing and helped with the crowd control.

A big thanks to Nicko and the crew for giving us your break for an entire weekend.

The best swell and conditions we have experinced in years there.


THANKS GUYS!

Ha ha - looks like carnage out there. A bit like having the Cottesloe grom rescue-craft crew at Deep 6 on Sunday. Great pics, thanks for sharing.

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BIK said...
Hmmmmmmmm, I was dropped in on a couple of times during my heats, Wooly even captured it. I am the guy in the blue contest vest and blue shorts.
I didn't fire up that time. However there was a couple of local lads who were pretty aggro all day and I had my turn 'chatting' about it out in the water and then again on the beach, we eventually sorted it out and I know next time I surf there we are cool.
Part of me sides with them, we took the entire kilometre encompassing all three take off zones for the entire weekend and it was pumping.

Considering the above situation I think we were lucky the Mandurah boardriders gave us their blessing and helped with the crowd control.

A big thanks to Nicko and the crew for giving us your break for an entire weekend.

The best swell and conditions we have experinced in years there.


THANKS GUYS!

your a good man brad to keep it all together hopefully they learnt from this positive ly

I saw a SUP in the comp drop in on a surfer. Red comp shirt.

Surfer called him off, so the SUP cut back hard to try and hit him.

It was pretty dangerous and totally not on. Gives the sport a nice image.

I saw a bunch of cockheads who pushed there boards infrount of crew,i saw drop ins by shortboarders,I saw boards flicked at peoples head, I saw the perpatrators crying on the beach about a little ding he sustained, localizim at its best very very sad

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DL said..
I saw a SUP in the comp drop in on a surfer. Red comp shirt.

Surfer called him off, so the SUP cut back hard to try and hit him.

It was pretty dangerous and totally not on. Gives the sport a nice image.

Why were the SB surfers in a comp area ? I assume the SUP organisers had permission to be there. How about we all paddle out in your next short board comp. It's all about respect . Get some.....

Perhaps the comp flag was a little short of the take off point also I must say its not every day the point turns into a reverse jay bay Thing was the whole coast was pumping and we took up 300 mts of it and some didn't agree

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Piros said..

DL said..
I saw a SUP in the comp drop in on a surfer. Red comp shirt.

Surfer called him off, so the SUP cut back hard to try and hit him.

It was pretty dangerous and totally not on. Gives the sport a nice image.

Why were the SB surfers in a comp area ? I assume the SUP organisers had permission to be there. How about we all paddle out in your next short board comp. It's all about respect . Get some.....

spot on piros the sups had the second peak in the comp the longboards peak one that was all good but i wonder if they would have cleared the water if the free surfers were on the long board peak ,i got taken out by two guys on 9 foot pron boards think they thought they were surfing jaws snapped paddle and big **** can tangle up , give them there dews they did say sorry but that was my heat done and dusted ,

Yeah. I know what you mean guys.
check out this clown dropping in on me........

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jenkz said..







Yeah. I know what you mean guys.
check out this clown dropping in on me........

it was a right hander in my mind ha ha give a guy a break no paddle

I was surfing my heat and there was a set out the back,

I was stoked as I had only had one wave and there was 5min to go,

Before I know it a short border had paddled inside of me, and was snaking me

Well the short boarders had been told if they were going to surf our peak during a surfing WA sanctioned event, then they should give us (the Suppers) the right of way

And he was snaking me on a bomb, Of course I took off; I carved off down the line then round house cuttied back to come face to face with frothing Freddo,

He said “oy”

I said “mate it’s a comp”

He said “I don’t give a f...”

I said “give us a break “

He said “no f…. off”

As we were continuing to slalom off down the line together,

At one stage we were face to face and he had a look of angst on his face that was close to being tortured and I so nearly pushed him off,

but restrained myself somehow ….

(Could have been my highest scoring manoeuvre)

I end up kicking out, and probably scored ok on that wave as I made it through my heat.

And then apparently about half an hour to a hour latter,

Someone went thought the car park and did some damage some of the vehicles,

and then apparently the cops rocked up and took them away ….

(I have not had this story ratified though and I don’t know if it was the same guy I had my bingle with or not ?)

A WHOLE NEW LOW taking it to the carpark. That is pure evil.
we are all out for the stoke, people need to share.
funny how no-one was in the long boarders area dropping in. i see so much anxt against SUP, i agree there are plenty of kooks about giving us a bad name having no control of their board or not knowing rules, but there are also short boarders of the same callibre.
respect others by how they ride, not what they ride.

this guy may have taken on the wrong guy many a snaged cray pot this man has pulled and is really fighting way out of his weight class pretty sure big GM is helping the young lad stay afloat inn the last shot #nickwoolacottimages moneys in the mail

It was a shame about the conflict between SUP's and free surfers it was the only negative on what was an awesome weekend.
I also missed the best wave of my heat due to a surfer snaking me for it and me just not wanting the conflict.

I do feel sorry for the surfers though with two of the peaks taken over for the comp on a weekend when the swell was up, I think if it was a stand alone comp and we were just taking over one peak it wouldn't have been so bad.

I also think if the peaks were reversed and it was SUP's at the point and longboards on the peak that we were on the longboarders would have copped it as well.

Still with the amount of swell around there would have been lots of spots nearby firing and I can only imagine what the scene would have been like if shortboarders were holding a comp and we were all over it like they were.
Hats off to the likes of Graham and Brad for keeping their cool when they had to deal with some of the idiots, i'm sure in both cases the surfer would have came out second best if it had escalated.

As has been said before give respect to gain respect.


Anyway enough of that here is a link to some sick pics of day 2.

http://www.woolacottimages.com/p983790847#h4ce06055

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Piros said..

DL said..
I saw a SUP in the comp drop in on a surfer. Red comp shirt.

Surfer called him off, so the SUP cut back hard to try and hit him.

It was pretty dangerous and totally not on. Gives the sport a nice image.

Why were the SB surfers in a comp area ? I assume the SUP organisers had permission to be there. How about we all paddle out in your next short board comp. It's all about respect . Get some.....

maybe you need to get some

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Ioz said..
I was surfing my heat and there was a set out the back,
I was stoked as I had only had one wave and there was 5min to go,
Before I know it a short border had paddled inside of me, and was snaking me
Well the short boarders had been told if they were going to surf our peak during a surfing WA sanctioned event, then they should give us (the Suppers) the right of way
And he was snaking me on a bomb, Of course I took off; I carved off down the line then round house cuttied back to come face to face with frothing Freddo,
He said “oy”I said “mate it’s a comp”He said “I don’t give a f...”
I said “give us a break “He said “no f…. off”
As we were continuing to slalom off down the line together,
At one stage we were face to face and he had a look of angst on his face that was close to being tortured and I so nearly pushed him off,
but restrained myself somehow ….(Could have been my highest scoring manoeuvre)
I end up kicking out, and probably scored ok on that wave as I made it through my heat.
And then apparently about half an hour to a hour latter,
Someone went thought the car park and did some damage some of the vehicles,
and then apparently the cops rocked up and took them away ….
(I have not had this story ratified though and I don’t know if it was the same guy I had my bingle with or not ?)

Who was the bright spark , who had been given the key to the Council Bollards protecting the beach rampart walkway , that couldn't figure out that they had to be twisted then lifted up from their lock in bed - so he decides to hammer it , hammer it & then hey hammer it some more (why not hey he doesn't live there & it's a comp a bloody comp by god almighty it's a comp ) while it's dark first thing in the morning much to the delight of the residents close by ..... unsuccessful - so someone else makes the inspired decision to drive along a walker's pathway (barely wide enough & not designed for vehicle use especially one towing a loaded up trailer) to get their way down to "the judges vantage point" .... then there was the music blaring out from the food & drink stall early on ....

There were pissed off people from before first light - and that's before anyone got wet

Wow, lots of egos in this thread.

Regardless of craft, How can you not feel some empathy for the guys who surf this fickle wave every other day, and on the biggest and best swell in years, more than 300m worth of the lineup is roped off for a comp, where the majority of competitors aren't local?

He's my take on the situation as a SUP competitor. We do have empathy for those who wanted to surf Avalon that weekend, it is totally understandable that people, locals and visitors alike wanted to surf Avalon during that swell. The fact is that a comp is organised at that location on an annual basis and is scheduled many months in advance. The comp was not chosen to run on that weekend just because there was swell. I presume that the locals who are members of the Mandurah Longboarders Club are quite happy for this event to run and have not raised any issues with Surfing WA regarding problems. They run the food tent which I'm sure gives their club a much needed injection of cash and a service that is much appreciated by all those on the beach. If they are a bit noisy in the morning maybe someone could go and talk to them about that.

The SUP competitors are told where there comp is to be held and that is where we surf. If we were told to surf elsewhere we would go there. If the surf was small or onshore we would surf anyway in the same place or somewhere else. Now I would strongly suggest that if the comp was not on that weekend that peak would been a lot more crowded including SUPs and longboarders, including locals and non-locals. I reckon a significant number of people decided not to surf there because there was a comp on and those who paddled out did so in full knowledge that a comp was on.

The guys surfing in the comp were surfing under comp conditions and went for waves that they thought they could get a score from and would not normally behave like that in free surfing conditions ( I can hear the howls of protest now, but that is true). I would of thought that was obvious out in the water and if you think of it objectively it's not an unreasonable thing to expect. It was possible for free surfers and comp surfers to share the peak and personally I didn't have any problems in my heats but I did last year. I can assure you the SUP surfers would prefer not to have to surf under those conditions and would prefer that the event was organised in a way that nobody was put out.

Now I think Surfing WA do a great job and the staff are incredibly hardworking, dedicated and reasonable people and I wouldn't want to put any extra stress on them but if "locals" don't want a comp there at all or they want certain conditions imposed surely they should approach that organisation in a reasoned manner and raise the issues. Alternatively, the Mandurah Longboard Club could be approached and made aware of peoples complaints and concerns. However, before you complain about Surfing WA running comps just remember they are the first port of call for many of our elite surfers we are so proud of and also provide valuable services and resources for surfers of all ages and from all disciplines of surfing. Services that the "nay sayers" may want to take advantage of themselves in the future when they are older or have kids.

I know that all the SUP Surfers in that comp are competent and respectful surfers and we do not apologise for the way we choose to surf. We are gladly part of the West Australian surfing community and whole heartily support Surfing WA for the fantastic job they do. Our events are professionally run and through our association SUPWA and Surfing WA we seek to move our sport forward in a cooperative and respectful way that is considerate of all ocean users. Hopefully the next time a comp is run at Avalon arrangements can be put in place that avoid conflict as nobody wants that.

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Fergus said..
I presume that the locals who are members of the Mandurah Longboarders Club are quite happy for this event to run and have not raised any issues with Surfing WA regarding problems. They run the food tent which I'm sure gives their club a much needed injection of cash and a service that is much appreciated by all those on the beach.

Sorry to correct you ...

but it's Mandurah BoardRiders that you are referring to. ^^^

It is a high performance shortboard club.

There's no longboard or sup club in Mandurah.

Yep, they sold some burgers, fed the masses and made some coin.

Extremely well put Fergus. Events cost money to run, applications for water space are made thru DoT, competitors pay to compete under safe conditions and to enjoy themselves and push their skills - the competition environment is set up to allow this to happen.

If it was a short board comp and sups invaded the line up,it would of been a lot worse.there were two peaks further north that were really good that short boarders could have torn apart.To the cry baby that wanted money off brad to fix his board,you shouldn't have been on that peak and there is no rules in the ocean so dry your tears.i would of gave him a box of tissues not $100.welldone to Brad and Greame for keeping their cool

Hahahaha , normally I would have given the box of tissues. I was representing SUPWA and WASRA soooooo I had to behave ;)

You did well mate.good to see champ!

In my opinion this issue was not about surf craft but more about access to the waves,.

Whoever the bright spark was that thought it would be ok to run 2 comps (one at the point and one and one in the bay) at the same time on the same weekend got it wrong, combined with one of the best swells this year it was always going to be ugly.

Even if the 2 comps were organised completely independant of each other (not sure what the case is here) both organisers would have to of realised the 2 comps combined would take up the 2 main breaks for pretty much the whole weekend and that it would piss a lot of people off.

It it was always going to be crazy busy that weekend regardless of whether or not there was a comp, you can't expect to displace that many local surfers without copping some push back and from the photos looks like both sides were as bad as each other.

I reckon the lesson from last weekend is surfing WA or whoever ran those comps should not have ran them both on the same day..

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goofy said..
In my opinion this issue was not about surf craft but more about access to the waves,.

Whoever the bright spark was that thought it would be ok to run 2 comps (one at the point and one and one in the bay) at the same time on the same weekend got it wrong, combined with one of the best swells this year it was always going to be ugly.

Even if the 2 comps were organised completely independant of each other (not sure what the case is here) both organisers would have to of realised the 2 comps combined would take up the 2 main breaks for pretty much the whole weekend and that it would piss a lot of people off.

It it was always going to be crazy busy that weekend regardless of whether or not there was a comp, you can't expect to displace that many local surfers without copping some push back and from the photos looks like both sides were as bad as each other.

I reckon the lesson from last weekend is surfing WA or whoever ran those comps should not have ran them both on the same day..

Alternative is to take up the point for 2 weekends, one for SUP and one for longboarding. What would the locals prefer?

As Crawf mentioned these comps are penned in the diary and advertised more than 6 months in advance. The fact it coincided with one of the better swells of the year is lucky, had it been 2ft dribble the comp would still have been on. Just because the forecast is looking good SWA can't just pull the pin a week out and say comp is off we are all going surfing.

Mals on the point one weekend, SUPS in the bay a week or 2 later.

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The face-off. ^^^


Some folks may argue that taking possession of a pointbreak during the swell of the decade ...

for a comp,

is pretty fk cheeky,,,

but commandeering all the other good breaks too,

well, that's a little greedy.

lol.

Crack pipe point s icy cold welcoming party haha. I heard they won't be able to get there next year they have started a roof tiling business with cuzy bro and will be flat out any way I would never paddle out in a comp zone as conscious tells me you look like a rite peanut waves are waves if you don't catch one today there is always tomorrow Not worth the anger peace and love is good for sole lickitup

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goofy said..
Mals on the point one weekend, SUPS in the bay a week or 2 later.

And what happens if there was swell both weekends? It would force all the free surfers who would normally be spread out over two peaks onto one.its like ripping a ban aid off short and sharp (one weekend both peaks) or slow and steady (two weekends, multiple peaks, everyone put out twice).

BTW. Sunday arvo when comp ended. Wind dropped still plenty of swell. Vertially no one out ?