Champions crowned at the VB NSW Surfmasters titles

VB Surfmasters State Titles
Presented by Mobys

Surfing New South Wales
Great Lakes, Mid North Coast, NSW
15 - 17 June 2012

Event enjoys great surf and throws down a few perfect tens

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 18 June, 2012 : - - Great Lakes -- Perfect tens, pristine barrels and massive maneuvers from the states best at the VB NSW Surfmasters State Titles 2012. Boomerang Beach in the Great Lakes set the stage with it’s pristine beaches and TEAM NSW is looking strong for the Australian Titles.

Leading the way was Jake Spooner (Bulli), throwing out three massive maneuvers putting him in the lead with his second wave in the final of the over 35’s. Surfing with the style and speed that judges had whitnessed over the four day event he set the bench mark with a 8.6. Following Spooner’s lead was Col Bernasconi (Umina), gouging straight up under the lip, cutting around and following it up in the inside section, he was looking to over take Spooner. The 8.17 ride pushed him to first and the exchange didn’t stop there.

Glen Pringle took a wave on his back-hand driving down the face and waiting for it to take shape. Taking everything out of it he could, knowing he needed something big to over take Bernasconi and Spooner if he wanted the glory of becoming a NSW champion. With less than a minute and half to go, Spooner took what was his last wave of the heat, he required a big score and pulled off three big turns taking the wave all the way into shore. With a final heat score of 15.37 Spooner was crowned the 2012 NSW over 35’s champion, closely followed by Col Bernasconi (2nd), Glenn Pringle (3rd) and Mark Cameron (4th).

The over 45’s final was up next filled with some of the best surfers we had seen in the last few days. 2011 NSW over 40’s champion John Schmidenberg (Corindi), was flying through the sets against Newport surfer Mark Tickle, current ISA world Masters Champion and goofy footer Glen Valerie (Swansea).

Valaire was in his element with the left handers giving him exactly what he needed, in the lead up to the finals he nailed two perfect tens and a series of 8.0’s and 9.0’s. The final was back and forth but in the end his last wave (8.60), gave him the NSW Title and a an unchallenged VB Surfer of the event taking home a carton of VB. Pringle and Valaire met in the over 40’s final and with a mammoth few days of surfing under their belt gave it everything they had. Valaire place 2nd and Pringle 4th along with Andrew Symington (Bateau Bay) in 3rd.

Winning the over 40’s final at the end of the day was Scott Schindler (Sawtell) with a number of solid turns on a screaming wave. Schindlers patient strategy towards the heat paid off and his carefully selected waves included an 8.67 which shot him way out in front of his competitors, winning the NSW Title.

Closing the day was the over 50’s division and they were a spectacular one to watch. Current ISA World Masters Champion Rod Baldwin dominated the final and took it out with 14.77 (out of a possible 20). Coming in 2nd was Charlie O’Sullivan (Woolgoolga), with Nick ‘Zippy’ Pearson (Byron Bay) in 3rd and Mark Gobbe (Mona Vale) in 4th.

The event acts as the qualifier for Team NSW for the 2012 Australian Surfmasters Titles which are set to be held during the Australian Surf Festival from 11-25 August 2012.

www.surfingnsw.com.au

Source: Surfing NSW

Author: Renee Miller

Tags: Australia, Surfing New South Wales, Women, Masters