Ellie Jean Coffee continues on her winning way. Pic: Surfing Australia / Nikon – www.mynikonlife.com.au
Thursday December 1 Coffs Harbour NSW: GOOD WAVES greeted Australia’s best junior surfers competing at the Action Sports Ready Australian Junior Surfing Titles presented by Soundwave on day 5 of this prestigious event which will shortly crown 2011 Australian Junior Champions across individual and school divisions.
The strong southerly winds hit Coffs Harbour hard and contest director Barton Lynch swiftly found the best location at the protected southern end of Park Beach with clean 1m (3 feet) early surf that increased to 1.25m plus (4 feet plus ) by mid morning.
Many highlights today as this event started to decide winners across the numerous categories that are being surfed.
Early in the day the Tasmanian All Star Boy’s under 19 school team caused a major upset by defeating the Queensland All-Star team in their semi final clash.
Lead by experienced junior surfer Hamish Renwick (Clifton Beach/Hobart) and ably supported by fellow Hobart surfer Kyle Cooper, the pair took a solid lead early in the heat and built on that lead throughout their heat to win convincingly and progress into tomorrow’s final.
It is the first time a Tasmania school surfing team has made the final at the Australian Junior Surfing Titles.
“We are over the moon to make the final but our run isn’t over yet” said Renwick.
“We’re confident we can win tomorrow’s final – these waves suit us well and it would be so good to win and be the first Tasmanian’s to do it.”
The pair will face Victoria in tomorrow’s schools final after they defeated NSW in the second semi.
Nikki Van Dyke from Victoria hits a one o’clock special. Pic: Surfing Australia / Nikon – www.mynikonlife.com.au
The popular tag-team final was also surfed today with Team NSW taking a strong victory.
One of the team’s youngest surfers in Michael Wright proved to be a major player producing three strong rides to set up the victory with all other team members contributing to the convincing win with Victoria coming in second and Queensland third.
Despite the strong cold winds and rain, surf conditions remained good with increasing swells for the Girls under 18 quarter finals during the early afternoon.
Ellie-Jean Coffee (Crescent Head), Grace Styman-Lane (Kingscliff), Nikki Van Dijk (Phillip Island) and Kirsten Ogden (Byron Bay) won their quarter-finals and all scored high with excellent rides setting the scene for some great showdowns as we head toward the finals.
Tomorrow is expected to be bigger and Saturday should also have great waves for the final day.
Schools divisional finals should be run tomorrow along with semi finals of the individuals with individual champions likely to be crowned on Saturday.
Live broadcast is available through the official website http://prosurfinglive.com/live/surfingaustralia/junior/, which will also provide the latest news, photos and videos.
ABOUT THE ACTION SPORTS READY PRESENTED BY SOUNDWAVE AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR SURFING TITLES –
Sunday November 27 to Saturday December 3rd 2011
Coffs Harbour North Coast NSW
AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONS ACROSS UNDER 18 AND UNDER 16 GIRL AND BOY DIVISIONS ARE CROWNED AT THIS EVENT. THE EVENT IS ALSO CRUCIAL IN DETERMINING THE AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR TEAM TO COMPETE AT THE WORLD JUNIOR TITLES IN SOUTH AMERICA EARLY NEXT YEAR.
SCHOOL SURFING TEAMS FROM ALL OVER AUSTRALIA ALSO COMPETE AT THIS EVENT REPRESENTING INDIVIDUAL SCHOOLS AND THEIR STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS.
THE EVENT RUNS ALL THIS WEEK WITH WINNERS AND FINALISTS DECIDED THROUGH FRIDAY AND SATURDAY.
A live broadcast will be available through the official website http://prosurfinglive.com/live/surfingaustralia/junior/, which will also provide the latest news, photos and videos.
The official contest location and running schedule for each day will be confirmed at 6.45am (AEDT) on the Event Hotline 0458 247 212.
In a boost for competitors a fin test station provided by FCS and Futures will allow them to test drive the latest fins to ensure they have the right equipment to match the condition on the day.
The Action Sports Ready Australian Junior Surfing Titles presented by Soundwave is proudly supported by Billabong, Hurley, Quiksilver, Coastalwatch.com, Surf Dive ‘n’ Ski, Jetty Surf, Tracks, Waves, Future Fins, FCS, Guvera, Surfing NSW, Australian School Surfing Association, Destination NSW, Coffs Harbour City Council, Australian Sports Commission, the Federal Government’s Illicit Drugs in Sport Program, TravelSIM, Blunt, Suncorp, Media Monitors, Mac & Me, Vertra.
