Round one of the Victorian Wave series got off to a flying start at Right Point, Cat bay on Sat 10/09/11
The first round called on for the 2011/12 season, only one week into the season was a great success with SW wind ranging from 15-25 knots and head high swell and a good turn out of around 20 competitors all keen to get out in the waves.
An early start to beat the low tide proved a good call with the swell being the best early on. 9am and sailors were already on the water with 20 knots and some nice sets coming through.
After briefing the Open class sailors hit the water in the first expression session. Some great waves early on secured Andrew 'Hock' Hocking's place in the semi final, Alastair McLeod landed some nice aerials which put him into the final 5, Phil Vaudrey landed some great forward loops and milked some waves right around the corner to make it through to the next round, as did Joel Ryan, while James Toth just piped Scotty Gibbins for the final place in the semi final.
Some solid wave rides from Zac Douglas in the heat, but just not enough to get him the points he needed to advance to the next round, while Dan Gardner struggled a bit being underpowered he did make the most out of the waves he scored. Special mention to Jon Bouillir who was very unlucky to not make the finals, Jon rode some nice waves early in the heat and in the warm up, but half way through the first expression session Jon helped tow in a free sailor who had broken a mast. Bad luck Jon, but some good Karma coming your way for sure!
Next out was the intermediate division. The sun came out and the wind filled in for the intermediate expression session. Darren Ross had the place sorted out, picking off a few of the set waves early on in the heat but just didn't get the long rides like eventual winner Tom Rossoman did. Tom managed to take the honors in the Intermediate class over Darren in second and the 'new guy' Andy Donegan took out third place with one of the waves of the heat, and a nice jump. Pretty impressive for someone who only started windsurfing last summer! Fourth place went to Sam Gordan who just didn't seem to get lucky with his waves, with Ben Donegan rounding out the field.
Semi finalists went out just as the wind started to swing slightly cross onshore which made wave riding tougher but allowed for some nice forward loops from Hock, Phil and Joel. With the top three going through to the final for the day it was Joel, Al & Hock who went through with Phil finishing the day in fourth and James finishing fifth.
As the final started the wind got lighter and the swell lost its clean form it had in the morning as the tide started getting dropping. Hock managed to milk lots of turns out of a few waves, while Al went for a few big smacks and aerials. Jumps were hard in the gusty wind but Joel managed a nice forward but struggled to find the good waves. A very close decision for the judges ending with Al taking the win by just one point, from Hock who beat Joel by half a point for second place.
It's great to get a result so early in the season, and good to see a lot of enthusiasm from people to get out in the waves! Should be a great season and hopefully the first event of many.
Thanks for those who came, if you didn't, then make sure you get to the next event round. Thanks to the judges and everyone who helped out and Jodi from Whitecaps photography for coming along.
Photos to follow
See you at the next round
VWS crew
VWS
> 9 months ago, 11 Sep 2011
