Under blue skies, offshore winds and larger wave conditions, Australia’s top longboarders and a strong contingency of the world’s
best fought it out for glory across multiple divisions for this year’s 28th annual Surftech Malfunction Surf Festival.
Hundreds of surfers, from juniors right through to the over sixties, took part in the five-day event which wrapped up on Sunday with strong one metre waves for the finals day.
American surfers Taylor Jensen (Oceanside), 27, and Jennifer Smith (San Diego), 25, upstaged their Australian counterparts to win the respective ASP Australasia Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS) Cancer Institute NSW men’s and women’s divisions.
Californian carver Jensen, who has placed 2nd in the LQS men’s division at the Malfunction for the past two years, finally etched his name onto the event’s winner’s list, beating Buderim’s Mitch Surman, former ASP Men’s World Longboard Champion Josh Constable and Currumbin’s Jackson Close in an entertaining final.
“It feels pretty good to finally win this event,” said Jensen, who claimed US$2000 and 250 rating points.
“I started off really slow. I couldn’t get a wave, fell on my first one and wasn’t feeling great. But I finally lucked into a couple smaller ones which ran along the bank.”
The lanky natural foot accruied a 9.33 and an 8.82 to finish in the numero-uno position on 18.16 points (out of a possible 20).
Despite his third placing in the day’s blue ribbon final, Constable heads the men’s LQS ratings ahead of Jensen, with Surman, Jared Neal (Coffs Harbour) and Harley Ingleby (Emerald Beach) rounding out the top 5. The final event of the Australasian LQS is the Whalebone Classic, which starts on July 16.
Smith, the two-time ASP Women’s World Longboard champion (2007 and 2009), was in a class of her own in the 30-minute finale, schooling Melissa Combo (Ballina), Emma Webb (Victoria) and Jodie Barsby (Crescent Head) with a combined two-wave total of 14.14, which included a 6.47 on her opening ride and an even stronger 7.67.
Smith, who claimed a second place at the Noosa Festival, said she was eager to taste victory in the LQS women’s division during her time in Australia.
“It’s been good,” she said. “Getting second at Noosa was the main reason I came to the Malfunction. I wasn’t going to do it and coming so close in Noosa I wanted to do better. I haven’t done well in Australia over the past few years, so it feels good to win.”
Following this result, Smith leads the LQS women’s ratings ahead of Chelsea Williams (Kingscliff), Combo, Webb and Bianca Anstiss (Currumbin).
In the Greenline SUP Pro final, Kingscliff’s Justin Holland defeated former ASP World Tour competitor Luke Egan (Coolangatta), Currumbin’s Jackson Close and Noosa’s Dane Wilson.
After a slow start, Holland unloaded a bevy of big forehand moves to notch a 5.73 and a 7.43 to finish with a two-wave combined total of 13.16 (out of a possible 20).
A full list of amateur division winners were also decided. This included;
Old Mal – Matt Aldridge. Amateur Women – Monique Keane. 9FT Amateur – Dean Bevan. Pacific Concrete Over 65’s – Danny Bond. Mystery Final – Mick Milne. Aboods Crane Trucks U/18 – Nic Jones. Greenline Amateur SUP – Geoff Barden. Greenline SUP Women -Shakira Westdorp. PCYC Tweed Head U/18 women – Sam Suendermann. O/35 Women – Lisa Nicholson. O/60s – 1 Bob McNeil. Karve Stix 8ft – Damian Farago. OAM Retro – Noa Deane. Dukes Longboards O/50’s – Ray Gleave. Over 40’s – Ian Pearson.
SUP Race Winners:
Starboard SUP Race Open Pro – Travis Grant. Starboard SUP Race Over 40 Pro – Steve Quiller. Starboard SUP Race Woman Pro – Simone Horsefield. Starboard SUP Race Open Amateur – Dion Parlee. Starboard SUP Race Over 40 Amateur – Scott Shambrook. Starboard SUP Race Woman Amateur – Angela Jackson.
For complete result please visit www.malfunction.com.au or www.aspaustralasia.com/live/2011/malfunction.
2011 Malfunction Full Results:
LQS Men’s: 1 Taylor Jensen. 2 Mitch Surman. 3 Josh Constable. 4 Jackson Close.
LQS Women’s: 1 Jennifer Smith. 2 Melissa Combo. 3 Emma Webb. 4 Jodie Barsby.
Amateur Women: 1 Monique Keane. 2 Rose Spears. 3 Jess Roberts. 4 Sam Suendemann.
9FT Amateur: 1 Dean Bevan. 2 Nic Jones. 3 Damian Farago. 4 Jordie Brown. 5 Shane Morton. 6 Clinton Guest.
Greenline SUP Pro: 1 Justin Holland. 2 Luke Egan. 3 Jackson Close. 4 Dane Wilson.
Pacific Concrete Over 65’s: 1 Danny Bond. 2 Doug Warbrick. 3 Des Williams. 4 Pat Morgan.
Mystery Final: 1 Mick Milne. 2 Danny O’Brien. 3 Shane Holborn. 4 Graeme Jenkin. 5 Bob Thomas. 6 Cain Achurch.
Aboods Crane Trucks U/18: 1 Nic Jones. 2 William Crowe. 3 Jake Bevan. 4 Harri Jones.
Greenline Amateur SUP: 1Geoff Barden. 2 Greg Sunderland. 3 Peter Sharp.
Greenline SUP Women: 1 Shakira Westdorp. 2 Emma Webb. 3 Jenny Ryan. 4 Jenny Johnson.
PCYC Tweed Head U/18 women: 1 Sam Suendermann. 2 Catherine Watson Brown. 3 Roisim Carolan. 4 Maddie Watson Brown.
O/35 Women: 1 Lisa Nicholson. 2 Bluey Gilkes. 3 Sally Paxton. 4 Michelle Van Den Broek.
O/60s: 1 Bob McNeil. 2 Neville Smith. 3 Allan MacDonald. 4 Denis Lowe.
Karve Stix 8ft: 1 Damien Farago. 2 Dean Bevan. 3 Jordie Brown. 4 Michael Pinney. 5 Weeksey. 6 Graeme Wood.
Old Mal: 1 Matt Aldridge. 2 Heith Norrish. 3 Beau Nixon. 4 Jake Bevan. 5 Jordie Brown. 6 Peter Sticklen. Dukes Over 50’s. 1 Ray Gleave. 2 Mike Pimm. 3 Ric Chalmers. 4 Denis Carberry.
OAM Retro: 1 Noa Deane. 2 Nic Jones. 3 Jared Neal. 4 Nick Farago.
Over 40’s: 1 Ian Pearson. 2 Hayden Swan. 3 Mark McNamara. 4 Steve Jackson.
