Shark can’t stop TBC’s fun

LAST weekend was massive for Torquay Boardriders with the first junior aggregate of the year at Jan Juc being completed on January19.

Many members also surfed in the Victorian Open Titles at Gunnamatta Ocean Beach on the same day, and then at the Victorian Masters Titles on the 20th.

The first aggregate of the year had a little hiccup with a shark sighting occurring just after lunchtime putting the first junior competition on hold for a few hours as jet skis and helicopters attempted to clear the shark away from the contest zone.

The juniors went on to surf with extreme bravery to finish off the day around 5.30pm in challenging two- to three-foot onshore conditions.

The aggregate saw the first trial of the new system of their being a non-competitive assisted division called “microgroms” for those who are just finding the love of competing.

The system allows kids to have fun with their friends in a safe and enjoyable environment. Some of the elder juniors of the club helped out on the day who many of the kids learnt a lot from. Thanks to Cooper Downes, Mia Huppatz, Scarlett Currie and Emily McGettigan for their help with the introduction of this program.

In the microgroms, the biggest charger award went to Lani Pitcher, biggest frother went to Willow Swan, best wipe-out was won by Kira Azleen and wave of the day went to Liam Thomson.

Results from the competition were Jarvis Barrow and Sara Hickson taking out the U12 Boys and Girls divisions in style, as Willis Droomer and Isla Huppatzsecured the win in their respective U14 divisions.

The Ripcurl Outstanding Performance Award went to Leroy Filer, who surfed extremely well throughout the whole day.

In other news, we had a brigade of Open Men’s and Open Women’s competitors compete over at Gunnamatta Ocean Beach in the 2019 Victorian Open Titles. Some of Torquay’s finest got some amazing results with Open Men’s surfer Todd Rosewall winning his third Gunnamatta title in a row (see facing page) and club president Cahill Bell-Warren finishing fourth. In the Open Women’s, Bella Wilson finished with a second place, and after winning the U14 Girls division at the National Ripcurl Gromsearch up north, Jazz Wylie finished in fourth. This caps off a fine week for Wylie.

Shoutout also goes to our Masters members of the club who held up the fort in the Victorian Masters Titles on Sunday at Jan Juc.

New Masters member and past TBC Teams Titles member Johnny Hawken won the Over 35 Men’s division, Marcus Huppatz took out the Over 40 Men’s win as well as the speciality Single Fin division, Marcus Lens won the Over 45 Men’s division, 3rd Reef’s Coffee’s finest Rowan Sapwell won the Over 55 Men’s division and former Victorian Masters champion Angie Reiter came 3rd in the Over 35 Women’s division.

Stay cool and see you all at the Single Fin on Australia Day (Saturday, January 26).