New South Wales State Titles kick off

Joey Sear © Ethan Smith/SNSW

NSW Open State Titles

Surfing New South Wales
Cronulla, New South Wales
9 - 10 February 2013

Locals Shine Day 1 of NSW Open State Titles

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 9 February, 2013 : - - Small and punchy waves rolled into Wanda on Cronulla’s northern stretch for the first day of the 2013 NSW Open State Titles.
The Open Men kicked the morning off, tearing into a variety of fun left and right peaks.

Local surfers put on an impressive show early in the morning with Joey Sear, Rory Jenkins, Shane Campbell, Harrison Martin, Dylan Hannah, Dane Durbin, Connor O’Leary, Dylan Hayllar and Jesse Horner all moving through to round two. Former World Tour surfers Drew Courtney and Darren O’Rafferty both progressed through their first round heats after throwing down some stylish forehand wraps.

Drew said: “Conditions are small, but there’s definitely some fun waves out there if you can get them. The odd righthander seems to pop up if you’re sitting in the right spot.”

Heat eight went down as one of the most exciting heats of the morning with flurry of waves being exchanged between Luke Cheadle, Jesse Adam, Jared Hickel and Thomas Radge. Luke held down an early lead after a solid display of backhand surfing with Jesse and Jared battling for second. Both the latter surfers continued to exchange blows, but when the final hooter sounded it was Jared who got the nod and moved through to round two alongside Luke Cheadle.

A strong north-easterly wind picked up around lunch-time and created tricky conditions for competitors’ round-two heats.

In a similar fashion to round-one, local surfers proved to have the advantage in the second round with Shane Campbell, Joey Sear, Jesse Horner, Rory Jenkins, Dylan Hannah and Connor O'Leary all progressing through their heats. They'll join Luke Cheadle, Ty Watson, Drew Courtney, Darren O'Rafferty, Dane Atcheson and Tom Myers in tomorrows quarter finals.

Local surfer Joey Sear took out the Carve Of The Day award for an impressive chain of technical snaps. Joey scored a pair of polarised Carve sunglasses for his efforts.

Corrimal surfer Nick Squires scored the Westfield Miranda Wave Of The Day Award for his 9.00 ride in round one. Nick smashed out a series of massive snaps and carves to lock in the days highest scoring wave. Nick scores a voucher to Westfield Miranda for his efforts.

Competition will resume tomorrow morning at approximately 7.00am at Wanda, The Alley or Sandshoes. The Open Men’s quarter-finals will kick the morning off, before rolling into the first round of the Open Women. An updated heat draw and schedule will be online at surfingnsw.com.au by 7.00 pm tonight. The event hotline will be updated with a complete schedule by 6.25am on the day of competition. Call 0458 247 212 for the most up-to-date information.

The winners of both the male and female divisions will be awarded a wildcard into the Newcastle Surfest - Burton Toyota Pro and Hunter Ports Womens Classic - which will take place from the 18th-24th of February. The top four finalists in the male division and the top three finalists in the female division will score themselves an entry into the Australian Surf Festival which will be taking place at Port Macquarie in August this year.

The NSW Open State Titles are proudly supported by The Dominelli Group, Westfield Miranda, Australian Skin Cancer Clinics, Carve eyewear, Sutherland Shire Council, Surfest and Surfing NSW.

www.surfingnsw.com.au