The EVENT FULL sign went up on the website the Friday before the event. 64 local shredders plus some superstar old boys from up and down the coast and interstate were locked in to do battle for the 2013 Edition of the Baxter Shield. That very same evening the 4 captains went toe to toe in the Darts showdown, an event which determines the make-up of their sides for the event. The captain with the steadiest hand could potentially blow his opposing captains away in this contest but we are definitely not a darts club and the 10 minute exercise took an hour with many darts missing the board all together.
It was a nervous wait for the boys in the lead up to the event. Everything was organised and ready to go but that 1 thing that you cannot organise is the waves. Watching those ever changing swell forecasts is not good for ones health. A week out the forecast was calling for 5-6ft waves on comp day. Sweet we thought. However as the week progressed the forecast kept dropping and dropping to the point where we were thinking are there going to be waves…
Arriving just before dawn the bitterly cold westerly was blowing but we could see there were waves. Some fun 2ft waves with the occasional 3 footer and clean offshore winds. A fun little peak in front of Northend Surf Club and it was game on.
The event had it all. Some great consistent waves with light offshore winds, amazing surfing which often left you shaking your head thinking NO WAY & UNBELIEVABLE. You just could not take your eye off the waves. Surfers like Monty Tait, Brad Carroll, Seddo, Wez, Platts, Joey Michael and Sean Walsh were just ripping it apart. There were the usual blow ups, drop ins, tears, crazy costumes, ridiculous judging and some challenges that only the toughest or stupidest person would take on.
There weren’t many points separating the team after the 4 round robin heats so it was down to the PowerSurfer final to see who would take out the title. A great crowd of 2 or 3 hundred lined the shoreline to watch the winner take all shoot-out. And the boys didn’t disappoint. The surfing had to be seen to be believed. I was in the judges’ tent during the final and time and time again I kept hearing the comment “You can’t do that on a single fin or twinnie”.
In the end only the Yellow team captained by Brad Koolis, blew their opposition away in the final to take a narrow victory over Tom North’s Blue team. Congratulations to Brad Koolis and his team. A very well deserved victory. That now makes it 5 wins in 9 years for King Koolis. An amazing run and he is already plotting for 2014.
Yellow Team Members
Brad Koolis
Weston Moore
Matt Lawson
Max McGuiggan
Jeni Lee
Monty Tait
Brooke Emerson
Joey Michaels
Simon Sheppard
Sean Daunt
Jamie Reid
Wayne Baldwin
Judd Atkins
Michael Doubois
Ryan Franklin
Tye Koolis
Grand
Total
YELLOW 463.7
BLUE 413.8
RED 382.3
WHITE 362.1
Monty Tait who was also a member of the yellow team took out this year’s Sean Sweet manoeuvre of the day trophy. It was a shoot-out between him and old dog Wes Moore. Both scored a ridiculous 31.67 / 40 in the powersurfer final but all judges agreed that every wave Monty rode we saw fins out, tailslides, vertical, ariels. It wasn’t 1 manoeuvre that stood out it was all of them. This kid is something else and one to keep an eye on. He recently won the NSW U/18 State Titles and that follows up his amazing run at the tail end of last year having won the prestigious A Grade Southend title last year and a 7th finish in the Aussie titles. Well done Monty.
I’d like to thank everyone who helped throughout the day, officials, camera men, judges, chefs. To every competitor thank you for putting on a show for the spectators.
And I would like to particularly like to thank our Event Sponsors. This event would not have been possible if not for the support of these great people.
• The Sands Hotel
• NG Mototek – Talk to Nick – Cnr Perry St & Beauchamp Rd Matto
• Walsh’s Pharmacy
• Dripping Wet Bondi
Thank you to you all for your continued sponsorship of this annual event.
So that is a wrap. Until next year keep it real.