By TERRY ‘TAPPA’ TEECE
Pic: Jackson Close.
Tapped Into the Waves
Close call but Jackson gets the Queensland title
Coolangatta surfer Jackson Close added another Queensland title to his resume, and will be off to secure an Australian title after last weekend’s Queensland SUP Titles.
Close scored a tight win in the dying seconds of the Open Men’s final defeating Keahi De Aboitiz from Sunshine Beach, by only .58 of a point after finding a critical last wave and performing a series of swooping manoeuvres to the beach.
“It was quite challenging out there, but it only makes it more interesting when there’s a challenge involved,” said Close after the win.
Adding, “Keahi is always getting his board in the air and he’s really flashy, so you feel great when you can beat someone like that.”
ISA Women’s World Champion Shakira Westdrop of Tugun, took advantage of her home break and won the Open Women’s division convincingly and is looking like a strong threat for the Australian titles to be held in November this year.
“Conditions were really hard out there on the lower tide and I was just really lucky to get a couple of waves early on in the heat, I’m really happy,” Westdrop said.
Division Winners:
Open Men: Jackson Close (Coolangatta, QLD)
Open Women: Shakira Westrop (Tugun, QLD)
Over 40 Men: Paul Jones (Buderim, QLD)
Over 50 Men: Ken Joslin (Palm Beach, QLD)
Queensland Champions decided at the Chicko Burleigh Classic this weekend
Coolangatta/Tweed surfers Mitch Parkinson and Kick Vasicek will be the two front-runners for the QCC Championship heading into this weekend’s Chicko Burleigh Classic. Both surfers have a win each, with Vasicek ahead on the ratings from Parkinson. Both surfers are not locals at Burleigh, but both have surfed Burleigh Point in various events over their careers.
The Queensland crown is one thing, but both surfers are looking at getting hold of the two wildcard spots to the Quiksilver Pro in March 2014, that are awarded to 1st and 2nd place in the four-event series. There is $8000 in prize money up for grabs as well.
Vasicek and Parkinson will not have it all their own way, former top 10 WCT Nathan ‘The Hog’ Hedge is also within striking distance, and over the past few weeks Hedgey has been getting some solid warm-ups at Burleigh, and for a while was living at Palm Beach and putting in a fair amount of time at the legendary point break.
There will also be some of the Burleigh boardriders wildcards to contend with as well. It should be a pretty exciting weekend of surfing, definitely worth the drive north to check it out.
The event kicks-off at 8am this Saturday and Sunday (15 and 16 June), at Burleigh Heads.
