The gals proved their rights to the waves at the Mid-North Coast Girls Winter Championships held at Bonny Hills Beach recently.
Conditions were wet for the winter championships; however, surfing conditions early on in the day were ideal.
The contest format for the winter championships is a straightknockout; 48 competitors registered.
The first division to hit the water was the Open Longboard. We had five surfers in this division, therefore it was a straightout final, but the competition was hotly contested between Kelly Fyfe and Liz Murray.
Kelly demonstrated why she is the winter champion for 2011 with trimming and carving every wave she caught.
The Intermediate Longboard competitor Di Hughes surfed with the open longboard ladies and held her own, therefore placing first and won the title of winter champion for 2011.
The U/21 Longboard had to contend with mother nature.
It was keenly contested once again by Nikki Seymour, Emily Graham and Brooke Stevens, with Brooke Stevens taking the winter champion crown for 2011.
As the day progressed, the weather deteriorated as well as the size of the swell, therefore all remaining heats surfed were testing the skills of all surfers alike.
The Mini Mal saw 10 surfers competing for the title, with Donna Liver pipping young surfer Jade Gaul in the final to claim winter champion for 2011.
The Intermediate Shortboard had eight girls striving to be the winter champion for 2011. There were two heats contested, where the top three placegetters progressed to the final.
On both occasions, the tally sheets were used to confirm count-back results, thus a reflection on how competitive this division has become.
Chelsea Green took first place, followed closely by Grace Monaghan in second.
The Open Shortboard saw the finest surfing all day.
The most improved surfer for this year at representative level and club level, Elly Muir, revelled in the conditions and, after coming second last year, upped the ante and won this year to be named the Open Shortboard winter champion 2011.
Future surfing world champions are in the Beginner Girls “No Caddy” and Beginner Girls “Caddy”.
All these girls and their caddies displayed “no guts, no glory” attitude as they took to the water in such trying conditions.
One of our competitors in the “caddy” division was discharged from hospital only 90 minutes prior to competing.
The results for both these divisions were decided by countbacks.
Beginner Girls “No Caddy” first place Ashleigh Gately; Beginner Girls “Caddy” first place Lucy Green.
The 2011 club focus is on competitive surfers with the club paying members’ entry fees to representative contests.
Just in this last month Mel Mclure competed in the State Longboard Titles held at Bonny Hills where she made it through to the repechage round where she was just unlucky to miss out in making the final.
Wendy Yarnold successfully competed in the All Girls Surf Showdown at Lennox Head and is currently competing in the VB Surfmasters 2011 on the south coast of NSW. Chelsea Green competed at the Fox Grom on the Central Coast recently in treacherous and dangerous conditions and gained valuable “contest” experience.
Jade Gaul and Elly Muir will be competing in the Hurley NSW Junior Surfing Titles to be held in Forster in July.
The 2011 Mid-North Coast Girls Surf Classicwill be held on October 8-9.
The entry forms will be available to download from the website www.mncgs.org.au.in August.
