Clean one-to-two foot waves rolled into North Haven today for the fourth day of the Australian Longboard Titles at the 2013 Australian Surf Festival.
Steve Mills continued to build on yesterday’s form, snatching victory in his Over-35 Men round two heat. The Byron Bay goofy-footer drew out multiple forehand cutbacks and turns to book his spot into the quarterfinals.
Dee Why’s Sean Dry notched up an impressive 16-point heat total in his Over-35 Men round two heat, the highest score of the round. Sean will now face Craig Davies, Kane Tankard and Michael Pinney in the semi-finals.
“The smaller waves are pretty difficult, but it’s pretty similar to the waves we get around Curl Curl on Sydney’s Northern Beaches,” said Sean. “I’ve been coming here for years and have got second every year, so it’d be awesome to get the win this time around.”
Other standout surfers included Kane Tankard and Jason Livingston who both locked in respective wins in their Over-35 Men round two heats.
Jason Livingston made his mark on the Over-40 Men division notching up an impressive heat total of 17.00. Surfing across the Over-35 Men and the Over-40 Men, the Curl Curl surfer made an impression and proved he was one to watch as the comp moves forward.
1988 Pipeline Masters Champion Rob Page threw down a variety of his trademark carves in his Over-40 Men heat earning his spot in the semi-finals.
“This event feels like an awesome gathering,” said Rob. “There’s so many age divisions – going right up to the Over-65s – in this competition and it’s apparent that some of the older generations really set the foundations for surfing. It’s pretty cool to see.”
In the Open Men quarterfinals, local surfers Darren O’Rafferty and Ian Bell battled it out together trading blows in the peeling high-tide conditions. Despite Darren locking in a 9.25-scoring wave, Ian was able to take the win with a respectable total of 16.15.
“It’s great to surf here at my local break,” said Ian post-heat. “It’s pretty small, but nice for the mal and is pretty contestable too. There’s a really good vibe down here with all the surfers from the different states and everyone is having a great time.”
Ian added: “Raff and I are good mates and have been surfing together since we were on the junior series. We’re pretty cruisey when we’re in heats together. There’s no hassling or anything like that and it’s a lot of fun. It’d be nice for us to make it to the finals down here at our local break and get the hometown support behind us.”
Other standouts in the Open Men included Pat O’Leary, Ben Jones and Jack Entwistle. All surfers took the win in their respective heats and earned their spot in the semi-finals, which will be contested in the forthcoming days.
Local and former ASP World Championship Tour surfer Darren O’Rafferty took out the Nikon Wave of the Day for his aforementioned 9.25 ride. For his efforts O’Rafferty received a Nikon Coolpix AW110 camera.
The swell is predicted to drop marginally over the next few days with the strong likelihood of northerly winds.
Contest Director Glen Elliot said: “The strong north/west winds could blow the small south/south-east groundswell down to an unsurfable size over the next 24-to-48 hours. We will be monitoring this on a day-to-day basis.”
All heat results, event highlight clips, images and news is available at www.australiansurffestival.com
All competitors are advised to ring the event hotline (0458 247 212) by 6.45am on the days of competition to confirm location and running order.
The main base for the Australian Surf Festival will be Town Beach, which is located in the heart of Port Macquarie, however the event is mobile with numerous beach break options available between Port Macquarie and North Haven (20 minutes drive south of Port Macquarie CBD) including Flynns Beach, Lighthouse Beach, Rainbow Beach at Bonny Hills and Grants Beach at North Haven.
This year’s event will feature a busy schedule out of the water with live music and surf education courses, including Surfing NSW’s free CPR and board rescue course, Surfers Rescue 24/7. Town Green Inn is the official headquarters for all functions and courses.
The Australian Surf Festival is a key regional event on the NSW Events Calendar, and is supported by the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.
The Australian Surf Festival is proudly supported by the NSW Government, Destination NSW, Port Macquarie Tourism, Port Macquarie Hastings Council, Be the Influence, Harley-Davidson Australia, Town Green Inn, Nikon, Suncorp, Australian Sports Commission, Coastalwatch, NBN, Port Macquarie News, 2MC, Star FM, Surfing World Magazine and Pacific Longboarder Magazine.
2013 AUSTRALIAN SURF FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
10-18 August – Australian Longboard Titles
16-18 August – Australian Logger Titles
16-18 August – Australian Longboard Titles – Under 18 Boys and Girls
19-23 August – Australian Surfmasters Titles
21-23 August – Australian Single Fin Titles
