On Friday, 13 teams of boardriders who work for manufacturing companies in the surf industry competed in the ‘Surf Industry Challenge’ at Dee Why, the opening event of the 2012 Jim Beam Surftag Australian Series.
The competition was very close throughout each stage of the event. The ‘power wave’, the surfer’s second which scored double was generally what differentiated between the teams. The defending champions (2010 & 2008), Quiksilver relied on Ben Hamilton’s 9.33 (doubled to18.66) Power Wave in the Semi to progress to the final.
After Quarter and Semi finals, four teams remained in contention: Manly Surf School, Quiksilver, O’Neill and Volcom
The eventual winner was the O’Neill team with 63.14 points.
Rob Bain from O’Neill said “It feels good to win! We all work in different parts of the business and were all competitive surfers in our early years so it’s great to get together to compete as a team. The tag team format makes us all make sure we perform at our best for our mates.”
The Manly Surf School team was second, the defending Champions Quiksilver third and Volcom fourth.
Steve Harrison from Global surftag said “The industry challenge is always a fun day with a really high standard of surfing. The boys really like ripping into one another before they surf.”
The Surf Industry Challenge involves teams of four surfers. In relay style, each surfer catches three waves to score points for his or her team, then returns to the beach to ‘tag’ the next team member. Each surfer’s second wave is a ‘power wave’ worth double points! Four teams contest each heat and heats are limited to one hour. Bonus points are awarded if the fifth surfer returns to the tag area on the beach before the time limit. The top two teams from each heat progress to the next round – and so on.
RESULTS:
Semifinal 1
1st Manly Surf School 78.2; 2nd Quiksilver 69.57; 3rd SDS 68.05; 4th FCS 53.25
Semifinal 2
1st O’Neil 66.34; 2nd Volcom 65.02; 3rd Aloha 49.66; 4th Manly Surf School II 48.49
FINAL
1st O’Neil 63.14 2nd Manly Surf School 62.53 3rd Quiksilver 59.93; Volcom 48.18
The 2012 Jim Beam Surftag Australian Series is supported by FCS, www.theperfectwave.com.au and Tracks Magazine.
The 2012 Jim Beam Surftag Australian Series is a supporter of Surfaid International www.surfaidinternational.org
Follow the 2012 Jim Beam Surftag at www.globalsurftag.com and www.facebook.com/surftag
