| WERRI BEACH BOARDRIDERS CLUB |
| 20th Annual Werri Autumn Slash 28th & 29th April 2007 |
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| It was a 10 out of 10 for the 20th edition of the Werri Autumn Slash as, once again, the surf gods smiled upon Werri Beach to produce an epic weekend of waves. Event organisers couldn't believe the good fortune blessed upon them as some of the original Slash surfers and locals were calling finals day the best day of competition seen at Werri Beach. The first perfect 10 for the weekend was followed up by 2 more as the Illawarra's and South Coast's best surfers put on a fantastic display of competition surfing for the solid crowd gathered on the beach. The Wrench brothers, Tim and Sam, have continued their dynasty of titles with elder brother Tim crowned Open Mens Champion with Sam claiming his 4th title in a row by claiming the Junior Boys title. It was a successful day for the crew from Werri Beach Boardriders with Sally Fitzgibbons claiming her 2nd Open Womens title, club president Todd Prestage returning to the winners podium as Senior Mens champion 19 years after winning the first Junior Boys title and young Matt Gale winning the Cadet Boys. Werri Beach's Ryan Bailey claimed the first perfect 10 of the day in his semi final only to see first Shayne Sutherland then Sam Wrench to both post 10's in the final of the Junior Boys. It was truly an historic day for The Slash with the youngest ever competitor entering. 8 year old Karena Holland-Redfern paddled out into some very challenging waves and did herself so proud by claiming 2 waves in her contest debut. Saturday 28th - Day 1 Day 1 of the contest was set up at the northern end of Werri Beach under rainy skies. The Cadet Boys were the first into the water and a strong rip created some tricky conditions. Some early standouts in round 1 were Werri's Matt Gale and Zac Scott, Kiama's Brett Connellan, Manyana's Sean Mawson, Milton's Elliott Marshall and Jake Spellacy from Tomakin. The conditions were improving as the tide ran out and the Junior Boys were next out where Sam Wrench, Elliott Binkins and Matt Korvin were solid in winning their opening heats. Conditions were improving rapidly as the rain eased and the wind was calm. The Senior Mens took centre stage and some great left hander were hitting the bank in the northern corner. Jeremy Smith, Chris Homer, Pat Emery, Jake Spooner and Todd Prestage were looking sharp. The qtr finals of the Cadet Boys followed and by now the waves had were incredible. 1-2 mtr sets were on hitting the contest bank and the U/16 lads showed plenty of ticker. Matt Gale, Zac Scott, Elliott Marshall and Jake Spellacy continued their winning ways and looked good for a place in the final with Keiren Quinn and Brett Connellan hot on their heels. The Junior Boys semi finals were the next to be decided and earning a place in the final was Sam Wrench and Mitch Kenyon ahead of Elliott Binkins in Semi 1 whilst Semi 2 saw Shayne Sutherland and local lad Ross Wilson progress past Matt Korvin. The Senior Mens semis were out for the final 2 heats of the day and in a close decision Jeremy Smith claimed victory ahead of Chris Homer, whilst Todd Prestage was quite convincing in Semi 2 with Jake Spooner moving into his 3rd consecutive Senior Mens final. Sunday 29th - Day 2 Clear skies greeted the organisers and the contest remained at the northern end of Werri Beach.The swell was a little smaller than the previous day but some very contestable waves were on offer. Just after the site been set up the wind swung south west and ruffled the 1 mtr waves. The rip was playing havoc with waves and it appeared that final day of competition rapidly deteriorating. The Open Mens began their campaign and coming through early was Tim Wrench, Nathan Marks, DAn Marczuk, Jeremy Smith, Ross Wilson, Nick Squires and Sam Wrench. The Open Womens were next and it was like a switch had been thrown. The wind swung offshore and the sets began to pulse through. Jessica Dobson was straight into it and took off on a monster. She smashed some big turns to claim an early lead that left the others in heat to play catch up. Carmen Beucher rallied late to claim second. Katherine Turk, Yvonne Byron and Sally Fitzgibbons were all good to move into the semi finals. The waves just got better and better and, in front of an increasing crowd, the Open Mens qtr finals were nothing short of spectacular. Tim Wrench and Tom Salvesen showed their pro junior prowess to claim qtr final #1. Nathan Marks, Dan Marczuk, Ryan Bailey and Ross Wilson also shone to get a semi final. In qtr final #4, Nick Squires was surprisingly eliminated by Matt Knick and Guy Bartlett. The Women's Semi Finals and the waves just kept getting better and more hollow. Katherine Turk got off to a solid start then Kirstie Jones reeled that lead in to take 1st place ahead of Katherine Turk. Yvonne Byron turned on a show in semi #2 to claim 1st place ahead of Sally Fitzgibbons. The Open Mens semi's saw a new level reached in wave quality. Tom Salvesen and Dan Marczuk established an early lead before Tim Wrench put his foot down and reeled off 2 late high scores to take the lead. Dan Marczuk held off Tom to move into the final with Tim. Semi # 2 saw Ross Wilson open with a 7.0 score. Guy Bartlett and Matt Knick were close behind when Ryan Bailey paddled into the best wave of the comp. Ryan pulled in to a deep backside barrell and held his line for about 4 seconds before emerging and smashing a massive tail snap. 10's from all judges had the crowd in raptures. Ryan quickly backed it up with a 6.7 and wasn't going to be caught. In a close tussle for 2nd, Guy Bartlett triumphed over Matt Knick and Ross Wilson. The finals for all divisions were about to begin and the waves at Werri being fanned by a nice offshore. The Cadet Boys were first and in slow start, Keiren Quinn held an early lead. Matt Gale then took over with 6.6 and backed it up with a mid range score. Jake Spellacy and Elliott Marshall scored late waves to rattle Matt's cage but they weren't enough to stop Matt Gale claiming his first Werri Slash title. The Open Womens paddled out and Yvonne Byron was keen to take back the title. She opened with a 7.5 to take the lead before Sally Fitzgibbons fought back with 3 high score in a row to take the lead. Yvonne couldn't get a solid second score to catch Sally and in the end Sally shut the gate with a 7.6. Sally was crowned the 'Bellachara Belle' with Yvonne 2nd, Katherine Turk 3rd and Kirstie Jones 4th. With the tide moving in, the Juniors hit the water for their final. The swell went quiet for the first half of the final until Shayne Sutherland dropped in to a backside barrell. Shayne held on deep inside before coming out and belting a massive turn off the top to claim the day's 2nd perfect 10. Sam Wrench took the challenge and put himself behind the curtain as well then laying down 3 big, carving turns to also earn the judges third 10 pointer of the day. Sam then scored a 6.0 to establish a good lead. Shayne wasn't able to pick off another wave to take the lead back and came in 2nd. Mitch Kenyon was 3rd and Ross Wilson 4th. It was time for the Senior Mens to try and emulate the barrell fest that was on show before them. Jeremy Smith and Chris Homer went wave for wave early and it was Jeremy who took the lead from Chris. Todd Prestage waited patiently, using all his experience before nailing an 8.7 and an even better 9.0 ride to shut out the others. Jeremy claimed 2nd with Chris 3rd and Jake Spooner 4th. The final heat of the day was the Open Mens final and Dan Marczuk wasted no time and pulled into a backhand barrell and sneaking out before the lip crushed him. Ryan Bailey and Guy Bartlett traded waves to get the lead before Tim Wrench unleashed 2 high scoring waves to gain the lead. Some huge backhand hacks saw Tim rewarded with 8.2 and 8.9. The others tried to claw the lead back with Dan pulling into a nice right barrell but not getting the long wall to rack up a big score. Then Guy got a nice left hander from the corner to lay some nice carves and then finish with a big forehand hack. Not enough though and Tim claimed his first Open Mens title with Guy 2nd, Dan 3rd and Ryan 4th. The Werri Slash organisers would like to thank Surf Dive 'N' Ski, Ocean & Earth, OP Surfwear, Carve Optics, Bellachara Boutique Hotel, Jindaleespa, DSN Surfboards, Kiama Council, Gerringong Hardware and Advanced Concrete Cutting for their tremendous support of Werri Beach Boardriders and the Werri Autumn Slash. Support those companies that support local and regional surfing. Many thanks to the tireless efforts from the Werri Beach Boardriders who ensure that the Werri Slash is still the best club contest on the coast. Results... Open Mens Open Womens Senior Mens Junior Boys Cadet Boys Pics soon. |
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