| WERRI BEACH BOARDRIDERS CLUB |
 |
| 17th Annual Werri Slash 8th & 9th May 2004 |
| The 17th Werri Slash, has been completed. In what turned out to be a great weekend of swell with offshore conditions and clean 3-5 foot waves for most of the final day, Werri Beach's Ryan Bailey has made it back-to-back open mens titles. Shellharbour's Chris Homer won back-to-back senior men's titles and a 5th Werri Slash title in all and Yvonne Byron of Figtree made it another back-to-back victory in the open womens. Luke Cheadle from Culburra had a very lucrative day by winning the junior crown and taking 3rd place in the open mens. Sam Wrench of Ulladulla took home the cadet crown that older brother Tim had won in 2003. Saturday 8th May Day 1- Contest organisers were fearful of poor waves for the event after observing onshore and small surf the evening before the event began. However, as the sun rose on Day 1, the swell had picked up to provide superb, clean conditions and a 3-5 foot SE swell with some slighly larger sets in between. The event was held at "The Pine Trees" and the first heat of the cadets was underway by 7.20am. Early standouts included Sam Wrench, Simon Fitzgibbon, Dean Bowen and Lucas Tomkins. The junior boys were next into the water and with the offshore breeze providing some superb waves, Luke Cheadle and Tim Wrench signalled they were going to be hard to beat. The senior mens paddled out after round 1 of the juniors and last year's champ Chris Homer and Craig Morris of Wollongong laid down some solid turns. The high tide made wave selection critical during the middle of the day and not long after, the southerly wind picked up to take the edge off the quality waves of the morning. Some nice contestable waves were still available for the rest of the day as the cadet quarter finals, and junior and senior finals were held. The cadet semi finals were then held which signalled the end of day 1. Sunday 9th May Day 2- Day 2 saw a slightly more easterly swell hitting the contest bank which provided some longer left hand waves. The open mens started day 2 with the cream of the Illawarra's and south coast's surfing talent on display. With the likes of local long time pro Todd Prestage, Kai Otten, Rhys Bombaci, Luke Cheadle, current NSW Open Men's champ Matt Jones and Khy Vaughan all winning their opening heat, the stage was set for some classic quarter finals. Into the quarter finals and some solid waves were hitting the contest bank. Todd Prestage, Kai Otten, Rhys Bombaci and Luke Cheadle laid down some serious turns to win their heats but such was the talent that no heat win was convincing. Through to the semis were last year winner Ryan Bailey, Tim Wrench, Khy Vaughan and Matt Jones. The open womens round 1 were up next, and the high tide made conditions tricky. Yvonne Byron showed her class by slamming some big turns which threw down the challenge to the rest of the field. Katherine Turk and Lisa Matuzelis were looking good for a finals berth along with Ayla Whitney and Carly Wrench. Belinda Smith scored some longer rights to give her a victory in her opening heat. Straight into the womens semi finals and it was Katherine Turk and Yvonne Byron stepping up with some solid turns and better wave selection to move comfortably into the final along with Lisa Matuzelis and Jessie Wilson. The open men's semi finals were next and Todd Prestage and Kai Otten and Matt Jones were some notable casualties. Luke Cheadle and Rhys Bombaci maitained their 100% winning records by moving into the final with Ryan Bailey and Khy Vaughan. The open womens was the first final in the water and in a farly close result Yvonne Byron came out ahead of a very determined Katherine Turk, with Lisa Matuzelis 3rd and Jessie Wilson 4th. The senior mens were next and Chris Homer heade off the challenge from Craig Morris to claim 1st prize. Peter Flanagan was 3rd and John DeLuca 4th. The cadet boys were out as the onshore breeze hit the beach. In a convincing performance that nearly doubled the scores of 2nd place, Sam Wrench powered his way to 1st place ahead of Werri's Mitch Crews and Simon Fitzgibbon, 2nd & 3rd, with Ben Watts 4th. The excitement was building in anticipation of the open mens final as the junior boys paddled out. Luke cheadle and Nick McMullen went wave for wave and in the end Luke claimed the junior crown ahead of Nick. Parrish Byrne was 3rd and Tim Wrench 4th. A good crowd had gathered on the beach under grey skies to see the last 4 left in the contest. Luke Cheadle stayed out in the water from the previous final to face last year's champ Ryan Bailey and runner up Rhys Bambaci with Khy Vaughan making up the quartet. Khy got off to a good start only to see Rhys Bomabci pick some waves in the middle of the heat to begin to haul in Khy's lead. Luke then picked off some good lefts some lightening fast snaps. Meanwhile Ryan waited a little to north for some bigger sets. As the final went past the halfway stage, Ryan paddled into a left which saw a series of vertical snaps down the line. The momentum had switched and Ryan picked off another high scoring wave to take the lead and hold onto it. Luke picked another wave but it wasn't enough to haul in the lead. Rhys required another high scorer but couldn't find it whilst Khy sat waiting for another "bomb" that just didn't come his way. In the end, Ryan claimed back-to-back open crowns with Rhys settling for another runner up. Luke came in 3rd with Khy 4th. The winner of the $200.00 "Big Air" went to Werri Beach surfer Damian Pack who landed an air reverse. Werri Boardriders would like to thank Surf Dive 'N' Ski, Ocean & Earth, Sydney Water, OP Surfwear, Legend Sunglasses, The Realm, Advanced Concrete Cutting, Jack's Grill at Gerringong Hotel and Wayne Pack Tennis Coaching. Without these event sponsors The Slash would not be the event it is today. Support those companies that support regional and local surfing. Also thanks to Head Judge Wayne Pack, Allan Farrell and Ben Churton for judging all Sunday. A big thankyou to Mel Bailey and Karen Wilson for tallying every heat on both days. Thankyou to Andrew Heffernan for the P.A. Thankyou to Rod Windsor for the power supply. Massive thanks to the kids from Voyeur Productions for filming the entire event. A DVD will hopefully be available soon. Stay tuned for details. And thankyou to the surfers who put on such a high quality spectacle. The Werri Boardriders committee are planning to go to a 3 day event to be held in the last weekend of the Easter school holidays. click for results... Open Mens ; Open Womens ; Cadet Boys ; Junior Boys ; Senior Mens |
| JACK'S GRILL at Gerringong Hotel Ph : 4234 2020 |
| Wayne Pack Tennis Coaching & Qualified Surfing Judge |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |