Torquay Boardriders dominate in Australian Boardriders Battle qualifier

After being beaten by Phillip Island in the Victorian Teams Titles in the last fortnight, the club was on a mission to secure the win this time round to give them the opportunity to compete in the Australian Boardriders Battle national final.

With challenging conditions on serve at Smiths Beach, surfers were up against all the elements, however sideways rain and onshore winds could not deter the spirits of TBC as they charged through the day in fine fashion.

The stacked team of reigning club open men’s champion Tully Wylie, 2009 Rip Curl Pro runner up Adam Robertson, 2019 Rip Curl Pro wildcards Harry Mann and Xavier Huxtable, former Australian junior surfing champion Todd Rosewall and up-and-coming female surfing star Bella Wilson on a team was a tantalising prospect on paper and they didn’t disappoint in the water.

In the teams first heat, they took out a commanding win with consistent surfing from all team members. This was highlighted by a 9.00 ride from Tully Wylie, which held the team in good stead as they advanced straight through to the final, skipping the re-

qualification round in the process.

The final proceeded not long after where Torquay was pitted against Phillip Island, South Coast Boardriders and Peninsula Surfriders in what turned out to be a dominant display from Torquay.

The team was able to use the 50-minute time frame to good use in the final as surfers were efficient in securing strong scores in small amounts of time. Consistent scores across the board highlighted by a major score of a 7.83 out of a possible10 points from Xavier

Huxtable, held the team in strong form as their counterparts chased two new scores to take the lead with all surfers completed.

In emphatic fashion, Torquay took the win with Phillip Island finishing in second who will also head to the national final at the start of 2020. Third place went to Peninsula Surfriders and in fourth was South Coast Boardriders.

Bella Wilson was awarded the Air Asia wave of the day winner. She took home a $500 flight voucher for her efforts as she smashed some major sections on her backhand. Well done, Bella! The club is super proud of all of your efforts in securing a spot in the national final where we will take it to the best boardriders clubs in the country.

Also taking place around the Nudie Australian Boardriders Battle was the Phillip Island Pro QS which saw many of our members take part against some of the best surfers in the world!

The women’s event, a QS1500 event attracted some of the world tour surfers including Sage Erickson (USA), Paige Hareb (NZ) as well as Australians Macy Callaghan and local Phillip Island product Nikki Van Dijk.

The club is super proud of our members who competed in the event. A special shoutout goes to India Robinson who made it all the way to the semi finals of the event after taking out the event win last year. A whooping achievement to say the least. Well done India.

On the men’s side of the draw, former QS competitor and current club president Cahill Bell-Warren, did the club amazingly proud as he made it into finals day, eventually being beaten in the semi finals by runner-up in the event Dylan Moffat (North Narrabeen) by a small margin.

Well done also goes to Spencer Kay, Bohdie Williams, Indi White, Tully Wylie, Xavier Huxtable and Bella Wilson for their efforts in the QS event as well.

A special shout-out must also go to our junior members who competed in the junior challenge at Phillip Island last weekend. Results from the event saw three of our up and coming girls make the final where Mia Huppatz finished in second, Jazz Wylie in third and Sarsha Pancic finished in fourth. Congratulations girls.

In the boys challenge, U/18 surfer Spencer Kay secured the finals win, as he ripped apart the Smiths Beach lineup. He was followed by Indi White who finished in second and Bohdie Williams came in third. Well done guys.

That’s a wrap from a massive week in Torquay Boardriders surfing. Congratulations to all our surfers who did the club proud in their surfing efforts as well as supporting the club in securing the team’s win at Phillip Island.

Stay cool.